Drees paces Indians in home meet
By KLINT SPILLER
kspiller@dailynews.net
Before this fall, the farthest race Hays High School junior Derek Drees had run at one time was a mile.
Drees had never run cross country, but in his first three meets with the Indians, Drees has cemented himself as the Indians' No. 1 runner, improving from 17 minutes and 54 seconds in the first meet of the year to 17 minutes flat at the Indians' home meet Thursday.
Drees paced his Indian boys at the Hays High Invitational on the FHSU cross country course. The Indians finished fourth as a team in the 5A-6A division.
Drees placed eighth and shocked even himself when he read his time off the results sheet.
"I am really happy with how I did," Drees said. "I wasn't expecting to do this well at the beginning of the season."
Drees' goal at the beginning of the season was just to break 18 minutes. He did that in the first meet of the season and has now beaten that goal by a whole minute.
"I'm just going to continue to work hard and try to improve on my times," Drees said.
Hays High cross country coach Jerold Harris said he isn't sure what Drees' potential is.
"With him, the sky might be the limit," Harris said. "I thought today he ran a smart 5K. He ran strong, and he ran especially strong in the middle."
All six of the Indians cracked 18 minutes: Joshua Brungardt, 17th, 17:31; Dallas Kaiser, 21st, 17:40; Jake Nelson, 22nd, 17:44; Kendall Kandt, 23rd, 17:46; and Landon Munsch, 28th, 17:51.
Hays High's girls' team finished fifth, and was led by April Johnson, who finished 12th in 16:17 on the 4,000-meter course.
Summer Smith, 22nd, 16:56; Bailee Leiker, 25th, 17:19; Jenna Luebbers, 28th, 17:28; and Reagan Kaiser, 32nd, 17:39; rounded out the top five for the Indians.
"We ran like a young team that hasn't seen a ton of competition yet, but we've improved time wise," Harris said. "We just have to take the next step and compete tougher."
The Norton girls, the defending Class 3A champion, won the 1A-4A race with 36 points.
Though none of Norton's runners finished in the top five, its pack mentality allowed the Bluejays to win.
"They came out and ran tough," said Norton coach George Rossi. "I think they all had good times. We are not going to win the races, but we have a good group of girls that stay together and pull each other along."
Sophomore Katelyn Engelbert led the Bluejays with a time of 16:08 and finished seventh. Sophomore Darcy Bainter, 8th, 16:18; junior Julia Kent, 10th, 16:34; sophomore Marissa Maddy, 11th, 16:43; and junior Kamilla Jones, 13th, 17:15; rounded out the top five.
The Bluejays returned all but one runner from their state championship team, and they have no seniors this year.
"Last week when we won Wamego, it was good knowing that we can actually still do it," Engelbert said. "It is a really good year so far. We are really excited."
The Norton boys won the 1A-4A race as well.
Senior Zach Hartwell paced the boys' squad with a third-place finish in 17:04.
Senior Bryan Henry, fifth, 17:40; sophomore Marc Miller, sixth, 17:46; sophomore Alec Hager, eighth, 18:00; and junior John Renner, 13th, 18:59; rounded out the top five.
The boys' race was won by Plainville senior Brady Johnson, who finished in 15:45, and the girls' race was won by Thomas More Prep-Marian junior Heather Ruder in 14:55.
"(Ruder) knew all week that she was going to have people to run with, which she doesn't get very often," TMP-Marian head coach Matt Dumler said.
"She has been prepping herself all week. We had a race strategy planned out beforehand, and it worked well for her."