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Bogina wins FSHS meet for 3rd time
For Northeast senior Austin Bogina, the course for the annual Fort Scott High School Cross Country Invitational, held on the grounds of the building that once housed Cigna, is pretty much his home course. Northeast doesn't have its own home meet and his mother, Tracey, is Fort Scott's head coach.
So clouds and mist and mud didn't put a damper on the Boginas' day after Austin won his third FSHS invite title in as many years.
"He came up to me a little bit ago and said how much this meant to him, to be able to win three times," Tracey Bogina said. "He's proud of that. He goes to Northeast but he's also bled Tiger red and it means a lot to him to come up to my home (school) and do well on this course. He felt very blessed to do well today."
Although mom was concerned about the level of competition at this meet, Austin won the varsity boys' race by 54 seconds as he ran the soggy 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 3 seconds. The runner-up, Iola's Roman Yocham, who won at Burlington last week, finished in 17:57. Third place went to Labette County's Brendan Finley in 18:20.73.
Fort Scott had only two runners in the varsity boys' race. Robert Sellers finished 13th in 19:55.56 and Keenan Gregory was 21st in 20:40.62.
Morgan Tourtillott was the only Tiger in the varsity girls' race, using a kick at the end to finish 18th in 22:06.58 over 4 kilometers. Maci Roy of Prairie View was the winner in 19:09.89.
"I thought the kids all ran hard," Bogina said. "And they had fun out here. It's muddy and it's slick. It kind of takes their minds off how it hurts so bad because you're too busy just trying to stay up."
Jayhawk-Linn was also at the meet. In the boys' varsity Mason Craig turned in a time of 19:19.69 for 10th place and Lane Harris was 18th in 20:23.82. In the girls' varsity race, Megan Leavitt turned in a time of 2020.26 to finish seventh for the Jayhawks.
Labette County won the girls' team title with Fredonia second and Iola third. LCHS also won the boys' title with Iola second and Prairie View in third.
Pleasanton's Savanah Smith won the girls' junior varsity race in 18:58.26, which was best by a margin of nearly 1:02. Teammate Hannah Streeter was seventh in 2:55.26, Ashley Newell was 12th in 25:34.51 and Johnnea Saulsberry was 16th in 25:46.27. Ciara Troth was Jayhawk-Linn's only entrant, finishing 21st in 29:10. Fort Scott did not have any runners.
Pleasanton's Dylan Ellis led area runners with a third-place finish in the boys' JV race with a time of 16:52. Fort Scott's Skyler Cruse was 12th in 18:05.32. Zach Willis of Pleasanton finished 17th in 18:33.87 and Caleb Melugin was 20th in 18:53.65.
Next for the area was Fort Scott's Kyle Altic, 23rd in 19:09. Dylan Stanley of Jayhawk-Linn was 30th in 20:20. J-Linn's Trenton Vaughn was 44th in 22:41.
Pleasanton did not enter any varsity runners.
Unlike the majority of meets, the varsity races went first. This was to ensure the varsity runners could have the best conditions. Also, if a sudden storm came up, the chances of the varsity races being completed were better if they were held first.
Fortunately, the worst the weather got was a mist and that didn't even last very long.
"I thought it was great to just have the meet," Bogina said. "I think most people thought it might not go. The elements are just part of cross country so we just wanted to get it in.
"We have a great group of workers and thank goodness my husband is so great about coming up and setting up this course for us. I appreciate everyone's help. The kids had fun and no one got hurt. The kids had good performances in unfavorable conditions."
Fort Scott will compete in Parsons' meet next Thursday. That will be held at Big Hill Lake, which is between Parsons and Cherryvale.
Jayhawk-Linn will compete at Wellsville next Thursday. At this writing, Pleasanton's schedule indicated that the Blu-Jays will not be running again until Sept. 23 at Prairie View.