Ethan Phillips led the boys with a second-place time of 18 minutes, 34.22 seconds, finishing less than half a second ahead of teammate Drew Cook (18:34.68). Five of the Chieftains’ seven runners finished in the top 20, as they beat out second-place Hiawatha by 17 points.

On the girls side, Emma Campbell led the way, finishing fourth in 17:35.15. Emily Chambers (17:50.09) came in just two spots later, and all five remaining Chieftains finished within the top 20. THS finished just five points behind team champ Hiawatha, who had four top-seven finishers.

McLouth also competed at Holton. Ceara Funk led the MHS girls with a 24th-place time of 19:50.06. Meanwhile, Ryan Bristol was the top boys finisher, coming in seventh (19:09.56). The Bulldog boys finished fourth and the girls sixth.

The Chieftains and Bulldogs will both be in action Thursday at the McLouth Invitational, set for 4 p.m. at Stan Braksick Sports Complex. The THS junior varsity squad will compete in the race, but the varsity team won’t run again until it hosts the Tonganoxie Invitational on Sept. 23 at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds.