“At this point, it’s a fine tune game,” he said.

The 1A Knights were second to the 2A North Lincoln Knights in the split league’s boys and girls’ races on the curvy, wooded 5K course at Sally’s YMCA. North Lincoln totaled 28 points in both races, with LNC finishing with 37 points in the boys’ race and 64 in the girls’ event.

“North Lincoln is definitely a good team,” said Zamiara. “They’re going to be competing for 2A titles.”

Michael Westbay was the top LNC finisher, taking second with a time of 16:50.64. Having saved some energy for a sprint to the finish, he passed North Lincoln’s Ryan Shannon for second on the final stretch and nearly pulled out the win. North Lincoln’s Chris Boyle edged him by just more than a second.

“Michael Westbay ran a great race today,” said Zamiara. “He had a great kick.”

Chris Hack (4th, 17:06.87), Jordan Wallace (8th, 17:19.86), Matt Panza (11th, 17:43.63) and Sean Kenney (12th, 17:44.88) also scored for LNC. Zamiara said Kenney’s performance was a pleasant surprise. He’s been farther back in the pack of LNC runners all year.

“He ran an amazing race,” said Zamiara.

No one was going to catch North Lincoln’s Savannah Fornshell in the girls’ race. She led throughout and won by 18 seconds with a time of 19:02.24. But LNC’s Stephanie Zaino stayed in pursuit and finished in 20:04.11 for sixth.

“She’s a workhorse,” said Zamiara.

LNC’s Sarah Hardin was eighth (20:19.34), and Danielle Clark (14th, 21:00.16), Lauren Swift (17th, 21:34.76) and Holly Miller (20th, 21:45.44) rounded out LNC scoring.

Up next for LNC is the 1A West Regional in Cherokee next Saturday. For a boys’ team that won the Midwest title last year and a girls’ squad that finished second, the goals remain high.

“I think we’re farther along than we were last year,” said Westbay, ninth at regionals a year ago.

Zaino is confident in the girls’ team’s potential, too.

“We’re close,” she said. “We’re at the top, I think.”