LJWorld.com

Photo by Richard Gwin

Some of the top high school runners in the city include, clockwise from lower left, Lawrence High's Stefanie Stuever, Seabury Academy's Hannah Spomer, Free State's Kyra Kilwein and Clay Weinaug, Seabury's Guy Williams and Lawrence High's Ben Wilson.

Brian Anderson and Steve Heffernan just can't resist brimming with confidence over their cross country teams.

And why should they resist? When you're blessed with the caliber of talent each coach has, you might as well shout it from the rooftops. Each returns nearly all the components from one team that qualified for state a year ago.

That's why Anderson, who coaches Lawrence High, and Heffernan, who leads Free State High, aren't shy about establishing lofty goals heading into the 2008 season.

At Lawrence High, Anderson's boys team returns seven of the top 10 runners from a year ago, including junior Roy Wedge, whose seventh-place finish at state was the team's best.

The Lions placed sixth as a team at state, and Anderson isn't anticipating a drop in the standings.

"I'm expecting us to get to state," Anderson said. "I think with the way they're running now, and if everything else held the way it was last year, that we'd be in the top six. With a couple of them a little bit stronger than they were last year, maybe we'd move up into fifth and fourth.

"But if they all keep working hard, you never know."

Wedge will help form an intimidating race-day lineup with co-captains Ben Wilson and Ryan Abbott. Also returning this season are juniors Calvin Morgan, Jonathan Gabler, Cody Jones and Michael Lindeman, who all ran on varsity a year ago. Sophomore Nicholas Shump and freshman Simon Fangman should add depth to the varsity team.

Wilson said the biggest hurdle in the early going would be finding a replacement for last year's senior leader, Dylan Hedges.

For the girls team, Anderson called this year a rebuilding year, as only three of last year's top 10 runners return.

The LHS girls qualified two individuals for state a season ago, but lost both to graduation.

Senior co-captain Katie Stohs said the Lions could be facing an uphill struggle.

"This year we have to work really hard and be a lot more persistent to try to make up for what we lost," Stohs said.

Joining Stohs as co-captain is senior Kati Wheatley. Also expected to help fill the void of last year's senior class are juniors Regan Keller, Ida Greenwell, Lucy Daldorph and freshman Michala Ruder.

Free State faces a nearly identical situation to Lawrence, having one team reach state last year with the other qualifying two individuals. For the Firebirds, however, the genders are reversed.

At Free State, the girls team reached state, finishing fourth at the Class 6A meet at Rim Rock Farm. And the Firebird girls are just as loaded this year - including the return of their top two runners.

Senior Kyra Kilwein, a quiet leader and the team's most consistent runner, finished eighth at state last year. Sophomore Hayley Francis also made noise at the state meet, placing 11th in her first season with the Firebirds. Couple that with the return of eight of the team's top 10 runners, and Heffernan has every reason to be counting down the days until race day.

"Oh, it's a lot of fun," Heffernan said. "You even see it the previous year. We won Sunflower League and fourth at state, but you're constantly thinking, 'OK, now we get another year at this.' You try to enjoy it as much as you can because sometimes these opportunities don't come around very often."

Heffernan noted six more runners who should help the Firebirds get back to state: Amy Meyers, Hillary Yoder, Haley Harrington, Maggie and Katie Burke and Libby Wiebe.

Leading the way for the Free State boys will be sophomore Logan Sloan, the only returning Firebird boy to qualify for state as an individual. Sloan finished 13th as a freshman.

The boys bring back seniors Nash Riggins, J.D. Wiebe and Clay Weinaug. Also expected to contribute are Harrison Scheib, Sam Wilger, Alex Zimmerscheid and freshman Kain Anderson.

At Seabury Academy, first-year coach Christi Douglas has four boys and two girls with whom to work.

Sophomore Guy Williams is the most experienced runner and should finish with the fastest time at most meets. Joining him on the boys team are juniors Jun Kim and Dylan Spomer and freshman Kansas Fiori-Brown.

The girls team consists of senior Amber Lehman and freshman Hannah Spomer.

"My expectations would be for every individual to have fun, stay healthy and get better every meet," Douglas said of her team.

Seabury, which opened its season Thursday, has six more meets on the schedule.

Both Free State and Lawrence begin the season today at the Manhattan Invitational.