By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline cross country teams continued to roll on Thursday with a clean sweep of their home meet in Gypsum.
It was a dominant showing by both squads as the Trojans finished 40 points clear of their closest competition in Berean Academy while the Lady Trojans cleared second-place Smoky Valley by 27 points.
On the boy's side, the Trojans cruised to their fourth straight meet victory, keeping their streak of perfection alive through the first half of the season.
Unbelievably Southeast took each of the top four spots and five of the top ten in a meet that featured nine other schools.
SES was led on the boy’s side by meet winner Levi Allen, who posted a time of 16:24 flat.
Allen’s win came as part of a photo finish with SES senior Damion Jackson, who missed out on the gold by a mere seven-tenths of a second.
Less than 30 seconds later fans were treated to another frantic finish as the Walker brothers raced furiously to the line. The fight for the last podium place was decided by a single tenth of a second, with Cayden claiming older sibling superiority over Brayden by the slimmest of margins.
Freshman Jacob Bircher posted yet another impressive finish, taking the tenth place spot and ensuring a level of comfort to the Trojan victory.
On the girl’s side, the Lady Trojans took two of the top five spots with the entire team finishing inside the top 25.
This time, freshman Abby Commerford led the way with a fourth-place time of 20:12.1, followed closely by Ashley Prochazka in fifth.
Freshman Breckyn Alderson continues to put in strong finishes, taking 11th in the friendly confines of Gypsum, just ahead of sophomore Cali Augustine in 12th.
Between the Trojans and Lady Trojans, Southeast of Saline has captured six team wins and two runner-up finishes at the midway mark of the season, and both teams are looking like true contenders as autumn sets in over the state of Kansas.