‘Willing to suffer’: Bishop Carroll junior runs through the pain to win second title
Running looks easy for Bishop Carroll junior Hope Jackson, the reigning Kansas Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year.
Jackson once again made winning look effortless on Saturday when she won her second straight Class 5A championship in a time of 18 minutes, 58 seconds at the 5-kilometer course at 4 Mile Creek Resort in Augusta.
But what many spectators didn’t know was that Jackson was in pain during the entire race. The junior has been battling a vocal cord dysfunction that she says is a struggle when she runs in windy conditions like Saturday morning.
“My vocal cords seize up when I run, so it’s like I’m breathing through a straw,” Jackson said. “It hurts my lungs really bad and it’s hard to catch air.
“I just have to dig down and suck it up. I want to win more than I want that to bother me.”
It was a performance that astounded Carroll coach Cory Swords.
“I’ve had the opportunity to coach a lot of great runners and a lot of tough runners and Hope ranks right up there at the top of the toughest runners I’ve ever coached,” Swords said.
“Hope does all of the little things right and she works hard and she’s willing to suffer. It just shows the type of person she is that even when she has something like that, she’s not going to let it hold her back and not perform and not do what she knows she’s capable of doing.”
The condition was discovered in February and Jackson was taken to Children’s Mercy in Kansas City to make sure there was nothing wrong with her lungs. After being cleared, Jackson said, it’s a matter of pain tolerance when she runs now. Anxiety also makes the condition worse and Saturday’s race was full of tension when it was clear early in the race that she was going to be running in pain.
Brett Jackson said he was amazed by his daughter’s toughness.
“I don’t know how she does it,” Brett Jackson said. “I’m impressed every single week. This one was very special. I can’t be prouder.”
Maize South first public school to win 5A girls title since 2004
While Jackson won the individual title for Carroll, Maize South snuck past by a single point to top Carroll for the 5A team championship. It was the first time since 2004 that a public school won the girls 5A title.
“We knew this year that we had the opportunity to win it,” said Maize South senior Alexa Rios, who led the Mavericks with a fifth-place finish. “We just had so much grit on the team this year. Even though I didn’t run my best race individually, this is the best way to end my senior year with a team championship.”
Rios said she was worried she “ruined it for everybody” when she didn’t finish higher, but when she turned around and saw the strong performances from her teammates she was encouraged.
Bowi Sargent (19:51, 10th) and Britton Kelly (19:53, 11th) both delivered all-state performances for Maize South, while Sage Pauly (20:18, 21st) and Kennedy Mitchell (20:31, 23rd) rounded out the team score of 58 points, one more than Carroll’s 59.
“I’m so proud of (Mitchell). It’s her first year running, she’s never ran before and she started out toward the back of the race but just kept moving up and moving up,” Maize South coach Amber McVicar said. “She was our fifth score and that’s what really helped us out.”
It was the second state title in Maize South’s program history.
“It’s the best feeling that I could have,” Rios said. “The only thing I wanted for this year was for them to experience this. I wanted it for them, not for me. I’m so proud of these girls.”
Kapaun’s Enriquez finishes perfect senior year with state title
In the 5A boys race, Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Erik Enriquez completed his ascent with a state championship run in his senior year. A week after breaking the school record, Enriquez finished his senior season undefeated by winning the 5A title in 15:43 — eight seconds ahead of Carroll’s Carson McEachern.
To some, that level of dominance was a surprise considering he finished 14th at the state meet last season.
“We knew that he had this in him,” Kapaun coach Gage Garcia said. “He actually did a track season in the spring and ran really well, just nobody got to see it. So maybe it seemed like more of a surprise to other people, but we thought this was coming.”
But that didn’t mean Enriquez didn’t face adversity. He actually broke a toe just before the start of the season, an injury that sidelined him from running for two weeks.
“I had to lay off the running, but I still kept it up with swimming and biking,” Enriquez said. “I was pretty down when it happened, but then I realized if I kept working maybe I can rest my legs and work other muscles without putting a strain on my body. I think it may have actually worked in my favor.”
Enriquez let other runners take the lead and run into the wind for the first mile before he started to make his move. By the 3-kilometer mark, Enriquez said he felt like he had secured the win.
“As soon as they gave me an inch, I was going to take the mile,” Enriquez said. “I conditioned all summer and put in lots and lots of miles and did all of the crazy workouts my coach put together. I hated them in the moment, but I knew that they were all working toward this moment. Every mile was worth it.”
Buhler boys win third straight 4A team title
For the third straight season, Tanner Lindahl helped lead the Buhler boys to a team state championship at the Class 4A meet at Wamego Country Club.
The Crusaders (75 points) were barely able to edge out Bishop Miege (79) and WInfield (81) in a tight three-team battle for the team title. The individual title was also a three-way race, as Topeka Hayden’s Tanner Newkirk (15:53) had the best kick out of Miege’s Micah Blomker (15:56) and Lindahl (15:59).
Behind Lindahl, Buhler had strong performances from freshman Kaden Lohrentz (17th, 17:32), Spencer Hines (22nd, 17:35), Hayden Keller (25th, 17:42) and Colton Lohrentz (31st, 18:09). Winfield finished third, but did place its top three runners — Craig Labrue (fifth, 16:42), Camilo Leos-Tarin (eighth, 17:01) and Corban Priest (ninth, 17:12) — in the top 10.
In the 3A boys race, Smoky Valley finished four points behind Southeast-Saline for the runner-up trophy. The Vikings were led by a third-place finish by senior Ryan Heline in a time of 16:35.
Berean Academy boys win back-to-back team state titles
After a dominant performance to win the Class 1A team championship last fall, Berean Academy moved up a class and still saw the same result. The Warriors won the 2A team title on Saturday with a team score of 54 points, eight more than Stanton County.
Berean Academy placed three in the top-15 in sophomore Andrew Harder (fifth, 16:47), senior Gavin Tucker (10th, 17:04) and junior Eli Nord (13th, 17:06).
In the 2A girls race, Remington finished second in the team race behind an all-state performance from junior Lucy Brown (11th, 20:35).
Central Christian’s Collin Oswalt wins second state title
The senior showdown between the last two state champions in Class 1A did not disappoint, as Hutchinson Central Christian senior Collin Oswalt won the rubber match with Beloit-St. John’s Caleb Eilert to win the individual title in a time of 15:56 — 23 seconds ahead of Eilert in second place.
After Oswalt won the title as a sophomore, Eilert knocked him off last season to become the defending champion. But there was no question who was going to win the tiebreaker midway through Saturday’s 5K race, as Oswalt led in a wire-to-wire finish.
All-state runners from the area
Class 6A
Girls
19. Eva McKinzie, East junior (19:54)
Class 5A
Boys
1. Erik Enriquez, Kapaun Mt. Carmel senior (15:43)
2. Carson McEachern, Bishop Carroll junior (15:51)
9. Brett Schoenhofer, Andover Central (16:28)
15. William Schaeffer, Maize South junior (16:39)
16. Jacob Fawson, Eisenhower senior (16:39)
19. Mark Davied, Kapaun Mt. Carmel senior (16:47)
Girls
1. Hope Jackson, Bishop Carroll junior (18:58)
3. Landon Forbes, Bishop Carroll sophomore (19:13)
4. Elizabeth Vetter, Andover junior (19:17)
5. Alexa Rios, Maize South senior (19:19)
7. Hannah Grover, Valley Center sophomore (19:28)
8. Zoie Ecord, Maize junior (19:43)
10. Bowi Sargent, Maize South sophomore (19:51)
11. Britton Kelly, Maize South junior (19:53)
14. Kelsey Bruening, Kapaun Mt. Carmel junior (20:07)
16. Addie Curtis, Kapaun Mt. Carmel sophomore (20:12)
17. Cameron Paschal, Bishop Carroll senior (20:13)
20. Jadyn Pavlik, Eisenhower senior (20:17)
Class 4A
Boys
3. Tanner Lindahl, Buhler junior (15:59)
5. Craig Labrue, Winfield senior (16:42)
6. Sawyer Schmidt, Augusta junior (16:55)
7. Cody Achilles, McPherson senior (16:58)
8. Camilo Leos-Tarin, Winfield senior (17:01)
9. Corban Priest, Winfield sophomore (17:12)
14. Ian Hunter, Circle junior (17:29)
17. Kaden Lohrentz, Buhler freshman (17:32)
18. Logan Barnes, Andale sophomore (17:32)
20. Chris Diet, Mulvane sophomore (17:34)
Girls
3. Hayley Trotter, Clearwater sophomore (20:22)
4. Leah Bentley, Buhler senior (20:36)
13. Campbell Williams, Mulvane senior (21:22)
14. Porsha Zweifel, Augusta junior (21:24)
19. Alexa Marshall, Rose Hill freshman (21:38)
20. Courtney Eickbus, McPherson senior (21:39)
Class 3A
Boys
3. Ryan Heline, Smoky Valley senior (16:35)
5. C.J. Meyer, Collegiate sophomore (17:15)
7. Thomas Porch, Halstead senior (17:33)
17. Lukas Apel, Smoky Valley junior (17:48)
Girls
10. Kendall Coombes, Douglass senior (21:22)
15. Elizabeth Lambert, Smoky Valley junior (21:30)
16. Jenna Elliott, Trinity Academy senior (21:34)
Class 2A
Boys
5. Andrew Harder, Berean Academy senior (17:04)
13. Eli Nord, Berean Academy junior (17:06)
15. Jonah Godina, Hutch Trinity sophomore (17:08)
16. Levi Allen, Hillsboro freshman (17:11)
Girls
5. Josie Ware, West Elk junior (19:38)
11. Lucy Brown, Remington junior (20:35)
15. Emersyn Funk, Hillsboro junior (20:43)
Class 1A
Boys
1. Collin Oswalt, Hutchinson Central Christian senior (15:56)
9. Morgan Becker, Canton-Galva junior (17:12)
10. Jackson Wallace, Pratt Skyline senior (17:20)
15. Christian Darrah, Canton-Galva junior (17:43)
19. Lucas Leis, Burrton senior (17:46)
20. Paul Shive, Classical junior (17:54)
Girls
8. Abigail White, Pretty Prairie junior (21:06)
18. Kayla Peters, McPherson Elyria Christian (22:11)
19. Olivia Kenas, Classical senior (22:12)
This story was originally published October 31, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
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