Free State junior Emily Venters runs neck-and-neck with St. Thomas Aquinas sophomore Margaret Pigott with less than 400 meters to go in the girls gold division race, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, at Rim Rock Farm. Venters finished third overall, clocking in at 18:31.7 for 5,000 meters.

Free State junior Emily Venters got back into her comfort zone when she took third place Saturday in the girls gold division of the Rim Rock Classic at Rim Rock Farm.

The two-time Class 6A state cross country champion clocked in with a 5,000-meter time of 18:30.7 to lead the Firebirds to a ninth-place team finish.

A conservative race plan, some confidence and a field of some of the region’s best runners proved to be the right combination for Venters to run a season-best time.

“I was really happy with it, considering it’s Rim Rock,” Venters said. “That just tells me that I can go faster on a flat course.”

Venters was joined in the top 50 by junior Kiran Cordes and freshman Sarah Walpole, who finished 31st and 48th, respectively.

The Firebirds entered Saturday short-handed, though, as they were without sophomore Alvena Walpole, who was sidelined because of shin splints. With the edler Walpole out, FSHS coach Steve Heffernan thought Saturday provided the opportunity for other runners to step up.

“For this meet actually, we had so many new kids,” Heffernan said. “Some of them had never run Rim Rock before that were in our varsity group, so it was going to be a learning curve one way or another.”

The FSHS boys squad can relate to the Firebird girls in terms of having a couple of veteran runners up front also also having the rest of the bunch relatively new to the varsity level.

Junior Ethan Donley placed 31st overall with a time of 16:30.9, and senior Tanner Hockenbury followed in 74th in 17:04.1.

Free State finished 23rd in the boys gold division as a group of young Firebirds, including freshmen Jared Hicks and Grant Holmes, backed up Donley and Hockenbury.

“I think we’re progressing well throughout the season,” Donley said. “I’m excited to see what we do later on.”

DeWitt, Pederson pace Lions

Lawrence High senior Nathan Pederson was the lone Lion to qualify for the state meet in 2014, but he had plenty of support Saturday as LHS placed 27th in the boys crimson division.

Pederson placed 89th overall with a time of 17:57.2, but he was more upbeat about how his teammates packed up behind him. Sophomore Carson Jumping Eagle was only seven seconds back of Pederson, and junior Garrett Prescott, senior Kai Blosser and sophomore Carter Shook finished within 25 seconds of each other, spanning from 18:39 to 19:04.

“We can use that to help us in the next meet,” Pederson said. “We just need to get faster now.”

The LHS girls team has been led this season by the freshmen duo of Anna DeWitt and Morgan Jones. DeWitt took the reins on Saturday by placing 72nd overall in 21:48 and fueled the Lions to place 32nd in the crimson division.

“I’ve never ran a race like this before,” DeWitt said. “It was definitely a challenge, the hills especially. I almost beat my PR, which is great.”

The race for Jones did not quite go as planned, though, as the LHS freshman was tripped up twice.

LHS coach Bruce Anderson echoed Heffernan’s thoughts of the race being beneficial for his team’s younger runners.

“It gives them a chance to see what it’s like just in a hard competition where you have to step up to the plate,” Anderson said. “You can’t just back out.”

Boys

Varsity Gold Division team scores – 1. St. Thomas Aquinas, 95; 2. College Park, 134; 3. Rockhurst, 198; 4. Brentwood Academy, 227; 5. Iowa City West, 270; 23. Free State, 622; 26. Baldwin, 641.

Free State results – 31. Ethan Donley, 16:30.9; 74. Tanner Hockenbury, 17:04.1; 169. Avant Edwards, 17:55.6; 183. Jared Hicks, 18:02.3; 197. Grant Holmes, 18:09.3; 206. William Benkelman, 18:14.6; 227. Calvin Yost-Wolff, 18:27.7

Other area top 50 finishers – 17. George Letner, Baldwin, 16:19.1.

Varsity Crimson Division team scores – 1. Dodge City, 171; 2. Olathe South, 180; 3. Maize South, 187; 4. Mill Valley, 226; 5. Rogers, 228; 17. De Soto, 420; 27. Lawrence High, 699.

Lawrence High results – 89. Nathan Pederson, 17:57.2; 100. Carson Jumping Eagle, 18:04.1; 165. Garrett Prescott, 18:39.8; 173. Kai Blosser, 18:46.0; 197. Carter Shook, 19:04.5; 228. Ben Otte, 19:30.8; 283. Jackson Hoy, 20:53.0.

Other area top 50 finishers – 25. Luis Murillo, De Soto, 17:05.6; 27. Travis Hodge, De Soto, 17:07.7; 28. Justin Grega, Mill Valley, 17:09.4; 35. Tyler Coad, Mill Valley, 17:14.0; 44. Max Jones, Mill Valley, 17:29.5; 48. Garrett Fields, Mill Valley, 17:30.6.

Varsity Blue Division team scores – 1. Grain Valley, 81; 2. Herculaneum, 88; 3. Wichita West, 93; 4. Girard, 103; 5. Maranatha Academy, 150; 7. Tonganoxie, 187; 8. Eudora, 188.

Area top 50 placers – 19. Emma Campbell, Tonganoxie, 21:01.3; 31. Paige McDonald, Wellsville, 21:44.6; 43. Mia Bond, Tonganoxie, 22:02.0.

Girls

Varsity Gold Division team scores – 1. St. Thomas Aquinas, 95; 2. Iowa City West, 116; 3. Manhattan, 191; 4. Park Hill South, 221; 5. Blue Valley, 262; 9. Free State, 313; 15. Baldwin, 448.

Free State results – 3. Emily Venters, 18:31.7; 31. Kiran Cordes, 19:45.3; 48. Sarah Walpole, 20:17.4; 73. Julia Larkin, 20:41.1; 162. Kate Odgers, 21:47.0; 177. Abigail Zenger, 22:03.8.

Other area top 50 finishers – 17. Addie Dick, Baldwin, 19:23.7.

Varsity Crimson Division team scores – 1. Rogers, 127; 2. Blue Valley, 155; 3. Herculaneum, 162; 4. Wichita-Trinity, 175; 5. Mill Valley, 180; 30. De Soto, 655; 32. Lawrence High 859.

Lawrence High results – 72. Anna DeWitt, 21:48.5; 205. Mikayla Herschell, 24:21.1; 208. Layne Prescott, 24:32.6; 218. Lacey Greenfield, 25:16.9; 222. Christina Cho, 25:33.0; 223. Katie Ahern, 25:34.5; Morgan Jones, DNF.

Other area top 50 finishers – 7. Gabby Collins, De Soto, 20:01.5; 25. Ellie Wilson, Mill Valley, 20:37.2; 32. Amber Akin, Mill Valley, 20:52.0; 34. Delaney Kemp, Mill Valley, 20:54.8; 46. Anna Clayborn, Mill Valley, 21:15.5; 48. Britton Nelson, Mill Valley, 21:19.8.

Varsity Blue Division team scores – 1. Metro Christian, 18; 2. Andover Central, 65; 3. Carthage, 157; 4. Tonganoxie, 157; 5. Grain Valley, 172; 8. Eudora, 177.

Area top 50 placers – 16. Ethan Phillips, Tonganoxie, 17:39.5; 17. Drew Cook, Tonganoxie, 17:39.7; 28. Brandon Brewster, Wellsville, 17:52.7; 35. Jack Gerstmann, Eudora, 18:03.9; 41. Kimble Haskett, Eudora, 18:15.2; 48. Jayce McQueen, Eudora, 18:20.6.