By Huey Counts
Sacred Heart's Mia Hamilton was not about to fall victim to a sophomore slump.
She doubled down on her summer training, paid better attention to her diet, tried to do the little things that make for big things.
Making her girls cross country season debut two weeks ago in Hesston, Hamilton had what she believed to be a simple game plan for success.
"I was like 'I'm going to go out right behind the (pace) cart, be out in first place and everything like that," she explained, "and I fell back after the first mile."
Her time of 22:30 was good for sixth in her division at Hesston and was faster than her first two 5K efforts as a freshman, but Hamilton was expecting better.
And with good reason.
Last fall as a freshman runner for the Knights, Hamilton was the team's No. 2 or 3 finisher much of the season before putting together a personal-best mark of 20 minutes, 49.2 seconds at the KSHSAA Class 2A State Championships in Wamego, which landed her in 14th, good for a spot on the podium.
"Last year I had no expectations timewise," said Hamilton, who did not run cross country in middle school, "but this year I'm like 'I should be in the 20 somethings.'
"And the first meet was like almost 23:00 and I'm thinking, 'is this supposed to happen?'"
At Tuesday evening's Southeast of Saline Invitational, Hamilton again opted for a hot start, jumping into the lead group that included Smoky Valley's Esther Clark, Southeast's Anna Jackson and Hesston's duo of Ashley Lehman and Reese Quinn.
She, again, was strong early, sitting in seventh at the mile mark, before fading late and settling for 19th in 21:38.1.
"I just tried to stay with Anna up near the front, and I stayed with her for the first mile" Hamilton said, "and then I fell back.
"I feel like I'm supposed to be right there and keep falling back. I think right now I need to focus more on my time because I'm focusing too much on my place."
Her mark at the 2023 state meet was tops for the Knights as they captured the team title by 21 points over runner-up Remington, good for their first state championship since 2004.
Lost to graduation from that team were Eva Matteucci and Gracyn Dorzweiler, both now running at Washburn, and Lauryn Mikkelson, who will compete in track for Kansas Wesleyan.
Back in support of Hamilton in Sacred Heart's quest for a repeat is a trio of seniors: Caroline Stone, Libby Kierscht and Bethany Campa.
Stone and Kierscht placed 21st and 25th at Southeast in 21:50.77 and 22:28.01, respectively.
"There is definitely some pressure because we want a shot at the state championship again," Kierscht said, "but at the same time we're here to work hard, have fun and be a team."
Any realistic chance of securing a top-three state plaque hinges on the Knights finding a dependable No. 5 runner. Campa raced with freshman Aundrea Ibarra, pacing her to a personal best 24:47.22, an improvement of more than 3 minutes.
"We're just trying to stay positive as a team and keep encouraging one another," Kierscht said. "This meet was definitely a big improvement, especially getting Aundrea. She showed today that maybe she can be that fifth runner for us."
Southeast's girls, the four-time defending Class 3A champions, positioned four runners inside the top 15 to secure the team title of their home meet.
Piper Brown (fifth in 20:42.57), Jackson (seventh, 20:54.33) and Cali Augustine (12th, 21:14.82) all ran season bests, while Ava McGraw was 14th (21:30.05) and Regan Duran 20th(21:46.91).
Brayden Walker won his fourth race in four tries in leading the Trojans to the boys' championship. He and teammate Jacob Bircher slowly worked their way to the front, with Walker winning in 16:33.96 and Bircher taking silver in his best time of the season, 16:42.82.
Jacob Tonne (fourth, 17:08.50), Zachary Carlin (ninth, 17:51.26) and Cole Franklin (10th, 17:56.83) rounded out Southeast's scoring.
