When Chris McAfee took over the De Soto High cross country programs in 2000 he only had two runners – both boys – in the program, and was able to expand to six total runners to start the season.

Six years later – and now with 49 runners in the program – McAfee has given De Soto just its second state championship in any sport. With a girls squad 26 strong, the Wildcats claimed the team title at this year’s Class 4A state meet at Wamego.

“I think more it’s been that the kids have recruited really well,” said McAfee, the All-Area Girls Cross Country Coach of the Year, “and I just give them the workouts and everything, so it’s been pretty easy.”

De Soto senior Lauren Karnitz said McAfee’s personality has probably been the biggest draw to the program.

“He’s just such a great guy. He’s a friend to all of us runners, so it was just like joining a team with another friend,” Karnitz said.

That was something McAfee was happy to hear as he said he sometimes feared he was a little too tough on the team.

“Sometimes it does feel forceful on my part – I think they feel like that way sometimes too,” McAfee said. “I’m pretty easy going; I like to goof around quite a bit, so I guess that helps make it maybe a little less stressful.”

McAfee’s growing success has even caught the eye of Baldwin High’s Mike Spielman, whose teams have set the bar for state championship-quality teams over the past few years.

“They compete really well and he just trains them really well,” Spielman said. “So it’s just a great job over there and they’ve become a nice … new little rival that we want to beat.”

McAfee admitted the close proximity of Baldwin has been an advantage for his teams – getting to race against top-notch runners throughout the season.

“I think if we were still in the Kaw Valley League, I don’t know if we could have gotten to this level or not,” McAfee said. “So just knowing that, in the last three meets of the year if we want to be successful, we knew we had to get to Baldwin’s level to be successful in any of those meets.”