They closed out their high school cross country careers last year in the best way possible both winning a Class 1A state title in Kansas. Former Centralia Panther, Lukas Koch and Axtell Eagle, Audrey Schmitz looked to continue their exceptional high school athletic careers at the college level and they are doing so at the Division I level running for the cross country team at Kansas State University.

Both Koch and Schmitz helped the Wildcats have strong team performances at the Rim Rock Invitational this past Saturday (October 5th), as both the women and men's teams placed third on the day.

On the women's side the Wildcats placed five top 25 finishers to pace the way for them, while former Axtell Eagle, Schmitz notched a 50th place finish for Kansas State posting a time of 24:23.24 on the day.

In the men's competition it was former Panther, Koch notching the fourth best time for the Wildcats on the day finishing 21st behind a time of 26:11.57.

The solid performances by both Koch and Schmitz also came earlier this season for the Wildcats as they both performed well at the Woody Greeno Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska.

For Lukas he lead the men's team on the day posting a time of 26:47.20 to place 26th in the competition helping the Wildcat men's team grab a sixth place team performance. While Audrey finished 46th in the women's competition posting a time of 24:02.80, while the women's team took home a first place team performance on the day's competition.

Koch and Schmitz will next look to continue their strong performances on the season on Saturday, October 19th at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind.; the meet will be ran at the NCAA Championship course.