Dispite waiting for more than six hours for their race until the heat of the day, the SLUH Jr. Billikens again flashed their cross country muscle to win one of the premier meets in the Midwest Saturday.

SLUH rolled to first place at the Rim Rock Classic in Lawrence, Kan., with 101 points. Austin Cookson was in third place, but he was tripped in the final stretch and had to settle for seventh in 16:34. Caleb Ford was close behind in 10th (16:44).  But it was SLUH’s depth that really carried the team.

“We had a couple other teams that were tough with their first two runners,” SLUH coach Jim Linhares said. “But nobody had a four and five anywhere close to our fourth and fifth runners.”

SLUH’s scoring pack included Cliff David in 28th, Tony Minnik in 29th and David Kuciejczyk-Kernan in 30th. The Jr. Bills even put their sixth and seventh runners — Bill Gabler (33rd) and Tim McLaughlin (40th) — ahead of runner-up Liberty’s fourth runner.

DeSmet’s Connor Callahan won the race in 16:16 over the 5k course. The girls ran a 4k, and Parkway Central’s Emily Sisson and Diane Robison took the top two spots. Sisson won the race in 14:29. Festus’ Alyssa Allison won the Crimson Division in 15:39.