The Hillsboro boys placed fourth as a team at a tough cross-country meet Saturday in Wamego.

Competing against some of the top Class 3A teams on the course that will host the state meet at the end of the season, Hillsboro finished with 134 points to finish behind Wichita Trinity (85), Southeast of Saline (102) and Norton Community (106), and ahead of Pretty Prairie (166), Olpe (182), Silver Lake (186), Kansas City Chris­tian (190) and Allen-Northern Heights (196).

Cody McMillen led the Trojans with a second-place finish in 17 minutes, 52 seconds over the 5-kilometer route. Nicholas Mueller was close behind in fourth with a time of 18:46.

Following them were Nathan Vogel (25th, 19:54), Matthew Klenda (43rd, 20:49), David Ratzloff (64th, 21:25) and Johnathan Christian (68th, 21:33).

“Our top three runners ran great, with Nicholas earning his first really high place at a large varsity meet,” coach Stuart Holmes said.

“Nicholas was in excellent position after the first 400 meters, ran very focused in the tough middle part of the race and passed a few more runners in the last mile as he really gutted it out and finished strong.

“If our other five to six guys running for the fourth and fifth spots can continue to improve, we could beat some of the teams that finished ahead of us today.”

With Jessica Elliot out with illness, the Hillsboro girls did not have the minimum number of runners to compete as a team.

Heidi Schroeder was the first Trojan to cross the finish line at 19:37, good for 48th place. She was followed by Krista Benda (67th, 20:45), Abi Humber (20:53) and Clara Ens (21:07).

In the junior varsity boys’ race, Cody Blackketter posted Hillsboro’s best time (21:05) to finish 26th. He was followed by Jonathan King (40th, 21:42), Alex Jost (48th, 22:11), Nick Carlson (78th, 23:45), Michael Christian (80th, 23:54), Tyrel Blecha (81st, 24:00) and Lance Kliewer (86th, 24:12).

Coming—Hillsboro will complete its series of three Saturday morning races when the Trojans compete at the Wichita South­east Invitational at the Cessna Center in Wichita. Races begin at 9 a.m.

The following Tuesday, the Trojans compete at Southeast of Saline. Those races will begin at 4:30 p.m.

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