Eudora High’s Brittney Graff, the defending Kansas Class 4A state champion, knows that every cross country runner is targeting her.

The thing is, it’s going to be hard to close a 1 minute, 44 second gap – the distance she put between herself and Perry-Lecompton’s Katie Hirsch en route to a first-place finish Thursday on her home course.

“I’m getting more used to (the big leads) – it’s not getting harder,” said Graff, who crossed the finish line in 14:37. “But I’m ready for competition. I’m ready for league. I’m ready to push with someone instead of just myself.”

While Graff is being chased, her teammate on the boys side, Joey Chino, has been doing some chasing – and is coming up big.

With about 50 yards remaining, Chino ran down Louisburg’s Jason Rose in what Eudora coach Paul Boone described as an “epic battle” to claim the gold in a time of 16:29.

Chino said he really needed it this week.

“I’m running for homecoming king here, so any good win under my belt would probably boost my chances of getting the crown there, too,” Chino said. “But it’s exciting – the best year I’ve ever had.”

With no other runner in sight, Eudora High's Brittney Graff reaches the finish line at the Eudora Invitational. Graff won Thursday's race in a time of 14 minutes, 37 seconds - 1:44 ahead of her nearest competitor.

The topic of homecoming was something that was obviously on Chino’s mind throughout the race, but Boone said he was impressed that his runners suppressed their emotions that went along with the weeklong festivities.

“That’s distracting, and things that could affect your focus,” Boone said. “And that’s really cool that they were able to maintain focus and keep in mind what they needed to do.”

The meet also had a home feel to it for Seabury Academy, which is working up to its big meet of the year – the Class 1A regional at Leonardville in two weeks.

“We had this meet marked on our calendar early in the season. We knew it would be a fast track,” Seahawks coach Eric Nelson said. “And we actually took it a little bit easier on the kids this week so they could (personal record) here, close to home. We don’t have a home meet, so for our fans, this is where they watch … so it’s a good time for them to go fast.”

Bill Butler’s time of 18:40 was tops for the Seabury boys and placed him 28th. Cody Jones came in 12 spots behind Butler with a time of 19:15.

Elizabeth Simons was the top Seahawk girl in 46th place with her time of 19:58, finishing 28 seconds ahead of teammate Brooke Sutherland, who crossed the line in 51st.

De Soto took the boys team title with the help of Tanner McNamara (fourth, 16:59) and Chris Dvorak (sixth, 17:07).

Gardner-Edgerton won the girls teams title.