Iola won the boys' team title while Pittsburg took the girls' championship at the Southeast Kansas League Cross Country Meet, held on the grounds of the Great West Insurance building Thursday afternoon.

Fort Scott was not eligible for the boys' championship as it didn't have the minimum five runners. Tiger girls finished in fourth place.

For Iola's boys, this was the fifth championship in the last 10 seasons but the first since 2003. Overall, Iola was won 12 titles since cross country became a league sport in 1970. The Mustangs scored 37 points followed by Chanute with 59, Pittsburg 63, Parsons 70, Labette County 124 and Independence with 155.

Pittsburg girls won for the seventh time in the last eight seasons with only Independence interrupting the string last season. The Purple Dragons had 39 points while Chanute was second with 43. Independence, despite having the two best individuals, was third with 58 points. Fort Scott had 104 points and Iola rounded out the field with 113.

The individual boys' champion was Nate Pope of Iola, who ran the 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes, 12.18 seconds. Ben Mazurek of Pittsburg was next in 18:21.32 and Roman Yochan was third in 18:21.65.

Keenan Gregory was the high finisher for Fort Scott with the 29th-best time of 20:16.68. Charlie Sercer finished with a time of 21:48.09 for the Tigers while Julian Wichert finished in 22:17.05 and Colton Ballou turned in a time of 23:02.55.

Julie Stafford of Independence won the girls' crown, finishing 4,000 meters in 17:34.72. Teammate Raquel Dungey was second in 17:47.45 and Kandi Voorhees of Labette County finished third in 18:01.99.

Morgan Tourtillott finished 18th for Fort Scott in 19:45.79 and Leah Cassleman was 19th in 20:02.62. Those performances earned those runners Honorable Mention All-SEK status, which goes to the runners who finish 11th through 20th. The top 10 finishers get All-SEK First Team status.

Also for Fort Scott's girls, Jenna Harper was 22nd in 20:20.05. Kim Stone turned in a time of 21:04.21 and Katelyn Torres finished in 21:06.77.

Iola was the team winner of the boys' junior varsity race after Mustang runners took the top three spots. Iola had 20 points followed by Chanute with 58, Labette County 59 and Independence 112. Iola's Ryan Latta was the individual winner in 20:03.18. There were no Fort Scott runners in this race as they all ran in the varsity competition.

McKenzie Spresser of Pittsburg won the girls' JV race in 19:35.22. Fort Scott's Megan Midkiff was fourth in 21:51.17 and Autumn Owenby was fifth in 22:22.06. There were only 10 girls in the race, so no team title was awarded.

Fort Scott's varsity teams, along with each of the other Class 4A teams in the league, will take part in the Parsons Class 4A Regional Meet, to be held Oct. 25 at Big Hill Lake at Cherryvale.