McClouth ? Bill Butler rounded a corner on the 5K cross country course and entered the track for the final 300 yards of his run. Seabury Academy coach Eric Nelson was ready to encourage him.

“You have to give all you got left!” Nelson screamed.

Butler listened.

He finished the last 300 yards in a virtual sprint and finished in 18 minutes, 14 seconds, good enough for 12th overall. His time was over a minute better than his 27th-place finish in the first meet of the season last week.

“I wish I had gotten into the top 10, but it was pretty good for this early in the season,” Butler said. “I hope to move up as the season goes on, but I was very satisfied with the run.”

Butler’s finish, coupled with two other Seahawks finishing in under 20 minutes, helped Seabury finish seventh in the McLouth Invitational yesterday at Stan Braksick Sports Complex.

“It was one of our team goals this year,” Butler said of having three runners finish in under 20 minutes. “It was a great run for our team.”

Those other two runners were Gus Wigen-Toccalino, who finished 27th, and Cody Jones, who finished 33rd.

The seventh-place finish was six spots better than Seabury placed a week ago in the Wamego Cross Country Invitational. Seabury was one of just two 1A teams that participated in yesterday’s 18-team meet.

“We have a ways to go, but we were way faster today than we were last week,” Nelson said. “Only time will tell how low these kids can go and how far we are going to go this year.”

Nelson said Butler was only going to continue to run faster.

“He will go sub-18 (minutes) any week now. He is going to blow it up. There is no doubt about it,” Nelson said. “It was perfect for Bill today. It is what I thought he would do.”

Nelson was not sure whether yelling to Butler on the final stretch helped him run faster, but Nelson definitely enjoyed the experience.

“It motivates me,” Nelson said of encouraging his team. “I get fired up. I think my kids were giving all they had today. I can yell and scream but I have no control over what they do.”

Butler is the captain of a team that has no seniors but hopes that his team will improve to become one of the top teams in 1A this season.

“He has just really accepted the role,” Nelson said of Butler being team captain. “He gets the team fired up. He is the coach on meet days.”

Butler walked the team through the course to discuss strategy before yesterday’s meet, while Nelson got his girls team prepared for their race. Nelson had just two girls run, and the team did not place.

Seabury will travel to Tonganoxie on Sept. 21 for their next meet.