Baldwin City ? On an uncharacteristically cool, gray, wet September morning at Baldwin City Golf Course, Baldwin High’s Heather Garcia won the cross country race, but Free State High’s girls team won the war.

Garcia finished the 4-kilometer run in 14:30.31, more than 30 seconds ahead of the Firebirds’ top runner Kyra Kilwein, but all of Free State’s runners finished in the top 30, which allowed it to capture the team title in the girls run while Baldwin finished third.

An established long-distance runner with Class 4A state track championships in the 1,600 and 3,200 on her resume, Garcia still found gratification in her victory Saturday on her home course.

“It felt good,” Garcia said. “I pushed hard, so I did what I was supposed to do.”

The senior led the race from the get-go, but admitted to looking over her shoulder once on an uphill portion when she could sense the competition was close behind.

“Normally I don’t (look back) at all,” Garcia said.

Although she prefers hot weather because cold air bothers her asthma, most of the runners benefited from the cool and cloudy conditions with the temperature in the 50s.

“They were a little cold, but when they see their times they forget about the weather,” Free State coach Steve Heffernan said.

“It’s a perfect day, so times are really fast,” Baldwin coach Mike Spielman added.

In the boys race, neither Free State nor Baldwin could catch Shawnee Mission South’s Jake Taylor, who won the 5-kilometer race with a time of 16:10.40, or the Shawnee Mission Northwest runners, who had four of the top eight runners en route to the team title.

The Baldwin boys finished third in team points, and Free State was fifth, despite the efforts of freshman Logan Sloan and senior Gabe Moss, who finished 10th and 11th, respectively.

Sloan said he looked up to his running mate Moss.

“I’ve learned everything from him,” Sloan, a West Junior High student, said, adding that Moss is a team leader who gets the other runners ready in the huddle before a race.

Heffernan credited Moss with bringing Sloan along.

“I’m not surprised that Logan came out a little bit ahead today, but at the same time Gabe’s really helping him quite a bit,” Heffernan said.

“(Senior leadership) can make or break a team,” he added. “It’s not the easiest thing to have a freshman come in and battle for your top spot on the team, and I think Gabe’s matured a lot in the last few weeks and has really been a big help.”

Baldwin’s top male runner was also a freshman. Like Sloan, the Bulldogs’ Tony Weiss (16:47.81) credited his teammates for his performance.

“We try to pack up,” Weiss said of himself and teammates senior Aaron Karlin and junior Connor Wright, who finished just behind him. “We try to stay together and work as a team.”

Once the boys finish racing, that camaraderie flows over to the Bulldogs’ girls team as well.

“Our coach always says, ‘Once you’re done with your race, you become a cheerleader,'” Weiss said.

Their coach was pleased with both of Baldwin’s teams Saturday.

“Both teams did really well,” Spielman said, adding that the pleasure stems from 4A Baldwin’s success against the 6A programs. “We did a nice job competing against a lot of schools that are a lot bigger than us.”

Free State’s girls team, led by junior Kilwein, felt good about itself after the victory.

“Sometimes you’re not finishing at the top and you wonder how good you are, but I think today they found out they’re awfully good,” Heffernan said.