GC's Sosa wins 6A CC Regional; Garden Boys, both Dodge teams make state meet

Sometimes, the best runner manages to find a way to win an event. Other times, it may be one on a hot streak. Rarely is it a freshman who is in both modes taking control of a regional meet.

That's what happened with Garden City freshman Jocelyn Sosa, who won the Class 6A Wichita-East Cross Country Regional Girls meet on Saturday, and will lead the contingent from Southwestern Kansas who will run for a state medal.

Sosa will have familiar company at the state meet, as the Dodge City girls finished 3rd as a team, and qualified for the State meet in Lawrence, and Liberal's Hallie West also qualified for the state meet and made some school history in the process. West became the first Lady Redskin runner ever to qualify for the state meet, which will be held November 2nd.

Serenity Larson finished 5th to lead the Red Demon charge to a third-place finish and a state berth. Karina Estrada, Norma Rodriguez, Daisy Orozco and Karina Herrera will join Larson at the state meet for Dodge City.

On the boys side, both Garden City and Dodge City qualified as a team for the state meet.

Garden City's Ethan Fisher finished 3rd overall, while Dodge City's Giovanni Valverde was right behind in 4th.

All 10 scoring runners for both teams finished in the Top 30. Garden City has Santiago Nunez-Gonzalez, Brody Huff, Devin Chappel and Austin Hess joining Fisher at state. Dodge City's team includes Valverde, Angel Landeros, Martin Marquez, David Ultreras and Josiah Chavez.