Reed Layton, Woodland XC win Class 2 state championship

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Friday marked the last time that Ryan Layton would coach his two sons together.

His sons – Reed and Calvin – put on a performance for the ages for Woodland in the Class 2 MSHSAA Cross Country Championship race on Nov. 3, at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo.

Reed won the state title and Calvin was fourth and that success buoyed the Cardinals to the school’s first-ever title in the sport and only the second ever across every sport for the school in Marble Hill.

“It is surreal,” Coach Ryan Layton said. “We knew we could but it is totally different when you do. I don’t have the right words now. I think it is hitting me a little differently. I have two kids on the team, including my senior son who ran his last cross-country race. It is something you dream about but even this seems wilder than anything you could dream.”

Woodland finished with 96 points in the team standings and easily held off Lutheran (Kansas City), which took second with 137 points.

The Layton brothers provided all-state finishes, while the next three runners were in the top 55 in the standings.

“We were hoping to go 1-2,” Reed Layton said, pointing to his brother, Calvin. “But it is great to get first place as a team.”

Reed ran the course in 16:25.2 and won by nearly 11 seconds over runner-up Brandon Hammett of Butler. Calvin, a sophomore, finished about 18 seconds behind his brother.

The team trophy was the program’s second, joining a fourth-place showing in 2016.

The championship is the first for the school since volleyball won the 1994 Class 2A championship. Reed became only the second-ever individual state champ in school history, joining Bruester Young, who won a javelin title in 2017.

The success came with a lot of Woodland students there as the school sent a pep bus to cheer on the Cardinals.

“I told them before the race how special it was,” Coach Layton said of the bus driving to Mid-Missouri. “They were getting people who don’t know about cross country to care about cross country … that is an incredible thing.”

About 30 minutes after the boys hoisted the trophy, the girls ran and they finished second in the second. That marked the girls' program's first-ever trophy and the first girls' sport besides volleyball to trophy.

The girls had a team score of 138 and came up 27 points behind Lafayette County.

The Cardinals had a pair of all-state runners to help set the stage and combine for a low score of 16 for two of the five spots that comprised the team score.

Sophomore Faith Rouggly ran a personal best of 20:03.6 – a 23-second drop – and took sixth place. It marked her second all-state medal after taking 16th last year.

She was joined on the podium by senior Presley Ridings, who was 21st. She ran 20:52.2 – the first time she ran under 21 minutes. The showing was a meteoric rise after placing 114th and running 23:51.30 last year at state.

Ridings was a four-time state qualifier for Woodland.

__All-State Roundup__

Myra Roth, Saxony Lutheran – The junior was 24th in the Class 2 finals on Friday, setting the best time of her career at 21:07.50. She took 63rd and 61st in her first two trips to state.

Annika Barks, Jackson – In the Class 5 race on Saturday, Barks ran 18:42.2 to place 21st for the Indians. It was the second time she’s broken the 19-minute mark and it was a new personal best. This was the junior’s first trip to state.

Brock Hobeck, Oak Ridge – In his final race for the Bluejays, Hobeck placed 16th in the Class 1 race on Friday morning. He ran 17:32 to secure his third straight all-state medal.

Ty Wilson, Oak Ridge – Another senior, he ran 17:43.3 to finish 21st and gave the Bluejays two all-state runners – which paved the way for a third-place team showing. It provided a bit of redemption for Wilson, who was 26th last year – missing an all-state medal by one spot.