Landen Chapman wasn’t sure he was fast enough on Friday.

State Cross Country Day 1 Photo Gallery

In the final steps of the Class 1 boys MSHSAA Cross Country Championships at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, the Paris junior lunged over the finish line and just beat McCauley Catholic’s Michael Parrigon by a tenth of a second — 16:25.7 compared to 16:25.8 — to earn his second straight state medal. Mairyn Kinnaman became a three-time state medalist with a 20th-place time of 21:29 in the girls 5K.

Chapman finished seventh at last year’s state meet, and Parrigon was one of the six that was faster than him. A third-place finish would have also been enough for the best state finish in school history, but Chapman wanted to beat him this time. So badly he sprinted down the home stretch to be a bit faster in the photo finish.

“I was coming around that last little turn around there, and I kept seeing his pink jersey,” Chapman said. “‘Alright, let me just go.’ I kept getting closer and closer. He looked back and wasn’t too worried. He looks back again, and I’m right there. I just go as hard as I can and throw my body across.”

Chapman said that “crazy” finish was definitely the closest he’s ever had. It took officials a little bit of time to determine who was the runner-up. At first, Chapman was listed third but moved up a moment later to confirm to the junior he did enough.

He said he is proud he was the fastest junior in the race as he was sandwiched in the final standings between two seniors, including Mansfield’s Nolyn Corder with a time of 16:14.8. So Chapman will be the top returning runner if he qualifies for next year’s field.

For at least 2,000 meters, Chapman was leading this year’s field until being passed by Corder and Parrigon in the next 2,000 meters. Head coach Doug Buie said Chapman definitely had the good start he wanted.

“When he was out in front, it was just great,” Buie said. “It’s great watching your kid lead the race. You’ve got three kids that basically had about five to six seconds difference. It was going to be anybody’s game. The top three kids finished in the top three.”

Buie said Chapman’s goal for the season was to lower his time to less than 16:30, which he did three times. Two of those times were good enough to beat his school record. When Chapman broke 17 minutes, shattering last year’s state time of 17:12.30 in the process, Buie said he was “on fire.”

Chapman said he thought he had a good chance at a top-three finish after many seniors from last year graduated. He thought first place was definitely possible, and even though that didn’t happen this time, he feels good about his chances next year.

“I kept running all summer long,” Chapman said. “I ran so many miles this summer. It helped me make it to second place.”

Kinnaman has made it to state in each of her first three years at Paris. Another podium finish was earned by her and seemed likely throughout the race. She was in the top 30 after every 1,000 meters, rising as high as 19th before taking 20th.

Since the start of her career, Kinnaman has had high expectations for herself. Considering that, she said he can’t help but feel “proud” for her third state medal but also “disappointed” that she didn’t do better. However, Kinnaman said she can take these feelings into track and field in the spring before her senior cross country season.

“I was really just making sure to do a little extra to try to be ahead,” Kinnaman said. “I was just stretching a lot and all of that good stuff.”

Buie liked Kinnaman’s good start and how she fared against an “amazing” top 30 state medalists this season. Kinnaman finished with an eighth-place time of 20.44 last year, but Buie said she had a good race this year.

“She hadn’t slowed down or anything like that,” Buie said. “There’s just a great group of girls. You can’t be upset coming with a medal out of state. She worked herself all summer. She started running in the summer and just kept going, kept going and kept going.”

Buie is proud of the amazing year Kinnaman had as the leader of the young girls team this season that contained four underclassmen along with the junior Kinnaman and senior Kaylee Johnson, who was 62nd with a time of 23:41. That group still earned the program’s second straight district championship along with being Lewis and Clark Conference champions. 

Kinnaman was the individual conference champion and led this Lady Coyotes team to a seventh place finish out of 13 teams with 159 points. Ava Crain was close behind Johnson in 63rd with a time of 23.43, Mia Kendrick in 101st with a 24.44, Midori Williams in 102nd with a 24.45, and MacKenzie Fryman in 136th with a 26.46. Buie expects to have a bigger girls team with three junior high runners coming up.

“We won district champs for our team, and I’m super proud of them,” Kinnaman said. “I’m super proud of my team as a whole today. We should have a really good team next year.”

The Paris boys team ran at its second straight meet after finishing 11th a season ago. The Coyotes were conference champions and district runners-up before achieving their goal of being a top-10 team with a ninth-place finish out of 16 teams at 231 points. 

Buie said he liked the senior seasons from Severeno Olivas and David Wilson, who were 94th and 163rd out of 173 runners, respectively, on Friday with times of 19:22 and 21:42. Hayden DeOrnellas was 95th with a 19.25, Owen Buie was 115th with a 19.59, Trevor Burch was 132nd with a 20.26, and Michael Rosson was 140th with a 20.41. With a junior high runner coming up, Buie expects a large team again next season.

Just like the last three years, Chapman and Kinnaman will lead their respective teams again and hopefully be on the podium for a final time. Buie is aware of how hard that is to do any given year.

“I don’t want to take it for granted,” Buie said. “This medal ceremony is an amazing thing. Every time I get to put a medal on a kid, I never want to take it for granted because it’s very special.”