Seabury Academy’s cross country motto this year is, “If you can dodge a wrench … You can run cross country,” a spin on a quote from the movie “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.”

Seabury Academy's Adam Davis runs the last half-mile during the Tonganoxie Invitational. Davis placed 18th Thursday at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds.

The wrenches Thursday at the Tonganoxie Invitational were heat and humidity, something the Seahawks didn’t deal with in their first meet.

“The heat was a factor for my kids,” Seabury coach Eric Nelson said. “It was an extra 10 seconds a mile.”

The temperature may have hindered times, but it did not hurt varsity boys runners Adam Davis and Bill Butler. Both runners were positioned in the middle of the pack of 113 runners at the mile marker, but pulled to the front and finished 18th (Davis) and 23rd (Butler) at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds.

“Around the second mile, we don’t let anybody pass us, and we gain people on the hills and down hills,” Davis said of their strategy. “And the third mile, is just go – just go.”

Davis aided Butler’s strong finish, telling his teammate to start the race at a leisurely pace.

Brooke Sutherland mounts a small hill on the course at Leavenworth County Fairgrounds. She competed in the Tonganoxie Invitational on Thursday.

“We went through the first mile really slow, and then we started passing people, and you get adrenaline when you pass people,” Butler said. “So (we) just fed off that for the next two miles.”

Regan Sisson also increased her position after the first mile. Despite a lack of water in the extreme heat, she finished 40th.

“I felt like I started out too fast, and I hit the mile marker and I was feeling okay,” Sisson said. “But at a mile and a half I was just dying.”

The Class 1A Seahawks were pleased with their showing Thursday against a field of larger schools.

“We’re not deep enough to run as a team in a meet of this size,” Nelson said. “But we had a couple of good performances from the boys, and from the girls as well. So, I felt pretty pleased with our effort today.”

The Seahawks hope they will improve enough to have a strong showing at regionals and, hopefully, state.

“Our times are dropping, and our boys team should contend at the state level, (that) is what my goal is,” Nelson said. “We’re a couple of pieces away on the girls side, but our boys team is ready to rumble, and they’re getting faster every week.”