The Trojan girls, meanwhile, placed fifth in a nine-team field, missing third place by only 11 points.

Senior Daniel Bookless, who was the Trojans' No. 5 runner a year ago, outran the entire field to win the boys' 5-kilometer race in 18 minutes, 21 seconds-17 seconds faster than his career-best time from late last season.

"Daniel winning the varsity race may surprise some people, but not me," said coach Stuart Holmes. "Both he and Cody (McMillen) have been running especially well in practice.

"I've been telling Daniel for two years that I thought he could be one of the top runners around someday. He is one of our most-improved runners, being much stronger this year. He ran an excellent race to win."

Bookless led a dominating performance by the Trojan team, which had all five of its point-producing runners among the top eight finishers overall.

McMillen placed fourth in 18:47, Sean Leihy fifth in 18:54, Nate Holmes seventh in 19:36 and Ric Johnson eighth in 19:45.

"Ric had a really good first race coming back from the broken hip that kept him out all last season," Holmes said.

"Like many on our team, Ric was running this summer and has worked hard to overcome a pretty serious injury that would have ended many people's running career. It was good to have him back."

Also running in the varsity race and earning medals for Hillsboro were freshman Isaac Leihy, who placed 13th in 20:18, and senior Robert Jost, who finished 19th in 20:41.

As a team, the Trojans literally ran away from the field with a combined score of only 21 points. Runner-up Pike Valley had 72 points, followed by Hiawatha 87, Hanover 89, Valley Heights 108, Frankfort 124 and Washington 199.

For the Trojan girls, senior Carrie Schroeder made a successful cross-country debut with a fourth-place 2-mile time of 15:05.

"Carrie ran a strong first cross-country race," Holmes said.

Also earning a medal for Hillsboro was Jacque Fisher, who placed 18th in 16:31.

"She's been running all summer, so it was great to see her dedication pay off," Holmes said.

Also running for the Trojans were Greta Kliewer (31st, 17:09), Elissa Richert (38th, 17:52), Courtney Fast (46th, 18:40), Megan McCarty (61st, 22:29) and Alysha Claassen (63rd, 23:17).

As a team, the Trojans finished with 117 points, which placed them fifth. Frankfort won with 92 points, Nemaha Valley also scored 92 but placed second. Marysville followed with 106, Hiawatha 115, Hillsboro 117, Valley Heights 124, Pike Valley 131, Washington 133 and Clifton-Clyde 144.

The Trojans' appearance at Marysville was the result of an effort by Holmes to compete in races early in the season with a Saturday-morning start time instead of a traditional Thursday mid-afternoon start.

The change is intended to keep student-athletes in the classroom during the week and reduce the need to train in the afternoon in order to acclimate to the heat.

Junior varsity-The HHS boys put on a remarkable show at Marysville by sweeping the top five places in their race.

Freshman Thad Holmes won in 20:31. He as followed by Brandon McMillen (2nd, 22:08), Johnny Christian (3rd, 22:21), Zach Magnuson (4th, 22:41) and J. Michael Hiebert (5th, 22:42).

They were followed by Jon Janzen (7th, 23:20), Clint Schneider (9th, 24:09), Alex Jost (11th, 24:25), Matthew Klenda (12th, 24:26), Lance Kliewer (13th, 24:26), Victor Rodgers (17th, 25:42), Tyrel Blecha (18th, 26:36) and David Ratzloff (20th, 27:19).

Coming-The Trojans will continue their Saturday-morning early-season schedule with races at Wamego this weekend. Competition on the state-championship course will begin at 10 a.m.