Landen Chapman was there at the beginning of the Paris cross country program as a freshman.

As a senior, Chapman ran in his final high school cross country race Saturday at the Class 2 state meet at Gans Creek in Columbia. He earned his third state medal with a third-place time of 15:46.4 to break his own school record by about 33 seconds, Paris had a boys team compete for the third straight year and three girls also ran.

Chapman said competing at the state meet has become more enjoyable every year from when he was the only Paris boy at the state meet three years ago to being part of the state qualifying team the past three years. He won various meets this season including when he became the Lewis and Clark Conference champion and Class 2 District 3 champion in the program’s first year in Class 2.

Class 2 State Cross County Photo Gallery

“Growing (physically) definitely helped a lot and also having a team,” Chapman said about his growth from freshman to senior year. “They definitely pushed me at every practice. To have someone run with me like Case Morgan, Hayden (DeOrnellas) and Owen (Buie), they’re all up there running with me every practice. I really enjoyed that, and it helped me out a lot.”

Morgan was the other Paris boy to qualify individually at districts, and he finished 75th at state. The Coyotes took the fourth and final spot in their district over Clark County to bring the rest of their team. On Saturday, Michael Rosson was 138th, Buie was 143rd, DeOrnellas was 146th, Trevor Burch was 159th and Pierson Hathaway was 163rd.

Chapman moved from fifth in the first 1,000 meters to third place on every split after that to finish two seconds behind Lexington’s Chael Lichte and ahead of Butler’s Brandon Hammett, Clark County’s Mason McDaniel and North Platte’s Drake Keraus. All of those opponents are also seniors, and the winner was El Dorado Springs junior Wyatt Klaiber with a time of 14:51.

“Being with really fast guys helped me,” Chapman said. “I kicked out and was able to pace with them for a while.”

Head coach Doug Buie said he “couldn’t be happier” how Chapman’s high school cross country career ended even after Paris jumped up to Class 2. 

“The competition gets a little stiffer, and he took it all in and worked hard all summer and fall,” Buie said. “This is the end result of probably the most decorated runner in our school. You can’t ask for a better young man to help form a new sport in our school.”

Buie called Chapman a “cornerstone” to the Paris cross country program and was the leader of “probably our best overall cross country team this year.” He said Paris was able to extend its boys team state qualifying streak because of performances from Nos. 6 and 7 runners Burch and Hathaway at districts. 

Morgan and Owen Buie each had personal-best times of 18:04.4 and 19:22.3 after each playing a district football game at North Shelby the previous night. Chapman, Buie and Burch will all graduate, but their coach challenged them at the start of the season. 

“I asked our senior boys to leave it better than they found it,” Buie said. “I can guarantee you that they’ve left a great legacy.”

As for Chapman’s legacy, he had a runner-up finish at state last year and a seventh-place medal two years ago. He said he is happy to have helped build the team up from when there were two boys running, including him, during freshman year.

“I definitely felt like I made history for Paris,” Chapman said. “Medaling three times out of four, that’s really impressive. “

For the girls, freshman Elizabeth Ross had the best finish for Paris with a personal-best time of 22:00 in 73rd, freshman Edie Wormington had a personal-best time of 22.28 in 92nd and junior Ava Crain had season-best time of 22:49 in 108th.

“Newcomers coming in are going to help our team for a long time coming,” Buie said. “Ava has led the way for three years now, and she was part of our fourth-place team two years ago. The great news is that every girl we had on our team this year is coming back next year.”