High School Sports Live Athlete of the Week

Caleb Runge and Shannon Klenke

This week's Athlete of the Week honor goes to two cross country runners who both brought home gold at the recent State Championship Meet.

Caleb Runge, a senior at Lutheran North, captured the TAPPS/4A state cross country championship – the first time a cross country runner has brought home the title for the school.

"I've just been working for this for so long … and now I've gotten and it just feels great," Runge said. "I ran my hardest, and I won."

Runge beat out 150 runners with a personal best time of 17 minutes and 29.8 seconds despite the course in Waco being muddy and hilly.

"I didn't really know what to expect because the boy from Awty was right on him so I knew it was going to be a tight close race all the way until the end, but I had faith in Caleb because he's a good sprinter," Coach Stephanie DeHaven said. "He's just a very versatile runner, and he can run sprints and long distance."

Runge ran the distance to bring home the Lions first cross country title.

"It's just amazing," Runge said. "There have been great runners in North's history, but they've never achieved this. First time just feels good."

For Shannon Klenke, this year's state tile wasn't the first for her. The Duchesne Academy junior won the Girls 5A State Championship title for the second year in a row.

"It was just really amazing, and it was just an awesome experience especially since my team got fourth place," Klenke said. "It was just a great day all together."

On that great day, Klenke ran the two-mile course in 12 minutes and 9.4 seconds.

"It was very muddy and very hilly but the weather was beautiful," Klenke said. "We had to go through lots of mud pockets, but it was a lot of fun, and it wasn't that bad."

Not bad at all for someone who already had four individual state titles, including two in cross country and two for the one-mile and two-mile runs in track and field.

"I love running," Klenke said. "It's just something you just start doing and keep wanting to do it and keep wanting to get better. I just love this sport, and I love the competition."

And Klenke should have no problem continuing on her winning ways with another year left in high school.

"I think if I won everything else, I would have a total of nine (titles) when I left school," Klenke said. "So that's my goal – to win five more."