Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Bowen Gryp and Jack Kinzer have forged a tight friendship in their first season as cross country teammates.

When the Liberty High juniors aren’t running together they are talking about running or upcoming meets.  

“Bo and I are all over it,” Kinzer said. “In our classes we are always talking about who is going to be at the meet and who we are going to need to run against. That’s all we talk about.”

After finishing second to Tipton at the Bob Brown Cross Country Classic earlier this month Kinzer and Gryp were keenly aware the Tigers would be the top competition at Monday’s the Solon Invitational.

The duo helped Liberty High turn the tide on the Tigers at the Solon Nature and Recreation Area on Monday.

Gryp finished second and Kinzer was third as Liberty High won the team title by 15 points over Class 2A top-ranked Tipton.

“We knew Tipton was going to be here and they got us by four points last time so we wanted to see if we could get them today,” Gryp said. “They are a great team to compete against.”

Tipton edged Liberty High 73-69 for the Bob Brown title earlier this month but Liberty High put four runners in the top 10 on its way to the team title on Monday.

Tipton junior Caleb Shumaker won the individual title in 16:44.2 but Liberty High had four of the next seven finishers to win with 30 points.

I was pretty happy, we got Tipton today and that’s great for our team,” Gryp said. “They are number one in 2A, they are a great team and got us a couple of weeks ago so it was nice to get them today.”

Gryp, who joined the Liberty High cross country team for the first time this fall after two years of golf, was runner-up to Shumaker in a time of 16:57.4.

Kinzer was third in a time of 17:07.3.

“The addition of Bo this year has been great and has really helped the team,” Kinzer said. “Having Bo has taken our team to another height and I can’t wait to see how far we can go.”

Senior Peter Woodward was sixth in 17:42.9 while sophomore Christian Montover was eighth in 17:46.6.

Junior Caleb Schillinger rounded out the scoring for Liberty High with an 11th place finish in 17:54.1.

“We are a lot stronger than we were last year and we are feeling good about where we were at,” Bowen said. “We are coming together.”
Liberty High earned one win two seasons ago and didn’t win a meet a year ago.

This season the Lightning already have a pair of invite titles to their credit.

“Last year to be honest nobody thought of us a team that can push people and we have really shown this year that we can run with top guns and it’s exciting,” Kinzer said. “I really like where we are at as a team.”

Solon sophomore Gabe Hinman finished 13th in a time of 17:55.2 to lead the Spartans to a seventh-place finish with 166 points.

Solon Invitational

At Solon Nature and Recreation Area

Team scores – 1. Liberty High 30; 2. Tipton 45; 3. North Scott 86; 4. Williamsburg 115; 5. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 127; 6. Mid-Prairie 131; 7. Solon 166; 8. Central DeWitt 244

Individual leaders – 1. Caleb Shumaker (TIP) 16:44.2; 2. Bowen Gryp (ICL) 16:57.4; 3. Jack Kinzer (ICL) 17:07.3; 4. Trent Pelzer (TIP) 17:25.9; 5. Jackson Edens (TIP) 17:34.4; 6. Peter Woodward (ICL) 17:42.9; 7. Kaiden Royster (WIL) 17:44.5; 8. Ashton Burroughs (WL) 17:45.7; 9. Christian Montover (ICL) 17:46.6; 10. Owen West (NS) 17:51.8; 11. Kaleb Brand (MV-L) 17:53.2; 12. Caleb Schillinger (ICL) 17:46.6; 13. Luke Crawford (NS) 17:54.4; 14. Gabe Hinman (SOL) 17:55.2; 15. Harrison Garber (WIL) 18:01.8

Liberty High – 2. Bowen Gryp 16:57.4; 3. Jack Kinzer 17:07.3; 6. Peter Woodward 17:42.9; 8. Christian Montover 17:46.6; 11. Caleb Schillinger 17:46.6; 18. Gavin Keeney 18:11.8; 29. Ethan Keeney 18:42.9

Solon – 13. Gabe Hinman 17:55.2; 31. Ben DeValk 18:48; 34. Tyler Bilskie 18:54.8; 43. Noelan Garbes 19:41; 45. Nate Ferguson 19:57.8; 46. Ethan McLaughlin 20:19.5; 55. Nolan Pauley 21:08.7

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