With regionals on the horizon and league meets in the books some of the Kanzaland area cross country teams took to the course for one last time for trying to earn a spot at state. Jackson Heights played host to a meet fully packed with Kanzaland area teams from the Delaware Valley League, Twin Valley League and Big Seven.

Teams using this as a warmup for regional action this weekend; it was Jefferson County North girls and Royal Valley boys taking the team crowns, while Horton's, Leah Murata and JCN's, Dallas Edwards won the individual crowns.

In the girls competition it was a close race in the top two spots on the day as a pair of Chargers charged ahead of the competition as Horton Charger, Leah Murata raced to another win with a time of 16:19, but JCN Charger, Mallory Kramer was right on her tail finishing second with a time of 16:29. Third place finisher on the day was 40 plus second behind the top two finishers.

Both Horton and JCN didn't stop with just one top 10 performer in the girls competition as one more Horton Charger grabbed a top 10 spot and three more JCN Chargers did so, too. For Horton it was tenth place captured by Erin Cairo, while JCN took home third, fifth and seventh place finishes. Laramie Leakey finished third, Carissa McAfee placed fifth and Jordyn Mize placed seventh.

As for the rest of the top 10 it remaining four spots were represented by four different schools. Finishing fourth place at her home course was Kaitlynn Little, as she registered yet another top 10 finish this season. A pair of Big Seven runners also finished in the top 10 as Nemaha Valley Raider, Mikayla Peterson took sixth and Royal Valley Panther, Kala Stair finished ninth. Riverside Cyclones grabbed the other spot with a eighth place finish by Morgan Ruhl.

With four top 10 finishers the JCN Chargers easily captured the top team spot, while Horton finished second and Nemaha Valley third.

On the boys side it was a close competition at the top spots just like the girls but the boys close race involved the top three finishers. JCN Charger, Dallas Edwards captured the top spot with a time of 17:57. Second and third place was decided by only three seconds as Nemaha Valley Raider, Colin Lierz snatched up third with a time of 18:13 and he was followed by fellow Big Seven runner, Royal Valley's, Thomas Broxterman who registered a time of 18:16.

Both Nemaha Valley and Royal Valley registered multiple top 10 finishers, along with host school Jackson Heights. For the Raiders, two more captured spots in the top 10 with Lierz, as Mikeal Sperfslage placed fifth and Kalib Swart took tenth. Joining, Broxterman for Royal Valley in the top 10 was Dorian French in eighth place. Jackson Heights registered three top 10 finishes at their home meet, placing fourth, sixth and seventh. Eric Mellenbruch finished the highest spot for the Cobras at fourth, Carlo Pino and Seth Holliday finished in the sixth and seventh spots, respectively.

The lone other top 10 spot went to Twin Valley League runner, Michael Eisenbarth taking ninth place.

Three teams that highlighted the top 10, did the same in the team finishes as Royal Valley took home first followed by Jackson Heights, who was only one point behind the Panthers; Nemaha Valley took home third place.

For full results form the Jackson Heights Invitational (click here)