Free State High School cross country runner Ryan Liston finishes in first at the boys Sunflower League championships Saturday at Rim Rock Farm.

When Free State High senior Ryan Liston crossed the finish line at the Sunflower League cross country meet on Saturday morning, he raised both of his arms over his head in triumph.

It was a big day for him and the entire Firebirds cross country program at Rim Rock Farm.

Liston became the first boys runner in school history to capture a league individual championship. His victory, along with senior Thomas Becker and juniors Ethan Donley and Tanner Hockenbury all placing in the top 10, helped the boys team win the first league title in program history.

Their celebrations followed another banner day for Free State’s girls team, as sophomore Emily Venters repeated as league champion in a dominating run and helped the girls team win its first league title since 2008.

It was also the first time Free State had two individual league champions in the same year.

“It was another great day for our girls, which has been happening for the past couple of years,” FSHS coach Steve Heffernan said. “But a really big day for our guys.”

Liston allowed two other runners to take the lead and stay in front of him while he waited until the two-mile marker, right before the skyline and after the last hill, to make his move on a sprint past them.

“I was thinking, especially down here on the straightaway, my legs have never hurt that bad at the end of any cross country race,” said Liston, who finished in a personal-record 16:17.81. “I was just pushing through it, trying to go through the pain. I was just thinking to myself, ‘I can fall over, I can pass out, whatever, after I finish. But right now, I’ve got to keep pushing it until I get there.'”

Venters jumped to an early lead and obliterated the rest of the field, winning by 35 seconds. She has won every race she has entered this season and set a Rim Rock personal record with a time of 14:55.34.

“I was pretty happy with it,” Venters said. “It felt really good this time. Last time (at the Kansas Relays), we ran 5K so it felt really nice to get to cut and go on the 4K path. I don’t know, I just felt really good and smooth.”

Sophomore Kiran Cordes followed Venters and finished third, just missing out on second place by 0.07 seconds. Cordes set a Rim Rock PR in 15:30.54, while junior Claire Sanner fought a shin injury to seventh place, and junior Liv Lyche and senior Marlee Yost-Wolff took 25th and 28th place, respectively.

Lawrence High’s boys cross country team took 11th in the league, led by junior Nathan Pederson’s 32nd-place finish. Freshman Carter Shook was right behind in 40th place, and sophomore Garrett Prescott took 44th.

The Lions girls team, which has battled injuries throughout the year, took last in league, but was led by junior Shaye White in 67th place.

“It’s nice to see that the younger ones are stepping up,” LHS coach Brian Anderson said. “They keep trying to improve. Even if they didn’t improve their PR, they still improved since the last time that they ran here.”

Sunflower League Meet

Saturday at Rim Rock Farm

Girls 4k

Team scores: 1. Free State, 64; 2. Olathe East, 72; 3. SM West, 82; 4. SM Northwest, 94; 5. Olathe North, 150; 6. SM North, 173; 7. SM East, 184; 8. SM South, 207; 9. Olathe South, 227; 10. Olathe Northwest, 238; 11. Leavenworth, 265; 12. Lawrence, 375.

Individual results (top five): 1. Emily Venters, FSHS, 14:55.34; 2. Kayla Davis, OE, 15:30.47; 3. Kiran Cordes, FSHS, 15:30.54; 4. Molly Born, SMNW, 15:30.95; 5. Cameron Gueldner, ONW, 15:45.56.

FSHS results: 1. Emily Venters, 14:55.34; 3. Kiran Cordes, 15:30.34; 7. Claire Sanner, 16:09.31; 25. Liv Lyche, 16:30.15; 28. Marlee Yost-Wolff, 16:37.88; 45. Allyson Hertig, 17:21.91; 57. Rachel Witt, 17:55.77.

LHS results: 67. Shaye White, 18:26.30; 75. Shelby Ward, 18:51.30; 82. Dana Bequette, 19:24.05; 86. Mikayla Herschell, 19:40.67; 87. Leah Gabler, 19:43.15; 88. Eleanor Matheis, 19:43.22; 89. Lacey Greenfield, 19:58.11.

Boys 5k

Team scores: 1. Free State, 53; 2. Olathe East, 77; 3. Olathe North, 82; 4. SM East, 126; 5. SM North, 128; 6. SM Northwest, 164; 7. Olathe South, 167; 8. Leavenworth, 174; 9. SM South, 225; 10. Olathe Northwest, 245; 11. Lawrence, 254; 12. SM West, 303.

Individual results (top five): 1. Ryan Liston, FSHS, 16:17.81; 2. Nicholas Skinner, OE, 16:30.59; 3. John Arnspiger, SME, 16:31.96; 4. Aaron Taylor, ONW, 16:35.30; 5. Ethan Donley, FSHS, 16:35.79.

FSHS results: 1. Ryan Liston, 16:17.81; 5. Ethan Donley, 16:35.79; 6. Tanner Hockenbury, 16:46.01; 8. Thomas Becker, 16:49.62; 33. Colton Stallard, 17:40.00; 45. Curtis Zicker, 17:54.25; 64. Connor Ballenger, 18:31.65; 67. Calvin Yost-Wolff, 18:33.93; 71. Owen Heffernan, 18:42.38.

LHS results: 32. Nathan Pederson, 17:38.71; 40. Carter Shook, 17:48.39; 44. Carter Prescott, 17:51.54; 65. Keegan Matheis, 18:32.53; 81. Carson Jumping Eagle, 18:57.87; 90. Darius Hart, 19:54.91; 91. Jackson Hoy, 20:01.15.

Junior varsity girls

Team scores: Olathe East 27, SM Northwest 32, SM West 72, Free State 111, SM East 149, SM South 163, Olathe South 191, Lawrence High 232.

FSHS results: 18. Isabelle Haake, 18:20.34; 2. Christina Craig, 18:22.92; 23. Grace Bradshaw, 18:32.46; 24. Leah Wethington, 18:35.54; 30. Hannah Ruessner, 18:42.85; 31. Lindsey Wethington, 18:45.51.

LHS results: 52. Aimee Neilsen, 20:40.0; 57. Mackenzie Ruder, 21:00.58; 59. Kim Myers, 22:09.56; 61. April Hodges, 23:00.79; 62. Kaitlen White, 23:26.36.

Junior varsity boys

Team scores: SM Northwest 27, Olathe East 67, SM South 88, Olathe North 127, SM East 139, Free State 140, SM North 156, SM West 183, Olathe South 185, Lawrence High 289, Olathe Northwest 292, Leavenworth 323.

FSHS results: Eli Jost, 19:15.16; 27. William Benkelman, 19:20.27; 30. Avery Allen, 19:23.24; 41. Ty Hartman, 19:34.99; 56. Joshua Kallenbach, 20:11.44; 63. Jake Keary, 20:28.92; 68. Josh Burrichter, 20:36.23;

LHS results: 16. Kai Blosser, 18:53.68; 69. Noah Mercer, 20:36.48; 73. Cameron Stussie, 20:48.21; 74. Keifer Smith, 20:53.08; 76. Ray Faith, 20:58.89; 83. Graham Edmonds, 21:17.61; 85. Ivan Davidson, 21:29.55; 92. Marten Menk, 22:09.86.

C-team girls

Team scores: SM Northwest 24, Olathe East 45, Free State 84, SM West 91, SM South 134, SM East 189, Olathe Northwest 214.

FSHS results: 5. Marcela Ellebrecht, 18:42.09; 16. Graycee Meyer, 19:21.68; 19. Anna Sophia Westbrook, 19:38.17; 21. Calli Bowen, 19:40.77; 24. Isabel Carey, 19:50.19; 25. Sidney Zimmerman, 19:50.40; 29. Hayley Boden, 19:59.79; 51. Maya Davison, 21:18.16; 63. Lindsey Rapp, 21:49.51; 69. Caroline Kelton, 21:55.65; 75. Sarah Kelly, 22:18.89; 79. Bente McPherson, 22:22.32; 82. Sarah Lieberman, 22:29.30; 92. Carolyn Muriu, 23:02.70; 99. Lila Alvarado, 23:43.44; 103. Madeline Hill, 24:09.44; 104. Erica Crockett, 24:09.51; 105. Cailyn Zicker, 24:48.33; 107. Molly Reed, 25:04.05.

C-team boys

Team scores: SM Northwest 39, Olathe East 75, Olathe South 88, Free State 109, SM South 114, SM West 118, SM East 156, Lawrence High 282, Olathe North 285, Olathe Northwest 293, SM North 330.

FSHS results: 9. Lamont Sampson, 19:39.32; 12. Evan Eskilson, 19:44.25; 15. Zach Lockwood, 19:51.55; 30. Hunter Rea, 20:22.75; 51. Zaq Moore, 21:14.91; 56. Alain Marquez, 21:21.04; 64. Milo Schoenen, 21:28.93; 72. Raiyan Haq, 21:50.58; 77. Kieran Inbody, 21:58.17; 84. Alex Petit, 22:09.52; 89. Micah Burman, 22:18.46; 100. Skylar Eklund, 22:31.42; 112. Tom Riggs, 22:57.84; 118. Tre Byers, 23:11.03; 147. Tyler Winsor, 25:12.49; 156. Teddy Adams, 25:42.14; 167. Elijah Denmark, 30:33.97; 169. Andy Riggs, 30:38.02.

LHS results: 57. Bryce Hadl, 21:21.21; 80. Jordan Schoepf, 22:01.14; 90. Calvin DeWitt, 22:20.68; 91. KJ Lashley, 22:22.24; 121. Josh Axlund, 23:18.54; 130. Amiri Bledsoe, 23:37.09; 149. Rainer Brady, 25:18.03; 150. Jackson Maher, 25:18.39.