DODGE CITY — The Ellsworth boys’ and girls’ cross country teams traveled to Mariah Hills Golf Course in Dodge City Saturday to compete in the Class 3A Cross Country Regionals.

Despite a sloppy course from rain the night before, the Bearcat runners faced off against Mother Nature and other competitors, posting a very successful day.

To qualify for state competition, a runner must finish in the top 15 individually, or their team must finish in the top three at regionals, with the lower scores winning.

As seven of 12 Ellsworth runners posted a personal record, the girls placed two runners in the top five and four runners in the top 30, helping them achieve a third place finish and qualifying them to compete as a team for the first time since 2019.

Earning individual bids and making repeat trips to state for the girls are junior Molly Ehrlich and sophomore Lakyn Beckman.

For the boys, freshman Octavio Rodriguez and senior Hunter Kinsley placed in the top 15 to earn two state individual bids.

In the girls’ race, Ehrlich and Beckman broke out in the first group of five or six runners to establish themselves in the upper tier of runners in the race. As that group began to separate, the two began to close the distance between themselves and runners for Scott City and Lakin, jockeying for the third and fourth positions and closing in on the first and second place runners in the last half-mile of the race.

Although not quite getting to that top spot, Ehrlich placed third with a time of 20:17 while Beckman placed fourth, finishing with a PR time of 20:32.

Coming in in 18th and 26th places were freshman Korbyn Benson and sophomore Sage Gray, respectively. Benson and Gray both started off strong, picking up crucial spots towards the end of the race, and finishing with PR times of 22:22 and 22:47, respectively.

Sophomore Brooklyn Marston also finished with a PR, placing 32nd while running 32:38. Senior Addison Thomas finished in the 42nd spot with a PR time of 24:54, and freshman Maisy Hulse finished the race placing 43rd with a time of 25:02.

“I felt like teamwise, Ellsworth girls were going to be a factor if we ran well,” head coach Eric Coonrod said. “I knew that Norton and Scott City would be tough, but looking at their times from other meets, and after having ran against Norton last week at Downs, I really felt we could be in the mix.”

On the boys’ side, the race started off at a fast pace with Rodriguez and Kinsley placing themselves in the top 10-15 spots by the half-mile marker, never falling out of those spots, as Rodriguez finished 11th with a PR time of 17:58, while Kinsley placed 15th at the 18:08 mark, also a PR.

Sophomore Wesley Rathbun placed himself in the top 20-30 spots early, finishing 27th with a season-best time of 29:09, while freshmen Owen Schultz and Carson Tyrell both ran personal best times of 20:51 and 21:10, placing 53rd and 55th, respectively, maintaining their distance ahead of competing teams, preserving points, leading to a sixth place team finish.

“We knew this race would take on a fast pace early, and indeed it did.” Coonrod said. “We also knew that with the 10 full teams there, three of which are state-ranked, the challenge to place top three as a team would be tough, but the EHS guys came to run, posting season or personal best times across the board.”

The girls’ team, along with Rodriguez and Kinsley, will compete at the KSHSAA Class 3A State Cross Country Championship Meet at Rim Rock Farm, Lawrence, on Saturday. The boys will start at 10 a.m., while the girls are slated for an 11:45 a.m. start.