Peel, Yepez-Espinoza WYCO cross-country champs

Sumner, Bonner win team titles

Oct 06, 2023

Sumner Academy senior Uziel Yepez-Espinoza ran in the varsity boys’ cross country meet at Wyandotte County Park. Yepez-Espinoza won the race with a time of 18 minutes, 12.33 seconds.

Runners from Bishop Ward, Bonner Springs, Harmon, Schlagle, Sumner, Washington, and Wyandotte high schools competed on the five kilometer cross-country course at Wyandotte County Park on Thursday. Bishop Ward hosted the event this year, which is on a rotating basis among the schools.

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Moderate late-afternoon temperatures made it a great day for running, and many runners posted personal-best times, including girls' varsity race winner Seraphim Peel of Bonner Springs.

Peel finished the course with a time of 21 minutes, 58.13 seconds, beating her previous best by fifteen seconds, feeling comfortable on the familiar park course. "This is my senior year," said Peel, "and we race here about three times per season. This is where we have our home meet."

Peel credits competition within the Bonner team for helping her improve. "I would say my teammates are my biggest motivators,” she said of her fellow runners. “I have two teammates who have pretty close times. Their names are Cora Dow and Emmalee Foya."

The Sumner Academy team took first as a team in the boys', with runners in first, third, and fourth places. The Sabres' girls also finished second as a team.

Sumner had a large turnout for the competition — 31 runners between varsity and junior varsity. Coach Sherlice Wesson credited the team atmosphere for bringing in students.

"We tell everybody to bring a friend," said Wesson. "It doesn't matter what their times are or anything. We make it more like a family-oriented thing. If you bring a friend, we have fun, and they just enjoy being on the cross country team."

The cross country season will wrap up with regional competitions on Oct. 21, then the state meets on Oct. 28 at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence.