The 2021 Your Prep Sports Area Girls Cross Country Team
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
Some of the best cross country runners and top teams in the state were found in the Your Prep Sports area this fall.
The 2021 Your Prep Sports area girls cross country team honors seven of the top area runners for their performance this season.
This year’s team is made up of runners from five different schools and features a conference champion, two state qualifying meet winners, three state medalist and a pair of state team champions.
Liberty High senior Ashlyn Keeney is the captain of the 2021 team after closing a brilliant prep career with a third consecutive state meet medal.
A four-time state qualifier, Keeney finish seventh at the Class 4A state meet after winning titles at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet and Divisional meets and a runner-up finish at the state qualifier.
Ashlyn Keeney (Captain)
Senior, Liberty High
Among the most decorated distance runners in recent state history Keeney put the finish touches on an impressive prep career with a stellar senior season.
Keeney won the third Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet and Divisional meet titles of her career on her way to being named MVC Divisional athlete of the year.
She was runner-up at the Class 4A state qualifying meet before capping her career with a third consecutive top-10 finish at the state meet.
A four-time state qualifier, Keeney was runner-up as a sophomore in 2019 and ninth a year ago before finishing seventh at the Class 4A state meet last month in a time of 18:35.44.
Kayla Young
Junior, Solon
One of the biggest breakthrough performers in the state this season Young emerged as the number one runner for a Solon team that won the first state title in program history.
Young was strong all season but was at her best down the stretch helping top-ranked Solon win the 3A state title by 26 points.
Young finished third at the WAMAC Conference meet before earning the first individual title of her career a week later winning the Class 3A state qualifying meet by more than 14 seconds.
She capped her strong junior season with her first state medal placing fifth overall at the Class 3A state meet in a time of 19:19.68.
Rowan Boulter
Senior, City High
A four-time state qualifier Boulter capped a strong career with her best state meet finish since her freshman season.
Boulter placed 22nd overall at the Class 4A state meet in a time of 19:27.08, her fourth consecutive top-40 finish at the state meet.
The time of 19:27.08 was more than 28 seconds faster than the state meet time from a year ago for Boulter and helped the Little Hawks to a ninth-place team finish.
Boulter was eighth at the Mississippi Divisional meet and 10th at the 4A state qualifier.
Cindy Wang
Sophomore, West High
Wang was among the most improved runners in Class 4A this fall going from a junior varsity performer as a freshman a year ago to a state qualifier as a sophomore.
In her first full-time varsity season Wang got better as the season went on.
Wang finished 17th at the MVC Super Meet and a week later posted a fourth-place finish at the MVC Valley Divisional meet.
She finished sixth at the Class 4A state qualifier and capped her breakthrough season by finishing 34th overall in a time of 19:44.58 in her state meet debut.
Emma Bock
Senior, Solon
Another four-time state qualifier Bock was instrumental in helping Solon spend most of the season as the top-ranked team in Class 3A and claiming its first ever state title.
A four-time WAMAC medalist Bock placed 14th at the conference meet in a time of 20:40 but closed her career with two of her best races as a prep.
The Texas Tech track recruit finished runner-up to teammate Kayla Young at the Class 3A state qualifying meet before claiming the first state meet medal of her career with a ninth-place finish in a time of 19:30.7.
Haidyn Barker
Junior, Clear Creek Amana
Barker continued a steady ascent toward the top of Class 3A following up a breakthrough sophomore season with an even more impressive junior campaign.
Already a three-time top-three finisher at the WAMAC meet Barker posted a second consecutive conference runner-up finish in a time of 19:44.4.
She was fourth at the state qualifying meet in 19:53.83 before improving her state meet finish and dropping her time at state for the third consecutive season.
After finishing 63rd at state as a freshman and 33rd last season Barker finished 20th in a state-meet career best time of 19:49.9.
Iris Wedemeyer
Junior, City High
Wedemeyer enjoyed a breakthrough season that saw her post top-10 finishes in three consecutive meets leading up to the Class 4A state meet.
A state qualifier two seasons ago as a freshman, Wedemeyer finished eighth at the MVC Super Meet in 19:07.3 and fifth at the MVC Mississippi Divisional in a time of19:45.81 before helping the Little Hawks return to the state meet following a rare miss last season with a seventh-place finish at the 4A state qualifying meet.
Wedemeyer was 42nd at the state meet as a freshman but jumped six spots to 36th as a junior finishing in a time of 19:45.34.
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