Several city and area high school cross country runners had good showings at the Rim Rock Cross Country Classic – an event that meet director Tim Weaver referred to as the “high school championship of the Midwest.”

Most of the local success came in the three girls’ races with eight runners finishing in the top 10 in the three events.

Eudora’s Brittney Graff was the highest finishing local runner as she defended her title in the crimson race coming in at 15:11.90 – 23 seconds ahead of her competition.

“It’s cool to win because it’s Rim Rock and it’s KU,” Graff said.

However, Graff was slightly disappointed.

“I would like it better if I was in the gold race – it has all the top competitors,” said the 2005 Kansas class 4A state cross country champion. “But I still do like winning it.”

Free State’s Kyra Kilwein left all she had out on the course during the crimson race, as she was sent right to the medical tent after crossing the finish line in fifth-place.

“The one thing you can never question is Kyra’s effort,” Free State coach Steve Heffernan said. “She’ll give you the same amount of effort whether she’s in first place or 101st. And so, when she finishes a race and then she collapses, it’s not dramatic. That’s just that she’s given everything that she’s got, so you can never be disappointed with that.”

In the gold race – the top tier of the three individual races – Baldwin’s Heather Garcia came in second with a time of 14:35.60 as Lawrence High’s Kelly Renfro finished six spots back coming in at 15:07.00.

“It feels pretty good, because last year I got 20th and I was a little disappointed with that,” Renfro said. “But I felt really good about my finish today, because I didn’t let anyone pass me in the chute.”

A new outlook has also been improving Renfro’s performances thus far.

“I trained a lot harder over the summer, and I’ve been working a lot harder this season and just been a little bit more serious about it,” Renfro said. “Last year, it seemed like kind of a joke.”

For the boys, the most successful race for area runners was in the blue race as Eudora’s Joey Chino – who crossed the line in third at 17:10.50 – and Cody Burns – who finished seventh with a time of 17:34.90 – came in ahead of Tonganoxie’s Matt Brock, who finished 11th with a time of 17:51.30.

Free State’s top finisher in the crimson race was Brian Leatherwood at 17:42.90 – good enough for 25th – followed closely by teammate Gabe Moss-Masaquiza (30th) and De Soto’s Tanner McNamara (32nd).

The best showings in the boys’ gold race came from a pair of Baldwin runners. Chris Elniff finished with a time of 16:58.70 – for a 24th-place finish – and Caj Kueffer’s time of 17:22.10 put him in 39th.

Lawrence’s Dylan Hedges followed closely behind Kueffer just two positions back with a time of 17:23.90.

The strong showing by all the local runners comes at a good time as regionals and state are coming up towards the end of October.

“It’s a very good sign,” said Graff, when asked about the significance of a good finish at Rim Rock – which is where the Frontier League meet will be run. “But I’m going to wait to see how Baldwin finishes today in their race, because they are definitely the top competition for us.”