It is, after all, the site of the state cross country championships, so if Tonganoxie were to run on it again, that would mean they are competing at state later next month in Wamego.

“You get to run on the state course,” THS coach John Tollefson said. “You get to see a lot of the top 4A teams in the state.”

The THS girls placed fourth out of nine teams, while the THS boys finished ninth out of 12 teams. Baldwin won the girls team title and Buhler the boys title.

“I thought the girls ran exceptionally well,” Tollefson said. “And there were three runners in the 22’s, which is very good. Our spacing wasn’t bad at all .. six runners in the Top 40, which is a good place to be.”

Tollefson added that at this point in the season, having a group of runners finishing a course in around 22 minutes is a good spot as they try to knock times down two around 20 minutes or 21 minutes.

“Having five girls with those kinds of times and you’re performing pretty well,” he said.

THS had six of its seven runners medal on the girls side.

Kristi Chambers finished 14th with a time of 22 minutes, 3 seconds, Kyleigh Thomas 20th with a 22:18 time, Brooklyn Lang 24th with 22:55 time, Kinnley Hoffhines 31st with a 23:19 time, Kat Wombwell 37th with a 23:39 time and Mallory Dick 40th with a 23:58 time.

Eli Gilmore finished third overall with a time of 17:10, and Chas Gilmore finished 35th with a time of 19:20 in the boys race.

“Eli Gilmore ran a really good race,” Tollefson said. “He did a great job.”

Brandon Wilson, Nick Edholm and Jonah Stephen all finished in a pack.

They placed 52nd, 53rd and 54th, respectively. Wilson ran a 19:54.64, Edholm 20:04.03 and Stephen 20:11.24.

Gabe Reischman placed 56th (20:18.63) and Daniel Dorsey 74th (21:08.04).

The girls race had four of the top five teams hail from the Frontier League.

Baldwin first, Eudora second and Tonganoxie fourth.

Tonganoxie now prepares for its home invitational on Tuesday.

Teams slated to join Tonganoxie are Atchison, Bishop Seabury, Bishop Ward, Heritage Christian, Manhattan, Maranatha Christian Academy, Midland Adventist, Piper, Pleasant Ridge, St. Mary’s Academy, Topeka West, Turner, Veritas Christian, Washington and Wyandotte.