By Matt Browning

Ian Hunter of Circle was voted the Wichita Large School Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Hunter received nearly 1,000 votes, which was almost 70 percent of the overall vote.

“It means a lot to me,” Hunter said. “It shows that I have a lot of people that support me and what I do and that is great.”

Hunter has progressed nicely throughout the season and ended up running his personal record time of 15:56.

“This season started out slow,” Hunter said. “I ran my slowest time in two years on the first race, but then I ended up running some of my fastest times after training with the team.”

As a freshman, Hunter was running the 5K in the 22-minute range, so a nearly six-minute improvement means so much to him.

“The reason I’ve improved so much is because of the awesome teams I’ve been a part of along with the best coaches you could ask for,” Hunter said.

Hunter also runs track and participates in FCA at Circle.

He plans to run in college, but he is unsure about where and what he would like to major in.