Bogina wins Fort Scott meet again

Tracey Bogina, Fort Scott High School's head cross country coach, doesn't like to make a big deal out of how well her son, Austin, runs for Northeast-Arma. It's not her nature.

Even if Tracey were that kind of parent -- and those who know her know she is the antithesis of the overbearing jock mom -- she wouldn't have to shout from the rooftops. People know about Austin's abilities and many competitors and spectators offered congratulations after he won the boys' varsity race at the Fort Scott Invitational Thursday, the second consecutive season he's accomplished the feat.

Austin has a lot of ability. He also has a lot of respect among his peers.

"It's really fun to get to be a part of this and watch him do well as well as our own kids we coach at Fort Scott," Tracey Bogina said.

Austin Bogina finished the 5-kilometer course in a time of 17 minutes, 42.71 seconds, well over a minute faster than last year (19:04.95) on what was then a wet, muddy course. Roman Yocham of Iola was second in 17:55.68 after holding off a charge in the final 200 meters from Marmaton Valley's Zach Louk, who finished in 17:57.40.

"That was a very good varsity boys' race," coach Bogina said. "The top three boys in that race were fantastic and four and five were darn good. Yocham and Louk are both very good runners. It was a really good race and those were three quality kids. It was fun to see all three of them do well. You could have been third and felt pretty good about that performance."

Jayhawk-Linn and Pleasanton also sent teams to Fort Scott. The best finish by an area runner was second place by Jayhawk-Linn's Meriel Long in the varsity girls' race. She finished in 17:46.78 over 4 kilometers. Labette County's Kandi Voorhees won it in 17:15.37.

Morgan Tourtillott was fourth for the Tigers in that race in 19:31.69 and Jenna Harper finished seventh in 20:24.82.

"I was really happy with the way our kids stepped up," Bogina said. "This is the toughest course they'll run on all season. I just thought they ran very, very well. I was proud of the effort they gave. They should feel good about their performances on such a tough course. And they should be excited for their meet."

Jayhawk's Craig Mason was seventh in the varsity boys' race in 19:10.04. Keenan Gregory was Fort Scott's best performer, turning in a 15th-place time of 19:48.95. Logan Fancher was 16th in 19:56.58, Robert Sellers 24th in 20:45.08 and Charlie Sercer 29th in 21:29.72

"It was a fun day," Bogina said. "The kids came out and ran hard but it was a beautiful day. I was glad to see every kid here at this meet get to enjoy a nice day, considering what they went through last year."

Leah Casselman placed fourth for the Tigers in the 4K girls' junior varsity race in 20:40.78. Megan Midkiff was 11th in 21:49.08, Autumn Owenby 13th in 23:10.39 and Hannah Fredericksen 20th in 26:54.35.

Ashton Alex of Frontenac was the winner in 19:32.34.

Pleasanton's Lindsey Conn finished eighth in the girls' JV race in 21:07.43 and Johnnea Saulsberry was 14th in 23:28.06.

The 4K JV boys' race had the largest field with 49 runners. The top area finish was by Jayhawk-Linn's Lane Harris in 16:08.85. Teammate Tony Rockers was 22nd in 18:00.53 and Dylan Stanley was 35th in 19:32.12.

Anthony Sercer was Fort Scott's highest competitor, placing ninth in 16:58.23. Kyle Altic was 18th in 17:42.20 with Colton Ballou 28th in 18:29.73, Austin Sather 34th in 19:29.77 and Alex Ho 46th in 21:02.16.

For Pleasanton, Dylan Ellis finished 15th in 17:28.00 and Rance Schoenhals was 27th in 18:26.65.

Seth Krystalyn of Iola was the winner in 15:48.77.

"We felt good about having a good day and a lot of good performances with young kids and new kids," Bogina said.

In team standings, Labette County was the only school able to field a complete team in the varsity girls' race while five schools were able to contest the boys' varsity title. Iola won that with 33 points, followed by Labette County with 52, Nevada 72, Fredonia 89 and Neodesha 105.

Frontenac had the only full team in the girls' JV race. Iola won the boys' JV title with 22 points, followed by Labette County with 64, Fort Scott 68 and Frontenac with 75.

The top 15 runners medaled in each race, with the exception of girls' varsity where all 13 runners medaled.