As a cold wind blew across the start line of Rim Rock Farm on the morning of Nov. 1, spectators lined the course cheering and yelling at runners during their races, and runners from across Kansas moved en masse throughout the team camp area. Luke Jansen, the sole state cross country qualifier, headed out on his warm up. Running along the course, Jansen prepared himself for the most important race of the year.

Following the regional meet the week before, Jansen, who placed 8th, was the only runner from South to advance to state. Jansen had his sights set on a medal, trying to push his way through the hilly course and move up in the third mile. With his performance at the league meet, also at Rim Rock, two weeks prior, Jansen hoped to cut time and possibly go under 17 minutes.

“I basically had the same expectations [from after regionals],” Jansen said. “If I didn’t get in the top 20, I just wanted to get as close as I could to the top 20. I ran 17:03 at Rick Rock at Sunflower League, so I wanted to improve a decent amount off of that.”

Since Jansen was competing under an individual qualification rather than with a team, he shared a box on the starting line with other individuals from across Kansas who had also qualified without a team. Without a team to order who goes where in the starting box, the order of the individual box was largely decided through whoever was there first or runners forcing themselves into spaces along the line.

“I felt good throughout the race,” Jansen said. “I did get a little bit pushed on the start line, got shoved to the back a little bit, but it’s okay, I made up for it. I felt good. It’s just that the time wasn’t exactly what I was going for.”

Rim Rock is widely known for its hills and lack of major flat sections, with a total elevation gain of 269 feet and a descent of 240 feet according to Garmin tracking. Being able to handle the hills and sustain pace while navigating the course is critical to being able to compete. The cross country team did many hill based workouts throughout the season and preseason, all of which were to prepare for courses like Rim Rock. Jansen, who placed 48th at state with a time of 17:03, is looking to train more to get himself where he wants to be going into Rim Rock next year.

“You can always remember about the hills, they’e really brutal,” Jansen said. “That was another one of my goals, just get up the hills faster. I feel like I did that at least. It just wasn’t my best day, clearly, I need to do what I do in training to improve off of that and run better relative to other people at Rim rock next year.”

Even as the race didn’t meet Jansen’s expectations, every runner who competes at Rim Rock is affected by the hills, with the last mile of the race being back to back repeat hills with sections of plateauing elevation between each of them. These hills have a large impact on performance, slowing runners down and wearing them out. Jansen and Head Coach J.J. Wannamaker came up with a plan for the race, having target times for every kilometer and goals on position at each of them.

“I was trying to execute the plan I had, which was to really push in that third mile,” Jansen said. “But it’s really hard. Everyone’s third mile was slower than all the other ones. It’s just so much elevation gain in the third mile compared to the other miles.”

Jansen, who was one of two varsity returning runners coming into this season along with sophomore Carter Svarvari, has led the team in times consistently, being at the helm of the rebuilding of the team. With a younger varsity squad consisting of a mixture of juniors and sophomores, Jansen and the team have big expectations for next year.

“We have the whole entire varsity team returning next year,” Jansen said. “If we can just all improve big amount, then I think we should have a good shot of making it in the state next year as a team and then performing well at state as well”