COLUMBIA, Mo. — Quentin Worley accomplished one of his goals.
Now, the task is to make his success running one that will last a few years at Park Hill South.
Worley secured an all-state medal for the first time in three trips to state and added a school record time in the process on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Class 4 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course.
Worley took 10th place with a time of 15 minutes, 47.8 seconds and became the fifth Kansas City runner to cross the finish line in a highly competitive race. Rockhurst’s Wes Porter won in 15:07.
“After the race I felt horrible,” Worley said “It was fast … quick. I felt miserable at the 1K. I was dying and normally when I’m dying, winning gets me up and I was still down. (Wes) was flying at 15:07.”
With the chance for a win out of the picture for most runners before the race started given the success of Porter this season there was a silver lining for Worley.
CODY THORN/Citizen Editor
Park Hill South’s Quentin Worley, left, dashes toward the finish line in the Class 4 boys race on Saturday, Nov. 8 in Columbia, Mo.
Coach AJ Roth saw him at the finish line and asked Worley to guess what his time was?
Worley knew the school record belonged to Tucker Melles at 15:48.
So, naturally, Worley guessed 15:47. He was right.
“That got me ... that was the thing that got me excited about the race,” said Worley, who is weighing options to run in college next year.
He not only broke Melles previous mark he also bumped Melles from the highest-placing all-state ranking at PHS. Melles became the school’s first all-stater in 2014 after taking 23rd.
Worley became the school’s first district champion two weeks ago and became the highest placer at sectional the week prior. Now, his all-state honor will get him a place on the wall of fame at PHS of other all-staters.
“I always wanted my individual photo on the wall, now I got the photo, I want to fill it up a little more with track times,” he said. “That is the goal going into this winter.”
The only other local runner in the boys race was Platte County’s Matthew Sullivan.
The senior made his debut at state and took 86th place with a time of 16:38.8 in a fast race.
His time was a 14-second drop from sectionals and from his freshman season was a 4 ½ minute drop.
“I’m happy with it, but it wasn’t the time I was expecting,” Sullivan said. “I was expecting a little quicker but I’m happy with how I ran.”
His plan was to get to the mile and move up after that but the highly competitive field 29 runners finish below 16 minutes.
Sullivan crossed the finish line in a pack of runners that were tightly bunched together. A 10 second difference would’ve seen him place in the mid 60s.
Sullivan was joined at state by junior Taylor Giger, who took 38th place.
In her debut at state, the Platte County runner finished in 19:30.6, more than a minute faster than her finish at sectionals — though on a hiller course in Liberty.
Giger tied for 38th with Liberty North’s Abigail Hedges. The final all-state runner was Keilah Wilkes from Pattonsville, who took 25th with a time of 19:03.
Platte County’s Taylor Giger (bib 1201) runs between a pair of runners from Lindbergh during the Class 4 race on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Columbia, Mo.
For an example of how much faster the Gans Creek course was compared to the previous state course, Oak Hills Golf Course, Giger’s 19:30 would’ve been 10th place.
With the likely expansion of classes that is expected next fall, Giger has positioned herself to secure an all-state medal next fall.