Just like football is a game of inches, cross country is a game of seconds – more specifically, one second.

As Free State High senior Brian Leatherwood faced the last leg of the boys 5K run Saturday, he had Olathe East’s Jason Thomas directly to his right . Leatherwood sprinted his hardest, leaned forward and edged Thomas by a second for fifth place at the Haskell Indian Nations University Invitational.

“Normally, I try to keep a safe pace and just not slow down,” Leatherwood said of closing out races. “Today, I was right next to somebody, and I was trying to beat him. I did, but I just got lucky, I guess.”

Leatherwood’s finish, along with the fourth-place finish of senior Gabe Moss, helped Free State finish second as a team. Senior Jake Jordan placed eighth, and senior Keron Toussaint finished 11th.

Free State’s solid team score didn’t come as much of a surprise to coach Steve Heffernan.

“For us, we really do our best racing in October,” Heffernan said.

Leatherwood said the Haskell cross country course was flatter than courses like Rim Rock, for example. As a result, he said he could be more aggressive.

Free State High senior Brian Leatherwood closes in on the finish line of the Haskell Indian Nations University Invitational. Leatherwood edged Olathe East's Jason Thomas and finished fifth in the boys race on Saturday at Haskell, coming in at 17:20.59.

“A lot of it’s in the technique,” Leatherwood said. “At Rim Rock, you’re thinking about going up the hills hard. Here, you’re just thinking about going hard the whole time at more of an even pace. At Rim Rock, even paces are out the door.”

Leatherwood hasn’t been able to run his hardest this season. He’s still recovering from a pulled right hamstring, which kept him out of practice earlier in the season.

“The last couple of races, I had some poor finishes,” Leatherwood said. “Today, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t have any regrets about it.”

Leatherwood said his hamstring felt good on the course. His fifth-place individual finish is his best of the season.

Olathe East had the best team score, while Takini (S.D.) High sophomore Kiko Mendoza won the race in a time of 16:29.49.

Free State’s Kyra Kilwein finished in third place in the girls 4K run. It was a vast improvement for the sophomore, who passed out in her last race in Baldwin and did not finish.

“I ran too hard in the summertime and should have taken it easy,” Kilwein said. “Today, I rested my legs, and I felt pretty good.”

Cross country is a relatively new sport for Kilwein. She said she was still adjusting to the sport.

“I was so used to sprinting from volleyball and basketball,” Kilwein said. “But cross country is a different sport, and I need to learn the fundamentals of how to run easy and hard on certain days.”

As a result, Kilwein had a precise strategy Saturday. Despite her high individual finish, she paced herself.

“On the first mile, I take it easy,” Kilwein said. “Then when I hit the mile marker, I just go try to catch people.”

As a result of Kilwein’s strategy, she had considerably more energy than her opponents down the stretch. At the mile marker, she was in seventh place, before she raced past four competitors to finish third.

It might have surprised even Kilwein to pass as many people as she did.

“I thought I was going to get 10th or something,” she said. “I’m very thankful that I finished third.”

Freshman Morgan Flannigan finished in sixth place for Free State, while junior Jeanie Reams finished in 13th. Free State finished second as a team, behind Olathe East. Olathe East’s Amanda Miller won the 4K event with a time of 15:14.13.