By Ken Hansard

Caney Valley junior cross country runner Simeon Sanchez doesn’t have a lot of accolades at Caney or in the state of Kansas, but that’s only because he just moved here from Idaho.  So far in the early season, he is making a splash with the Bullpup harriers.  When asked about Sanchez, Coach Josh Kristalyn, who is in his eighth season at Caney, had this to say, “Simeon just moved here and is helping us out. He is threatening our school record and set a new course record at our home meet.”

Sanchez’s progression arc so far has been impressive.  Last year as a sophomore in Idaho, his personal best time for the 5k was 17:04.  He placed second in the league he was running in.  Although his junior year is still in its early stages, he has already run an eye-opening 15:26.  When asked about his goal in light of this impressive start, Simeon replied, “I’m looking forward to possibly running at the KSHSAA State Meet, because it is a really big and exciting meet.  Some other goals I have for this season are to place in the top three at state and also to run a sub 15:20 in the 5k.”

Part of Simeon’s progress has to be attributed to setting goals and following through.  To that end, his off-season training was both physical and mental, “I worked a lot on things to try to stay healthy and injury free.  One weakness that I worked on over the offseason was shutting out the voice in my head that says, ‘It hurts too bad’ or ‘Go slower.’”

Simeon joins a Caney squad that was already flush with talent, returning two young all-conference runners in sophomores Cash Brown and Johnny Sproul.  He is excited about the team’s prospects and a chance to contribute, “My role is to give my best effort to place first at each meet, which would give us a better chance to win as a team.  I think our team has a really good shot at making it to state.  Each person just has to run his race at regionals.”

Simeon also runs track and field.   Last spring, he took fourth at state in the 1600 and fifth in the 3200.   

As a junior, Simeon hasn’t thought a lot about solidifying plans for after graduation, but he is strong in the classroom with a solid 3.55 G.P.A., and he knows he would like to continue his education, as well as his running, at the collegiate level, “My plan is hopefully to get a scholarship to a D1 school and continue to run cross country and track.  I haven’t really thought further than that.”