Underclassmen Larson, Esfeld run to gold in WAC XC

A year ago, it was a pair of seniors who grabbed the individual girls and boys titles at the Western Athletic Conference cross country championship. Great Bend’s Maya Ramirez had won the girls division while Garden City’s Ethan Fisher took the top spot among the boys.

Finishing respectably high were a pair of underclassmen – Dodge City sophomore Serenity Larson had placed fourth in the girls division while Great Bend freshman Kaiden Esfeld took third behind Fisher and another senior on the boys side.

So it would only be practical to believe that both would see an opportunity to move up to the highest position in 2020. And the pair did just that. Larson, using a strong offseason running plan, captured first  to outduel Liberal’s Daniela Cerda and a pair of Great Bend runners while Esfeld outpaced the Garden City duo of Devin Chappel and Brody Hoff to nail down the boys gold medal.

GIRLS RUNNER OF THE YEAR – Serenity Larson, Dodge City, Jr.

Back in March of 2020, when the spring sports preseason was two weeks into preparation for the upcoming campaign, Serenity Larson was looking forward to her sophomore season of running distance races for the Dodge City Lady Red Demons. She was coming off a solid 2019 cross country season, and had high expectations of a successful spring on the track.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and everything came to a sudden halt. No more practices, no spring track season, no in-school learning. Everything was done from home for academics. All she had left was to figure out how to continue to train in hopes that the fall 2020 cross country season would not meet the same fate as the spring.

Things worked out nicely for Larson, though, as she just recently completed her junior year running and captured the Western Athletic Conference championship by beating a host of other underclassmen from Liberal, Great Bend and a teammate. For her effort, she has been named WAC Girls Runner of the Year.

“I had looked forward to running so much in the spring,” Larson said in recalling that momentous occasion when all was stopped. “All I could think of was how I would train, what I would do, and what the fall might look like.”

In one of the most important meets of the year, Larson paved the way for the Red Demons team championship, as they edged Great Bend by a mere two points, 39-41, to claim that crown. Something like a double-dip day. Larson’s time of 15:35.83 was just a little more than 3 seconds in front of Liberal freshman Daniela Cerda’s 15:39.09.

“I think in looking back I’m really proud of what I did in the summer and last spring to run and stay in condition,” Larson said. “Before the season, I knew I had more potential than I had shown. But coach (Brian Lenz) told me that all the extra work in the spring and summer would pay off.”

It certainly did. With races at 5-kilometers (3.2 miles), Larson said the distance event could be broken down into three different areas. 

“My teammates were wonderful in that they pushed me and kept motivating me,” Larson said. “That, and I wanted to see how good I could do.”

Larson, and her coach, agreed that she is at her best in the middle of the three-part race.

“She just seems to kick it into a higher gear and get out in front,” Lenz said of Larson’s strategy. “She doesn’t have the fastest finish, so she has to get her position early.”

Larson agreed.

“I just like the middle of the race I think, because you have to really dig deep,” she said. “I think because a lot of my training was distance and not speed, I just had to figure out how to run the best race I could.”

While the sport seemingly would be lonely since a runner basically is running for themselves, Larson said the team aspect of the sport has added to her enjoyment of running.

“You’re not just running for yourself, but you’re running for your teammates and your school,” she said. “I don’t want to settle for less than my best. I want to see how hard I can push myself because I don’t want to have any regrets. When you finish a race, there’s that feeling of accomplishment and that’s what you want to feel when a race is done.”

Larson said she prefers running in cold weather and also enjoys flatter layouts to run the 5-kilometer event. 

“I think a flatter course is just faster, so I can get out that way in the middle of the race and run at my pace,” she said. 

With so many of her league rivals also being underclassmen, Larson said she knows her work will be cut out for the 2021 season.

“There’s so many good runners, I’m just happy that I can be up there with them,” Larson said. “I think just knowing that I can run with that group is a big confidence thing for me.”

GIRLS COACH OF THE YEAR

During his two-decade plus coaching career at Dodge City High School, Brian Lenz has seen many good runners compete for his Lady Red Demons cross country team.

So when the 2020 edition finished off its regular season with a WAC Championship, barely edging rival Great Bend by two points (39-41), he was pleased to see the efforts of his team pay off.

For that performance, Lenz was voted WAC Girls Cross Country Coach of the Year.

“During the spring shutdown, we were able to get a lot more miles in so the girls would go for longer runs,” Lenz said. “The girls really did a great job of encouraging each other, pushing each other to get better and better.”

In addition to WAC Champion Serenity Larson, the Lady Demons had a fifth place from Norma Rodriguez, and eighth and ninth-place finishes from Daisy Orozco and Andrea Yates, with all four of those being underclassmen.

“We worked hard on getting the girls to focus more on the team and not so much on themselves,” Lenz said. “That takes a little pressure off each individual. That was true with Serenity, too. You get to forget about yourself and everything is about the team, and that’s the great part about this group.”

Winning the WAC was especially satisfying because Lenz said he knew Great Bend would provide stiff competition.

“Lyles (Great Bend coach Lashley) always has a lot of talented runners,” Lenz said. “The girls were thrilled once they announced the points. Winning WAC is always a big deal. I think the Champions Cup plays a part of it (all varsity sports in WAC compete for a season-ending Cup based upon points awarded for each varsity sport). If you don’t win, you want to get second or third because of the points you can earn.”

With the bulk of his returning for 2021, Lenz sees nothing but an upside for the next fall of competition.

“I expect this group to continue to work hard and will improve,” Lenz said. “There’s a lot of reason to be optimistic.”

BOYS RUNNER OF THE YEAR – Kaiden Esfeld, Great Bend, So.

There’s one way in building confidence in an athlete’s ability and that is to show it by strong performances during competition.

That’s what Great Bend sophomore Kaiden Esfeld has done in his two seasons of running high school cross country for the Panthers.

In his freshman debut season, Esfeld finished behind two seniors in the 2019 WAC Championships and he followed that up in his sophomore campaign by running to a gold medal, clocking a 15:54.10 over the 5-kilometer layout at Yucca Ridge Golf Course just north of Liberal.

It was a fitting ending to the end of the 2020 regular season for the Panther runner, who would later claim the Class 5A regional title, only to falter at the state meet on a windswept 4 Seasons Resort layout near Augusta, placing 18^th.

“I just went out really too fast and didn’t have anything left,” Esfeld said of the state meet.

Still, the 2020 season was highly-successful for Esfeld, and he was excited upon learning of being voted WAC Boys Runner of the Year.

“It was really a big accomplishment,” Esfeld said of winning WAC. “It gives me a chance to see where I’m at and what my potential might be.”

Esfeld said he had worked hard during the spring shutdown of high school track and field, as well as other sports due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but it all paid off in the end this fall.

“I knew I had a chance to finish higher, but you never really know how you might perform until you actually get out there and run,” he said. “I think in cross country running you have to have a lot of mental toughness because there’s just times when you think about how hard it is, but you have to find a way to push through that.”

As the season progressed, and top 3 finishes became the norm and not the exception, Esfeld’s confidence grew and grew.

“Not only was I happy with the finishes, but I also could see my times were getting better,” Esfeld said. “I was happy with both.”

The biggest breakthrough, however, came at the WAC meet, where he broke the 16-minute barrier for the first time all year. His winning time of 15:54.10 was 20 seconds faster than runner-up and fellow sophomore Devin Chappel of Garden City (16:14.28). It was another 27 seconds to third-place finisher, senior Brody Hoff of Garden City (16:41.46).

“When I saw that time, I knew that I still was capable of running faster,” Esfeld said. “But I have some really good competition from Chappel. He’s a great runner and it’s great to be pushed by him. We don’t really talk much (at meets), but it’s good to know there’s quality runners in the league. We all benefit from that.”

If one were to break the 3.2-mile run into a race of thirds, Esfeld said the middle of the run is his strongest.

“Early on, I just try to stick with the leaders and start a consistent pace,” he said. “I really push hard in the middle to get a lead and then just push through to the finish line. There are times when you feel like you’re dying out there, but you have to dig deep.”

Esfeld finished his season with a lot of extra confidence after seeing his freshmen finishes of between 10^th and 15^th improve to top 3 most of the year.

“The most important part was that I was improving my times by almost a minute from my freshman season,” Esfeld said. “I did a lot more summer road miles than a year ago. I went from about 45 miles a week to around 60 and that’s a pretty big jump. I’ll probably try to increase it a little for next year, but not quite so much, maybe around 65 or so.”

He said he hopes the 2021 track season gets to be held so he can focus on his 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs as well as running the 800 which is more like a sprint for him.

“In some ways, track favors my running style,” Esfeld said. “I have some goals for both sports, and it’s just nice to be able to compete in both the fall and spring.”

Team Race: Despite his win, the Great Bend Panthers could fare no better than third, behind winning Dodge City’s 50 points and runner-up Garden City’s 60 points. The Panthers finished with 63 points. 

Boys Coach of the Year 

Not much has changed in the running strategy for Dodge City boys cross country coach Buc Bolmer.

After all, he’s been at it for 26 seasons and conditioning and race strategies remain surprisingly consistent through the years. What has changed, though, is working with his runners.

“I listen to them a lot more than I did when I first started,” said Bolmer, who has been voted WAC Boys Coach of the Year while guiding the Red Demons to the 2020 conference team title. “You pay more attention to the little aches and pains and we have an athletic trainer to help them recover.”

The Demons scored 40 points to outdistance runner-up Garden City, the defending champion, by 10 points while Great Bend, with individual champ Kaiden Esfeld leading the way, placed third with 63 points. Liberal (73) and Hays (117) took fourth and fifth, respectively.

Bolmer didn’t have one of the top 3 finishers at WAC, which was contested at Yucca Ridge Golf Course north of Liberal, but he did see four of his runners place among the top 10.

“Winning WAC is always one of our goals, but I think that’s pretty much the case with the other schools,” Bolmer said. “We had a senior-laden team (5 seniors) so we knew we had a chance to have a good season, and they just kept getting better as the year went on. WAC was our best performance of the season.”

The goal in team cross country is to get the time gap between the first and the fifth through seventh runners as close as possible, Bolmer said. 

“Our distance gap just kept getting smaller and smaller as the season progressed,” he said. 

With no spring track for his distance runners, and the team unable to workout together until July, Bolmer said he was pleased that his kids had done so much conditioning and road miles on their own.

“They were chomping at the bit to get together and run,” Bolmer said. “They were just ready for competition and we were blessed to be able to run this fall with everything going on.”

2020 Western Athletic Conference
Cross Country Championship
At Yucca Ridge Golf Course, Liberal

Girls Team Standings

	Team	Points
1	Dodge City	39
2	Great Bend	41
3	Hays	64
4	Liberal	105
5	Garden City	115

2020 All-League Top 5

Name	School	Year	Time
Serenity Larson	Dodge City	JR	15:35.83
Daniela Cerda	Liberal	FR	15:39.09
Emilia Diaz	Great Bend		15:43.89
Emma Loomis	Great Bend		15:50.99
Norma Rodriguez	Dodge City		16:00.43

2020 Second Team

Name	School	Year	Time
Arely Maldonado	Hays	FR	16:05.71
Jocelyn Sosa	Garden City	SO	16:07.34
Daisy Orozco	Dodge City	JR	16:13.76
Andrea Yates	Dodge City	SO	16:15.16
Addy Nicholson	Great Bend		16:17.99

Boys Team Standings

	Team	Points
1	Dodge City	40
2	Garden City	50
3	Great Bend	63
4	Liberal	73
5	Hays	117

2020 All-League Top 5

Name	School	Year	Time
Kaiden Esfeld	Great Bend	SO	15:54.10
Devin Chappel	Garden City	SO	16:14.28
Brody Hoff	Garden City	SR	16:41.46
Angel Landeros	Dodge City	SR	16:44.70
Martin Marquez	Dodge City	JR	17:05.89

2020 Second Team

Name	School	Year	Time
Alex Chavez	Dodge City	SR	17:08.26
Alex Lopez	Liberal	SR	17:08.47
Edwin Murillo	Liberal	SR	17:14.60
David Ultreras	Dodge City	SO	17:19.20
Kenji Craig	Garden City	JR	17:25.90