The senior had a personal best time in the girls varsity race with a time of 19 minute, 42 seconds.

Even a good hour after she finished her race and was waiting for the awards presentation that followed the boys race, she still was beaming.

And she credits her improved performance to training in the spring that she completed with former THS runner Megan Holton, who now is a freshman on the Kansas State rowing team.

“I ran a half-marathon with Megan Holton, so my mental thinking has improved,” Huseman said about the Raintree Run, which was in April.

Huseman finished the race in 46th, just ahead of teammate Laurie Chenoweth, who placed 47th with the same time. Kaitlyn Saathoff finished 49th with a 19:43 time.

Overall, Tonganoxie placed third out of 13 teams, scoring 131 points. Mill Valley won the meet with 88, while Maranatha Academy finshed second with 89.

Andie Jeannin was Tonganoxie’s top runner, as she finished eighth with a 16:58 time. Christy Weller placed 13th (17:16), Addy Phelps 34th (18:44) and Jennifer Wagner 38th (19:09).

Eudora’s Brittney Graff stormed to a first-place finish with a 15:11 time.

THS boys cross country

Matt Brock finished as Tonganoxie’s top runner with a 17:38 time, good for second place behind Eudora’s Joey Chino, who finished in 17:21.

Chris Price placed 20th (18:51), Colin Perkins placed 21st (18:51) and David Powell 32nd (19:13).

Michael Shaw finished 37th (19:28), while Justin Smith was 47th (19:48).

Tonganoxie finished in second place as a team with 111 points. Anderson County ran away with the meet with an 87, while Hiawatha placed third with a 121.

De Soto scored 171 for fourth, but didn’t run with its full varsity. Neither did Kansas City Christian, which finished ninth with 225.

“We would have liked to race them,” THS coach Phil Williams said.

Tonganoxie also might have finished with a better score, but Dalton Lawson was unable to finish the race.

Tonganoxie’s boys and girls teams will prepare for Saturday’s Rim Rock Classic at Rim Rock Farm northwest of Lawrence.

“Ideally, you wouldn’t want to have two meets in the same week, but there’s enough distance between the two it doesn’t make a difference,” Williams said.

McLouth cross country

In the boys race, Ryan Saxton was McLouth’s top runner at the Tonganoxie Invitational. He finished in 66th with a time of 20:06. John Trieu placed 82nd in 20:48.

On the girls side, Aliaa Ghaddar placed 45th with a 19:35 time, Liz Turner 66th (20:34) and Gelia Gardner 69th (20:42).

McLouth next will compete Thursday at Horton. The meet begins at 4:30 p.m.

For more results from the Tonganoxie Invitational, look in the Oct. 4 edition of The Mirror.