During this morning’s Class 6A state cross country meet, Lawrence High and Free State will have the advantage of running at Rim Rock, a familiar but challenging course.

“We know the course really well,” LHS coach Chip Anderson said. “We train for it. We’ve been running hills quite a bit.”

The Lawrence-area trail features two large hills near the end, with the last one cropping up at the start of the final half mile. As a result, runners must conserve their energy.

“Rim Rock is one of the few cross country courses that requires you to actually think about how you’re going to race,” Free State coach Steve Heffernan said. “Rim Rock kind of asks you to run a certain way.”

During the 1998 NCAA Championships at Rim Rock, a runner 70 meters in the lead with about a minute to go lost the race after running out of steam at the last hill.

“It happens a lot out there,” Heffernan said. “A lot of people think they’re just about done. They’re within about a quarter-mile of the finish line, and then all of the sudden they just can’t move because they didn’t save enough for the end.”

LHS will send its entire teams of seven girls and seven boys to the hilly course after its girls team finished second and its boys team third in last week’s regional in Manhattan. LHS went to state last year, but the boys never have won a state title.

The boys’ hopes of securing their first title could rest on the shoulders of junior Dylan Hedges and senior Andrew Grover. Hedges placed first at regionals with a time of 16:41.5 in the 5K race.

“Dylan has just been strong all along,” Anderson said. “He just runs really tough.”

Anderson cited Grover’s hard work during the summer as the reason for his strong times this year.

“He tries to put forth everything he has,” Anderson said. “He doesn’t save anything.”

Junior Kelly Renfro and sophomore Alissa Freeman head the Lions’ girls team.

“They both have a lot of talent,” Anderson said.

Free State, whose teams both finished fifth at regionals, will send three boys and three girls to state.

“We want to see if we improve our times out at Rim Rock again in a setting where there’s a little bit more pressure, a little bit more excitement,” Heffernan said. “We might have a chance for a couple of people to medal.”

Those people include junior Gabe Moss and sophomore Kyra Kilwein. Heffernan said Moss was disappointed in his performance at state last year but could rebound today.

Kilwein, Free State’s top girls runner for much of the year, finished seventh at state last year. But this fall she has suffered from a mysterious ailment that fatigues her at the end of races.

“We haven’t quite got our finger on it,” Heffernan said. “So she hasn’t raced as well as she did a year ago.”

Today’s 6A girls race will start at 10:30 a.m., while the boys race will start at 11:30.

The 5A girls and boys races also will take place at Rim Rock, starting at 10 and 11 respectively.