This is a Class 4A school, right?

Judging by its athletes, you sure wouldn’t know it.

This week is championship week for Baldwin High, just a hop, skip and 15-minute drive away from Lawrence. Three teams — volleyball and boys and girls cross country — are primed and poised to compete legitimately for the state crown in their sport.

Where do we begin?

How about Jill Brown’s volleyball team? The Bulldogs will roll into the state tournament Friday in Salina with one of Kansas’ most impressive records: 37 victories in 39 tries. For every loss, Baldwin puts up more than 18 victories.

At one point, between its two losses to Tonganoxie and Eudora, Baldwin had won 29 straight matches. With a 37-2 mark, only Abilene, with a 33-1 mark, has a better record in 4A.

Not too shabby, but not too surprising, either. Just look at who these Bulldogs have.

There’s Emily Brown, a 6-foot-2 do-all standout who’s already committed to Kansas University next year. You want versatility, try 351 kills and 357 assists.

Somewhere, KU coach Ray Bechard is drooling over the lunker he landed.

Brown can’t do it alone, though, and that’s where her senior classmates come in. Rachel Miles, Kari Garrison, Haydon Hubbel, Cheri Rowland, Katie Kurtz … the list of talented Baldwin seniors seems to go on and on. There is also sophomore Kelsey Heckathorne, who looks to be one of the Frontier League’s best before long.

The Bulldogs went down quietly in last year’s state tournament, but the awe is now gone, the lessons now learned. Don’t expect that to happen again.

Meanwhile, Baldwin’s cross country teams are looking to repeat as state champions this year — both of them. The boys and girls both took the team titles in 2002, and with the meet once again at Wamego Country Club, familiarity (and talent, of course) could be the key.

For the girls, senior Erica Ogle looks to pace the pack. She finished fourth in last year’s 4A state meet, but has fared well in pretty much every race she’s run this season. In regionals, she took first place (what else?) with a course-record and personal-record time of 11:46.24 in the two-mile.

Behind Ogle were six of her teammates, all of whom finished in the top 10 at regionals. Needless to say, the team did qualify for state, with a miniscule and near-perfect score of 20.

So, too, did the boys. Led by junior Brian Gerstner’s first-place finish, the Bulldog boys won regionals with 23 points. Second-place De Soto had 73.

The domination of both the boys and the girls was borderline unfair, but Baldwin cross country coach Mike Spielman would certainly be OK with one more meet with a ridiculous landslide victory for the Bulldogs. It could happen, too.

This is Baldwin High, Class 4A sports juggernaut.

With a smaller pool of students to work with, the Bulldogs remarkably put together athletic programs that can compete with the big dogs in 6A. But come postseason, the Bulldogs don’t have to. They’re only required to destroy everyone in 4A competition.

After this weekend, that mission could very well be accomplished.