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Kansas City, Kan. — The Bonner Springs High School boys cross country team is headed back to state after blazing to a second-place finish on Saturday at the Class 5A regional championships at Wyandotte County Park.

State will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence.

St. Thomas Aquinas dominated the meet as it swept the top three spots and had six of the top 11 finishers. Saints senior P.J. Greer was the meet champion as he won the 5,000-meter race in 16:34.90. Aquinas’ score of 24 easily outdistanced runner-up BSHS which had 62. The Braves fended off third-place Mill Valley, which had 80. Just a week earlier at the Kaw Valley League championship, Mill Valley finished ahead of Bonner Springs.

BSHS junior Brooks Ballou was the top non-Aquinas finisher. He cruised to a fourth-place finish in 17:34.24.

“I’m happy with the finish,” Ballou said. “It was a hard course to run today with the wind and soggy spots. It was a tough race, but I finished where I was supposed to.”

Not far behind was teammate and BSHS senior Isaac Mills. He placed sixth in 17:58.04.

Mills was so excited with his great finish that he began pumping his fists and screaming “Come on,” as he neared the finish line.

“I really wanted to help earn the team a runner-up plaque,” said Mills who has emphasized nutrition during the season to help his performance. “We were fighting just to get into state. Now we want to beat as many of the 12 teams (at state) as we can.

“Personally, I said I wanted to jump 30 spots from last year’s finish at state, so that is what I’m going to try to concentrate on this week in practice.”

Bryce Peterson came in 15th with a time of 18:47.10 just when it was starting to look bleak for the Braves. Shortly after Peterson’s finish, a trio of Braves came around the three-shaded corner and charged down the home stretch. Senior Anthony Ellingsworth crossed the finish line in 18th place in 19:08.68, followed closely by freshman Dedric Johnson and sophomore Austin Epp in 19th and 20th, respectively. Both crossed the finish line in 19:15.

“I’m not sure people thought we had a shot to finish second after our performance at league, specifically finishing 30 points behind Mill Valley,” coach Bill Downing said. “To turn it around and perform the way we did just proves that anything can happen in a given race. The guys left everything they had on the course for sure.”

Junior Tessa Seaton was only the fifth girl in Bonner Springs cross country history to make it to the state meet when she qualified last year. She will get another chance this year, but it did not come easy.

The full BSHS girls squad didn’t qualify for state, and the top five finishers from non-qualifying teams advance individually. Seaton was the last of those five as she finished the 4,000-meter race in 23rd place in 19:26.80. Aquinas junior Ashley Washburn was the meet champion in 15:37.45, and the Saints had seven of the top eight finishers.

By qualifying, Seaton had to beat out teammate and BSHS freshman Scintilla Capalla. Capalla. Capalla finished 24th in 19:32.92.

“This was our third race on this course this year so we were prepared for it,” said Seaton who was happy that her allergies were subdued allowing her to turn in a solid time and qualify for state.

Downing followed Capalla and Seaton and kept them up to date on where they were as far as qualifying went during the race. Seaton was sitting outside of the spot she needed before she started running her style, which is picking off people from behind. She passed just enough of the other runners to qualify.

“This is my second year going to state so I’m pretty excited,” she said. “I want to improve on my finish last year (88th) and want to shoot for under 70th.”

Downing was impressed with Seaton’s performance, saying that her goal of finishing under 70th is an obtainable and good goal to have.

“I think we would like to finish as strong as possible at state, and I think eighth might be a realistic goal for us just by looking at times on paper,” Downing said. “But you never know, they have made some changes to the course this year that we may benefit from. We have really come together as a team this year, so I think we are capable of anything on Saturday.”

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