Topeka ? Missed it by that much.

Both Lawrence and Free State high schools came up just short of qualifying all their runners for next Saturday’s Class 6A state race at Rim Rock Farm.

While the Firebirds’ girls team finished second at Saturday’s 6A regional at Washburn Rural and the Lions’ boys took third – the top four teams qualified for state – the FSHS boys and LHS girls both finished in the five slot.

But both teams can take solace in the fact all the teams will be represented at Rim Rock because individual runners qualified from the fifth-place teams.

LHS sophomore Roy Wedge, who finished the five-kilometer boys race third, was the top city finisher on the day. He and senior Dylan Hedges (ninth) helped propel the Lions into third.

Wedge was nearly at a loss for words after what he deemed a surprising finish.

“I expected to do well … I didn’t expect to do that well,” he said of finishing less than eight seconds behind the event’s champion – Shawnee Mission Northwest freshman Sterling Spencer.

On the other hand, Free State junior Kyra Kilwein, surprisingly, finished the four-kilometer girls race sixth (almost 40 seconds behind champion Marley Crusch, a junior from Manhattan) and said her performance was “all right,” adding: “I’m saving my energy for state.”

Kilwein’s main objective Saturday was to help her team qualify. “A cross country race is more of a team thing,” she said. “I can’t really think about myself all the time. I think about my team.”

The Firebirds’ top runner praised teammate and freshman Haley Francis for her 10th-place finish.

“She did an awesome job,” Kilwein said, adding that she expects her teammates to give their all this week in preparation for the championship race.

The Firebirds girls will see a pair of Lions at Rim Rock. LHS seniors Kelly Renfro (eighth) and Kristina Taylor (14th) qualified as individuals for the state championship. Renfro was disappointed her whole team won’t join them, but said she was excited that she wouldn’t have to go it alone.

Free State’s boys also will have two runners represent them. Freshman Logan Sloan finished fifth, and senior Gabe Moss took 16th, securing the next-to-last spot.

After the race, Moss told the Firebirds who didn’t qualify not to worry too much about it. After all, it’s just a race.

“Some days you run good, some days you don’t,” Moss said. “What matters is everybody (else). I love all these guys. We just wanted to come in and earn one more week together.”

Still, Sloan wished his team could have secured that fourth-place finish.

“It’s a bummer,” he said. “We’ll be here next year, though.”

Sloan, Moss, Kilwein and Francis will be joined at the state championship by FSHS girls senior Jeanie Reams, junior Haley Harrington, sophomores Morgan Flannigan and Libby Wiebe and freshman Hillary Yoder.

Renfro and Taylor will represent the LHS girls at Rim Rock, while Wedge and Hedges will run alongside LHS boys senior David Long, junior Ben Wilson, and sophomores Jonathan Gabler, Cody Jones and Calvin Morgan.