The SES Cross Country is well underway, and there are many topics to recap and discuss, including a review of the current season, an interview of seniors and coach Caselman, and a short insight into the later season meets.

The boys’ team started the year well at the Abilene Invitational, where the Walker brothers took first and second, while sophomore Jacob Bircher third place. The boys won first place as a team as well. The team also raced at the Wamego Invitational that next weekend where the Walker brothers went first and second yet again and took first as a team. Ben Grauerholz had a personal best by a whole minute, running 17:57. The next meet was at Buhler, and it was a great test of the team. The boys beat Buhler High but it was closer than we expected. The most recent meet the boys had was the Southeast of Saline home meet. There were a bunch of teams but, as usual, the boys came out on top. Brayden Walker took first place, Levi Allen took second place, Cayden Walker took third place, and Jacob Bircher took fourth place. Throughout the season the 7th runner position has been fluctuating. The team has had three different seventh runners Caden Parry, Cole Franklin, and Miguel Ortega. 

I interviewed Coach Caselman and the Seniors and here are some questions and answers. When asked how well the team matches up to Wichita Trinity, Coach Caselman said, “Trinity is gonna be a very good team once again. You know, I think we’ve improved over last year. I think if we continue to improve, it will be close to ‘em. We’ll see, you know, we still have a long way to go to get where we want to be, but hopefully, by the end of the season, we can give them a good run for the state title. Trinity is the number one ranked team in 3A boys cross country and Southeast is number two. Our team has improved a lot and we have had some guys step up to the point where we think we can compete better than we did last year. I also interviewed Levi Allen and when asked about his favorite course/meet to go, he said, “My favorite course is Wamego because it is a challenging course, it has a really good atmosphere, and it was the very first state meet that I competed in.” And when asked about what colleges he would like to run at Allen said, “I do plan to run in college. I’ll be looking at K-Dub and Northwest Missouri State.” In this interview, we also talked to Ben Grauerholz. When I asked him which course was his favorite, he said, “I like to run at our home course mainly because I know it like the back of my hand. I know when to surge and when to chill out. I know exactly how much longer I have from wherever I am on the course. And it is always just a great home environment because everyone shows out and there are always a lot of teams.”

The boys still have a lot of season left so I will give you a preview of that. They run at Halstead on September 28th. It is a fairly fast course but this year will be much warmer than usual. The boys have a very good shot to win this meet. Then they run at Riley County, which is a tough course, but shouldn’t be a problem for the guys. They should take first by a landslide on that Saturday, the seventh of October. After that is our league meet which is another meet we should dominate. There is a possibility that they could take first place, through seventh place. It is usually a nice flat course and a cool day but sometimes it’s pretty windy. After this meet, the postseason will start. The regionals have yet to be determined but the boys should easily get in the top four if not win. At state, we will see our toughest competition by far. The meet will be hosted at the Rim Rock cross-country course. It is the Kansas University cross-country course. It is a real hilly course. The last hill is called Cemetery Hill. Even though this name isn’t very beautiful, the course is. It has a great fall environment with amazing scenery. But back to the boys. They will compete against Wichita Trinity who are the reigning back-to-back state champions. They are currently ranked number one in 3A Boys cross country. This could go either way but I’m hoping we come out on top.