WCA All-State Honors Cap Cross Country Season of Repeat Champions
NEWCASTLE, Wyo. - The Wyoming Coaches Association (WCA) named 60 student-athletes to its 2026 All-State Cross Country teams, capping a postseason highlighted by three repeat team champions and a boys performance that narrowly missed the state record. WCA guidelines award All-State recognition to the top 10 finishers, including ties for 10th, at the state championships. This year’s teams included 10 girls and 10 boys in each of the 2A, 3A and 4A classifications.
Cheyenne hosted the state meet for the fourth consecutive year. Cold conditions greeted runners in the early girls races before the wind died down and sunshine arrived for the latter portion of the meet. The hosting role now passes to Wyoming Indian in Ethete, which will host the championships in 2027.
Big Horn’s girls secured a second consecutive team title and placed four runners on the 2A All-State team: Lyla Marney, Ella Marney, Teagan Butler and Elsie Heinrich. Saratoga had two girls honorees in Kelsea Raymer and Sihauna Sanchez, while Sundance’s Tess Dailey and Wyoming Indian’s Dai’Onna Posey also earned recognition. On the boys side, Burlington’s Kellen Winters and Connor Hoyt joined Wyoming Indian’s Kaiden Moss and Landynn Sounding Sides among the 2A selections.
Mountain View’s boys also repeated as team champions, with Colt Madsen, James Schnackenberg and Brent Erickson earning 3A All-State honors. Buffalo matched Mountain View’s three selections through Jace Townsend, Landon Pierson and TC Irish. The rest of the 3A boys team included Noah Blasi of Rawlins, Bodey Kejr of Douglas, Rowan Hibbs of Glenrock and Kade Garcia of Worland.
The 3A girls selections included two runners each from Powell, Rawlins and Buffalo. Karee Cooley and Anyston Keller represented Powell, Lauren Linn and Jamie Dirck earned recognition for Rawlins and Maya Hall and Ellie Farris represented Buffalo. Worland’s Ava Tapia, Lander Valley’s Abigail Jubber, Newcastle’s Lillyan James and Mountain View’s Mckynly Stephens completed the team.
Cheyenne Central’s Adalyn Racines delivered the fastest girls time across all classifications, finishing in 17:34.50. Teammate Sofia Rose also earned 4A All-State recognition. Laramie accounted for three selections through Dorothy Jensen, Flora Caputo-Wilkowski and Keiran Giraldo, while Kelly Walsh placed Melissa McCrave and Lexi Longhurst on the team. Cheyenne East’s Maggie Madsen, Natrona County’s Alexis Teschendorf and Cody’s Raina Wachob rounded out the honorees.
Sheridan’s boys completed the other back-to-back team championship run and claimed five of the 10 spots on the 4A All-State team. Eli Balkenbush led that group alongside Grayson Moore, Joseph Gonda, Aadan Luna and Wyatt Veal. Balkenbush posted the fastest boys time of the meet at 15:23.90, finishing just 0.57 seconds shy of the state record of 15:23.33 set by Brody Smith of Cody in 2015.
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