City

Megan Johnson

Lawrence

Class: Sophomore

Sport: Cross Country

The week: Johnson appears to be peaking at a perfect time. The sophomore took fourth in a tough Class 6A regional Saturday at Emporia, finishing with a 4,000-meter time of 15:27.10. Johnson consistently caught runners through the course of the race, spending the first half around 10th place before slowly moving up in the pack.

Comment: “She ran a real good race,” LHS cross country coach Chip Anderson said. “Megan’s really had a great season.”

Area

Jay Matlack

Mill Valley

Class: Senior

Sport: Cross Country

The week: Matlack was crowned champion of the Class 5A regional at Shawnee Mission Park. His time of 16:22 in the 5,000 meter was four seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Matlack returns to state hoping to improve on his seventh-place finish from a year ago.

Comment: “Jay’s great kick enabled him to catch the guy from Gardner in the last 50 yards of the race as he captured the individual title,” Mill Valley coach Mark Chipman said. “The finish seemed a lot closer than the four-second difference in the results, but we’ll take it no matter how close it was.”