Emporia ? The Free State High boys and girls varsity cross country teams ran to top-five finishes in the Emporia Invitational on Saturday at Jones Park.

The Firebirds placed fourth in the boys 5K. Senior Trail Spears took seventh overall with a time of 17:10.83, and sophomore Ryan Liston finished 10th in 17:24.54 to pace FSHS. Fletcher Koch (23rd place), Connor Ballenger (30th) and Colton Stallard (35) rounded out the team’s total of 105 points, which was just nine points shy of third-place St. Thomas Aquinas. Maize finished atop the standings with 53 points.

Junior Bailey Sullivan led the Firebirds girls team to fifth place in the 4K. Sullivan, who finished in eighth with a 15:39.33, Molly McCord (16th), Rosemary Newsome (24th), Lindsey Wethington (45th) and Christina Craig (53rd) combined for a team total of 146.

Freshman Ethan Donley helped the Free State boys junior varsity team to third place in the 5K. Donley crossed the line third overall with a time of 17:57.37. The Firebirds girls JV team finished sixth.

Free State will compete Saturday at the Baldwin Invitational.

LHS freshman Sanner places 6th overall

Emporia — Lawrence High freshman Claire Sanner notched a second consecutive top-10 finish on Saturday in the Emporia Invitational.

Sanner, who placed third at the Manhattan Invitational a week before, took sixth place in the 4K with a time of 15:30.63. The Lions girls varsity team placed eighth with 203 points.

Senior Thomas Ezell had the top time in the 5K for the LHS boys varsity squad, as he finished in 41st place with a 18:26.41.

Fellow senior John Mwithiga outran the pack in the boys junior-varsity 5K for first place overall. Mwithiga ran a 17:46.99, and the LHS boys JV team placed seventh. The Lions girls JV team took eighth.

Next Saturday, Lawrence High will travel to Lake Shawnee in Topeka for the Shawnee Heights Invitational.

Seabury’s Albrecht takes 4th at Wamego

Wamego — Seabury Academy junior Kate Albrecht finished fourth overall on Saturday at the Wamego Invitational.

The Seahawks girls took seventh as a team.

Albrecht ran the 4K race in 16:44.

Junior Kit Rice led the Seabury varsity boys with a 54th place finish in the 5K. Junior Alison Chi had the top result for the Seahawks girls junior varsity team, placing 72nd.

The Seabury varsity boys and JV girls did not have enough runners to rank in the team standings.