Free State's Ethan Donley competes in the Sunflower League cross country meet Saturday at Rim Rock Farm.

Free State High cross country runners Emily Venters and Ethan Donley finished as individual runners-up in Saturday’s Sunflower League Championships at Rim Rock Farm to help their respective teams to top-five finishes.

Venters finished second to Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Molly Born with a 5,000-meter time of 18:27.7 as she led the Firebirds to a second-place team finish. The FSHS junior has worked to regain her confidence this season after Born broke out last track season and beat her in the 3,200 and 1,600 at state.

“I told myself that it doesn’t matter if I get first. It didn’t matter my place,” Venters said. “I just want to go for a Rim Rock PR and just improve my time myself.”

Junior Kiran Cordes (10th), freshman Sarah Walpole (13th), sophomore Alvena Walpole (18th) and freshman Julia Larkin (20th) also cracked the top 20, but SM North took the team title by 12 points.

“I didn’t expect Shawnee Mission North to do that, but that’s good that we have that competition now for state,” Venters said. “We know we have some work to do.”

Rim Rock brought the best out of Donley and fellow Firebird senior Tanner Hockenbury, who paced FSHS to finish fourth behind SM North, Olathe East and SM East.

Donley ran a personal-best time of 15:53.6 and was able to edge out OE’s Nick Skinner (fourth place), who beat him last week by eight seconds to win the Haskell Invitational. SM North’s Belesti Akalu won the boys race with a time of 15:37.5.

“He (Donley) wanted to go after some guys he raced earlier this year and hadn’t beaten,” FSHS coach Steve Heffernan said, “and that happened today with the exception of that young man (Akalu), who ran tremendous.”

LHS girls 11th, boys 12th

Freshmen Morgan Jones and Anna DeWitt have been steady at the No. 1 and 2 spots on the Lawrence High girls varsity squad, and they were again Saturday, when they pushed the Lions to an 11th-place finish.

Jones placed 26th with a time of 20:29.8 and has become more comfortable against the competition as the season has gone on.

“I think it helps a lot because I get to know all of the other people who are on varsity, and who I need to stay with,” Jones said. “I have another three years of knowing these people I’m running against.”

On the boys side, senior Nathan Pederson was the top runner for LHS, clocking in at 17:44.9 for 53rd place. The Lions placed 12th in the team standings.

The Lions hope to find themselves back out at Rim Rock in two weeks for state as they prepare for their Class 6A regional meet at Haskell.

Free State will head to Junction City to compete at Milford State Park.

Sunflower League Championships

Saturday at Rim Rock Farm

GIRLS

Varsity

Team scores – Shawnee Mission North 51, Free State 63, Olathe East 78, SM Northwest 123, SM West 151, SM South 161, Olathe Northwest 181, Leavenworth 200, Olathe North 215, SM East 223, Lawrence High 300, Olathe South 351.

Free State results – 2. Emily Venters, 18:27.7; 10. Kiran Cordes, 19:37.8; 13. Sarah Walpole, 19:44.5; 18. Alvena Walpole, 19:58.5; 20. Julia Larkin, 20:00.8; 23. Abby Zenger, 20:21.2; 32. Emma Hertig, 20:38.2; 41. Kate Odgers, 20:56.5.

Lawrence High results – 26. Morgan Jones, 20:29.8; 56. Anna DeWitt, 21:42.8; 74. Mikayla Herschell, 22:20.7; 83. Katie Ahern, 22:54.0; 86. Layne Prescott, 23:09.6; 87. Olivia Lemus, 23:11.2; 89. Lacey Greenfield, 23:48.8.

Junior Varsity

Team scores – O-East 27, SM Northwest 49, Free State, 83, SM West 90, SM South 126, SM East 132, ONW 200, O-North 209, SM North 220, Lawrence High 247, Leavenworth 306, O-South 324.

Free State results – 2. Reagan Sullivan, 21:17.6; 14. Eyerusalem Zicker, 22:14.9; 19. Grace Bradshaw, 22:37.1; 21. Joy Bradshaw, 22:40.8; 27. Marcela Ellebracht, 22:56.9; 28. Bekah Keys, 22:57.7; 30. Leah Wethington, 23:12.1; 39. Madelyn Johnson, 23:26.9.

Lawrence High results – 41. Eleanor Matheis, 23:42.7; 47. Aimee Neilsen, 24:29.7; 49. Vera Petrovic, 24:38.2; 58. Isabella Hedges, 25:28.7; 59. Leslie Grey, 25:33.8; 63. Kim Myers, 25:55.1; 66. Shaye White, 26:06.9; 68. Meredith Van Feldt, 26:22.7; 69. Leah Marett, 26:27.7; 78. April Hodges, 30:24.9; 79. Kaitlen White, 30:38.6.

C-team

Team scores – Free State 33, SM Northwest 40, O-East 52, SM East 128, SM South 134, O-North 173, ONW 222.

Free State results – 1. Hanna Case, 22:20.4; 5. Christina Craig, 22:51.9; 6. Sidney Zavala, 22:59.6; 10. Erin Liston, 23:08.2; 11. Corinne Scales, 23:09.9; 15. Bella Decker, 23:44.2; 16. Jodi Gore, 23:45.4; 18. Isabel Carey, 24:03.2; 19. Sydney Zimmerman, 24:11.9; 21. Brinna Day, 24:21.8; 25. Abigail Meier, 24:33.9; 26. Hayley Boden, 24:36.5; 32. Taylor Mosher, 24:44.9; 43. Ashley Giago, 25:18.8; 54. Caitlin McAndrew-Beckman, 26:18.1; 62. Kahler Wiebe, 26:52.6; 68. Gretchen Boxberger, 27:20.3; 73. Molly Reed, 27:50.4; 76. Laura Crabtree, 28:12.2; 79. Lexie Lockwood, 28:33.2; 80. Ruby Morris, 28:44.5; 81. Sarah Kelly, 28:44.6; 101. Jessica Ellebracht, 33:02.5.

Lawrence High results – 88. Jasmine Lowery, 29:57.9; 96. Chloe Park, 30:59.9; 100. AJ Holder, 32:46.0.

BOYS

Varsity

Team scores – SM North 70, O-East 72, SM East 86, Free State 113, O-North 129, O-South 150, SM Northwest 158, SM South 205, Leavenworth 208, ONW, 257, SM West 273, Lawrence High 313.

Free State results – 2. Ethan Donley, 15:53.6; 5. Tanner Hockenbury, 16:16.7; 21. Avant Edwards, 16:49.3; 41. Jared Hicks, 17:18.3; 44. Grant Holmes, 17:27.2; 67. Will Benkelman, 17:57.5; 86. Avery Allen, 18:58.7; 90. Calvin Yost-Wolff, 19:13.6.

Lawrence High results – 53. Nathan Pederson, 17:44.9; 56. Carson Jumping Eagle, 17:47.7; 61. Garrett Prescott, 17:51.8; 76. Ben Otte, 18:16.7; 80. Calvin DeWitt, 18:25.8; 88. Jackson Hoy, 19:02.1; 89. Derek White, 19:08.2.

Junior Varsity

Team scores – O-East 22, SM North 60, SM Northwest 86, O-North 117, O-South 130, SM East 162, Free State 174, Lawrence High 189, SM West 202, ONW 292, Leavenworth 339.

Free State results – 16. Josh Waisner, 18:25.8; 20. Eli Jost, 18:32.8; 28. John Walpole, 18:45.2; 48. Cam Edgecomb, 19:22.2; 69. Josh Kallenbacj, 19:52.8; 81. Zach Lockwood, 20:10.8; 88. Alain Marquez, 20:24.0; 96. Lochi Sampson, 20:58.3.

Lawrence High results – 22. Kai Blossner, 18:38.2; 34. Logan Grose, 18:52.7; 38. Cole Shupert, 18:58.6; 45. Bryce Hadl, 19:12.6; 51. Graham Edmonds, 19:28.5; 53. Gary Schmidt, 19:31.1; 54. Sebastian Lepage, 19:31.2; 74. Raymond Faith, 19:53.7; 83. Noah Mercer, 20:12.9; 93. Darius Hart, 20:32.9.

C-team

Team scores – O-East 21, Free State 82, SM Northwest 85, O-North 86, SM West 140, SM South 14, SM East 174, O-South 244, ONW 292, Lawrence High 305, SM North 309.

Free State results – 11. Cooper Simon, 19:27.4; 12. Seth Allen, 19:33.7; 18. Shane Friedrichsen, 19:39.7; 21. Evan Eskilson, 19:41.9; 23. Raiyan Haq, 19:52.6; 26. Finnegan Huerter, 19:54.6; 28. Dash Spears, 20:02.0; 39. Robert Ward, 20:26.1; 48. 20:40.4; 56. Quinton Westphal, 20:53.5; 62. Alex Pettit, 21:06.5; 71. Trey Melvin, 21:20.9; 72. Jake Viscomi, 21:22.2; 74. Micah Burman, 21:24.5; 85. Skylar Eklund, 21:32.7; 88. Declan Forth, 21:34.2; 90. Tyler Winsor, 21:37.9; 94. Daniel Fasching, 21:42.8; 104. Chris Wilkus, 22:02.6; 110. Noah Gold, 22:11.6; 113. Chris Blevins, 22:15.6; 114. Thomas All, 22:16.0; 118. Thomas Riggs, 22:23.3; 122. Milo Schoenen, 22:34.2; 124. Hunter Rea, 22:37.5; 127. Ronan Brady, 22:41.2; 128. Ryan Flakus, 22:42.1; 132. Gabe Lewis, 22:49.3; 133. Eli Heffernan, 22:49.7; 134. Dylan Goldstein, 22:50.4; 135. Adam Ziegler, 22:56.8; 136. Dylan Sommer, 22:59.0; 138. Nathan Robbins, 23:03.6; 139. Brett Carey, 23:04.3; 143. Gabriel Kennard, 23:12.4; 144. Spencer Yost-Wolff, 23:17.3; 148. Matthew Meseke, 23:38.1; 150. Tre Byers, 23:44.0; 153. Lincoln Edgecomb, 23:55.7; 154. Elijah Denmark, 23:56.7; 157. Liam Berns, 24:03.7; 162. Alex Sommerville, 24:21.2; 167. Aidan Nesbitt-Daly, 24:32.1; 178. Walker Koberlein, 25:23.5; 184. Kyler Ruby, 25:50.7; 189. Luke Winchester, 26:26.3; 191. Andy Riggs, 28:35.0.

Lawrence High results – 84. Aaron Reed, 21:31.4; 100. KJ Lashley, 21:53.6; 108. Christian Spoula, 22:10.9; 121. Brian Myers, 22:30.7; 131. Spencer Emerson, 22:49.1; 137. Josh Axlund, 23:02.4; 182. Stephen Taska, 25:51.8; 185. Treyton Trujillo, 25:51.8.

Middle School

Sunflower League

Saturday at Rim Rock Farm

BOYS

Team scores: Indian Woods 46, Trailridge 62, Lawence Middle Schools 66, Indian Hills 91, Hocker Grove 113, Westridge 121.

Lawrence results

1. Zach Venters, 11:31; 8. Brock Cordova, 11:53; 9. Caelen Cordes, 11:55; 18. Hank Hurst, 12:23; 34. J.J. Smith, 13:01; 41. Christian Bandel, 13:07; 112. Theo Weis, 16:33.

GIRLS

Team scores: Trailridge 42, Indian Woods 47, Indian Hills 48, Westridge 113, Hocker Grove 118. (Lawrence did not field full team).

Lawrence results

1. Erin Fagan, 13:17; 18. Maiki Martinez, 13:57; 31. Bella Stull, 14:32; 33. Bella Crawford-Parker, 14:38.