By Huey Counts
As Salina Central’s Kaylie Shultz bolted up the final hill toward the final turn toward the final 300 meters to be run, she had an inkling that she had it.
Sure enough, the junior sprinted the final downhill to cross the finish line as the Rim Rock Classic Gold Division individual champion, outdistancing Kapaun’s Ava Claasen by more than 30 seconds.
“I knew anyone could make a huge kick, so it’s in the back of your head,” she said, “but I think going into the third mile that I knew I had quite a bit of a lead.”
Shultz’s time of 17 minutes, 52.98 seconds at Saturday’s race at historic Rim Rock Farm was not near what she had hoped for nor was it near her best of her prep career.
“I was definitely sweating about 400 meters into the race, the sweat was pouring down my face,” she said, “so the heat was a factor. My heart rate peaked really high about a mile into the race.”
By then, she had already broken away from a small group of runners who had tried to match her strides. Not long after she was able to shake off the last of her early challengers, Manhattan’s Gabrielle Converse.
“About 800 meters in, we were coming to some hills and (Converse) would make some surges going down the hills, but going up the hills I created a gap on her,” Shultz said, “and then I just went hard after that.”
In the past, she would have dwelled for days on not hitting her goal time despite dominating the field, but with experience has come the ability to shake off a perceived subpar race.
“I’m really happy with where I am,” she said. “Even though I didn’t pop off the time I wanted, I know that once it gets a little cooler and as we get closer to November, I’ll be ready.”
This was Shultz’s third victory in as many races. The Mustang junior opened the season with running 17:47.86 at Great Bend followed by a strong performance at the prestigious Olathe Twilight Invitational.
Under the lights in Olathe, she bolted immediately to the lead and was not challenged on her way to a season-best time of 17:18.30, which was 10 seconds faster than she ran at the meet a year ago when she placed behind only former teammate Katelyn Rupe, who is now at North Carolina.
“I knew I would get out fast, because this race always gets out fast,” she said. “Honestly, I didn’t expect it to go how it went. I knew there would be a pack out front, but I wasn’t expecting to lead the pack.”
Shultz anticipated having to square off against Topeka Seaman standout Ryin Miller in her latest two races, but Miller is having issues with her IT band and has yet to race.
“My heart goes out to her because I know how tough that can be,” she said. “It’s good to have a challenge, because whenever you’re racing in the lead by yourself you get wrapped up in your thoughts and not really focusing on the race.”
Shultz was third in the Class 5A state cross country championships a year, behind Rupe and Miller, and placed second as a freshman. Standing atop the podium is just one of her goals for this season.
“I have mini goals for each race,” she said, “but my main goal is to mentally stay focused in every race and try to execute my race plan to perfection, which is hard sometimes because of the weather and the course conditions.
“I felt really fit coming into the season. Over the summer I gained a lot of confidence in myself through my training which has helped immensely coming into these big races.”
While Shultz was the lone runner from Central to medal at Rim Rock, Southeast of Saline had two secure top 25 positions. Senior Brayden Walker used a strong finish to claim 19th (16:29.30) in the Gold Division, while junior Piper Brown placed 21st (21:07.85) in the Crimson race.
