Chambers, a THS senior, placed sixth in the girls race at the Baldwin Regional on Saturday with a time of 20 minutes, 36.45 seconds. The state berth means that she is a four-time state qualifier at THS.

Gilmore also had a big day in the boys race. The sophomore placed second with a 16:34.73 time.

Chambers will look to build on her previous performances at the state meet in Wamego, including 17th-place finish last year.

Gilmore placed fifth last year as a freshman. He led THS to a third-place team finish last season.

Both Tonganoxie squads placed fifth Saturday at regionals at the Baldwin Golf Course. The top three teams at each regional advance as a team to the state meet. And though THS didn’t qualify teams for state, Saturday’s regional marked notable performances from several Tonganoxie runners.

Sophomore Kyleigh Thomas placed 17th at regionals (21:27.01), while senior Kathrine Wombwell finished 27th (22:10.26). Junior Brooklyn Lang placed 30th (22:17.75) and freshman Mallory Dick 39th (23:04.2). Senior Grace Slabaugh placed 42nd (23:30.54) and junior Chyanne Aaron 49th (24:26.21).

Baldwin won the girls team title with 31 points. Eudora placed second with 62 and Louisburg 68. Paola nabbed fourth with 100 and then THS placed fifth with 119.

Bishop Miege finished sixth (175), Ottawa seventh (195) and Holton eighth (218).

Eudora freshman Sydney Owens won the girls individual title with a 19:29.67 time.

Sophomore Gabe Reischman placed 27th (18:59.45) and junior Nicholas Edholm 28th (19:00.04) for the THS boys, while sophomore Ben Farrar finished 32nd (19:13.13). Sophomore Brandon Wilson placed 34th (19:20.11), senior Charles Gilmore 35th (19:23.27) and senior Nolan Rogers 36th (19:28.68).

Bishop Miege freshman Micah Blomker won the individual title with a time of 16:01.73.

Blomker led the Stags to a regional team title, as Miege scored just 22 points. Eudora finished second with 57 and Louisburg third with 91.

Baldwin finished fourth with 102 and THS fifth with 121.

Paola (158) and Holton (175) finished out the team standings.

THS coach John Tollefson was pleased with how the boys and girls teams performed at Baldwin.

“I felt good,” Tollefson said, noting that several runners set personal records, while another two had their season bests.

Chambers, Thomas, Lang, Dick, Slabaugh and Aaron also recorded their best times of their careers on the girls side, while Eli Gilmore, Rogers, Edholm and Reischman had PRs on the boys side. Farrar and Wilson recorded season-best times as well.

On Monday, Eli Gilmore and Chambers trained indoors as snow blanketed the THS campus outside.

Some teammates joined them in training in the THS weight room and elsewhere inside.

“The support is pretty normal; encouraged even,” Tollefson said about some runners working out with state qualifiers even when their seasons might have concluded a couple days before at regionals.

Gilmore will compete at 9:30 a.m. and Chambers at 10:05 a.m. Saturday at the Wamego Country Club for Tonganoxie.

Chambers said she’s put in considerable work in the offseason in hopes of getting that fourth shot at state.

She’s focused on improving on last year’s performance. This year has been a bit different because she’s stepped into more of a leadership role as a senior, she noted.

Gilmore is looking to have more success in his second appearance at state and again finish in the Top 10.

Asked where he would rank the course as far as favorite to run, Gilmore gave it a “medium” rating.

“It’s a hilly course, but also a fun course to run on because anything can happen,” he said.

Chambers described the course as “up down, up down, up down and then uphill” and said it wasn’t her favorite course, but in the moment it is because it means you’re competing at state.

“All of those hills aren’t fun to think about,” she said with a laugh.

The state meet has become old hat for the THS senior, but she still gets a few butterflies in her stomach. That’s good, she said, because it means you know how important the state meet is for those competing.