Piper Brown was hot.

Nearly as hot as the temperatures she’s been training through the past several days as the top runner for the Southeast of Saline cross country team.

Maybe not quite as toasty as Monday’s 105-degree high, but her body temperature was definitely well into triple digits when she stepped to the starting line for the 2024 Class 3A state championships in Lawrence.

Every muscle in her body ached and each breath she took resulted in a stabbing pain.

She should have been home resting, not standing in light falling rain, preparing to hurdle her body across the rugged 5-kilometer course at Rim Rock Farm.

“It was not good,” she said, looking back. “The night before, I started to not feel good at all. I felt awful. I had a bad headache, I didn’t have an appetite. I felt hot, just like completely hot.”

Southeast was a prohibitive favorite to capture a fifth consecutive title despite having two state medalists elect to not return and leaving Brown, talented but just a sophomore, as the team’s low stick but still with talent running in support.

Brown says she never learned exactly what was ravaging her strength, but a younger sister had walking pneumonia, so there’s a good chance that was her issue.

Despite chugging medicine and having lidocaine patches slapped all over her body on race morning, she knew she was in trouble.

“The walk before the race, even the walk-jog that we did the night before, I was like ‘I’m not going to be able to run tomorrow.’ I couldn’t even keep up with my teammates on the walk-jog.”

Despite her issues, Brown said she never thought about sitting out. (Nobody would have blamed her). But she felt a responsibility to run for her teammates. “So, I was just going to power through it.”

Sadly, she simply had no power.

One week after running a big personal best of 19 minutes, 56.8 seconds at regionals, she ran nearly two minutes slower at the state competition, placing 50th overall and fifth on her own squad. The previous season as a freshman, Brown reached the podium, taking 14th.

The “Drive for Five” crashed as Southeast ended up third in the team standings, just five points behind Hesston and four behind Wichita Trinity.

Brown felt like she’d let everyone down, but in reality, no Southeast runner ran particularly well and not one claimed an individual medal.

With all but one runner returning from that team, the Trojans seemed primed for a bounce back last season. The dynasty had been dinged, but Southeast returned the talent for another run.

Instead, they would not even qualify as a team.

Brown had a very nice season individually, capped off by a fifth-place showing at state with a time of 19:57.72, but everything else about the Trojans was just OK.

“I just feel like our team really did not have motivation. Like, I don’t think anyone really cared about it. I’m not trying to bash anyone,” she said, “but I had to, like, have a talk with the girls about how if we don’t start putting in effort, we are not gonna make it.”

“The effort was not put in and we did not make it. And feelings were hurt.”

So here Brown is, again hopeful for her and her teammates to close the year with a party on the podium.

Southeast brings back plenty of experience outside of Brown. Senior Anna Jackson is a three-time state qualifier, who as a freshman was 14th at state. Senior Regan Duran and junior Ava McGraw have extensive post-season experience in both cross country and track.

Much of the excitement comes in the arrival of freshmen Avery Tripp, Payson Murray and Skylar Duran. Their youthfulness alone should provide a needed jolt and if they’re able to adapt to the longer distance, Southeast could become a handful in 3A.

“Our freshmen have put in the work over the summer, so I’m excited about that, and we have everyone back,” Brown said. “I think our team will be pretty solid. I think we can get on the podium, I really want that for our team and for the freshmen to learn the expectation of how Southeast runs its program.”