Junction City finished fourth in both the boys and girls team competition at the Class 6A Regional meet at Milford State Park on Saturday.
Although the full team did not qualify for state in either case, six JCHS runners are headed to state for the individual competition next week in Augusta. For the boys they include Billy Dee who finished ninth at regionals in 17:09.1, Tyler Atkins 11th in 17:13.4 and Tyler Raulston 22nd in 17:52.5. For the girls they are Brynna York with a fifth place time of 19:50.6, Lorna Pierce eighth in 10:08.4 and Reagan McGuire 18th in 20:46.7.
Billy Dee was tired coming uphill on the home stretch to the finish line. "I was tired and I was a little bit angry because somebody, from I think, ( Lawrence ) Free State passed me in the last 10 seconds. " Dee noted that he ran well despite that. He also expressed sympathy for his teammate Tyler Atkins, who has led the team in races this season. Atkins is battling an injury but did qualify for the state meet.
Lawrence Free State won the regional team title with the low score of 36 points, followed by Manhattan with 41, Washburn Rural 65, Junction City 90, Wichita Northwest 172, Wichita North 183, Topeka High 192 and Wichita Heights 213.
In the girls competition Brynna York led the way for Junction City. "I felt pretty great. I qualified for state and I beat the girl I was supposed to beat. Got a pretty good time. It wasn't a PR like I wanted but still did good."
JCHS coach Tim Testa said the Lady Jays took a good shot in the team competition but Lawrence Free State ran well as they captured third place. On the boys side Washburn Rural ran strong. "They looked really good in the back where we thought we could get them. Their number three through number seven looked great today."
In the girls team scoring Washburn Rural won the team title with the low score of 41 points, followed by Manhattan with 52 points, Lawrence Free State 69, Junction City 91, Hutchinson 133 and Wichita North 143 points.