Seth Stevenson had plenty of reasons to smile on Friday.

The Mexico sophomore returned to state at Gans Creek in Columbia and finished 20th in the Class 3 boys race to earn his first career state medal and the first cross country state medal since Alex Dukes’s third-place in 2017. Maryam Waheed and Maria Peuster made their state debuts in the girls race, finishing 66th and 69th, respectively.

Stevenson posted a personal-best time of 16:29.2 and was about 30 seconds faster than his state time last year. He was 42nd then.

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“I couldn’t really stop smiling after the race,” Stevenson said. “I said a quick prayer thanking the Lord. It was a great time, and I had fun.”

Despite having state experience last year and swimming competitively across the country, Stevenson said he was “so scared.” But he said he knows how to push himself “when I’m gonna die” like a quote from his favorite movie, “McFarland, USA,” which is based on the true story of a 1987 cross country team from a mainly Hispanic high school in the titular town.

“You guys are super human,” Kevin Costner’s coach character, Jim White, says to his team.”There's nothing you can't do with that kind of strength, with that kind of heart.”

Stevenson said “swimming is like this, just with less air.” Endurance and athleticism are ways he said swimming has helped him, but there is more.

“Knowing how to compete and how to push yourself because you don’t really talk to anyone during it. It’s just you,” Stevenson said. “Especially in the water because it’s just you and your head. If you don’t have the right head space for it, you’re just not going to be good.”

Head coach Lucas Breneman said Stevenson ran exactly how he expected and finished around where he expected. He said he did well staying with the whole field during the race and didn’t let the moment get too big, which isn’t surprising with his swimming experience. Stevenson was 20th after the first 1,000 meters and in that spot at the 4,000 mark. 

“For him to only be a sophomore and finish top 20, that was his goal,” Breneman said. “Time-wise, we wanted to see if he could break 16:30 today. He’s just a competitor and is someone who works hard in practice. When you put all that together with someone who’s talented, has the drive to be good and you add that competitive spirit, he’s going to run well when he has to.”

Stevenson garnered attention as a freshman during track season when he won the Class 4 District 4 championship in the 3200. 

“Running at the high school level, especially freshmen, it takes a little time to adjust to it, and he handled it well,” Breneman said. “That gives you confidence going into the next season, which is cross country.”

Waheed and Peuster had personal-best times as well, with Waheed having a 21:15.4 and Peuster having a 21.19.9. Waheed is a senior, so her cross country career is over, but it was an eventful first year as a cross country runner.

“She’s run track the last couple years,” Breneman said about Waheed. “I’ve been telling her, ‘You should think about running cross country.’ She finally did. We’re really happy. She put in a huge summer. For a first-year runner, you usually don’t get big miles in the summer, but she put in a huge summer. You put it in the summer, and it pays off in the fall.”

The name Peuster goes hand in hand with cross country. Maria’s brothers, Thomas and Andrew, both ran in the state meet prior to running for Benedictine College in Kansas, so Breneman said she knows what she's doing.

“The family is a running family,” Breneman said. “She knows what it takes to improve. So far, her freshman and sophomore year, she’s gotten the summer mileage goals that we’ve set for her. That sets her apart from most people because they just don’t want to put the work in during the summer. It’s 12 weeks of running without a coach being like, ‘We’re having practice.’”

Stevenson said the summer running helped him as that factored into his improvement this year. He said he “definitely” plans to do more before next year as he has good coaches who plan things well for him and the other runners. 

“You want kids, no matter how it goes, to finish the year with a good feeling,” Breneman said. “I ran a PR or I ran my best race. Then you could walk away with whatever the results are. It’s just icing on top when the results are all-state.”