Ayden Taylor came close to breaking the 15-minute mark.
The senior from Liberty-Wentzville ran 15:04.76 - a new personal best -- at the Missouri Southern Stampede on Saturday in Joplin.
The course at the NCAA Division II school usually provides fast times and Taylor shaved 33 seconds off his personal best heading into the race.
He posted a 13-second margin of victory ahead of Dominic Matthias of Moore in the Green Division.
The meet had more than 600 runners between the boys Green and Gold Division
The top 10 in the Green -- primarily larger schools -- featured five runners from Missouri and five from out-of-state, a mix of Arkansas and Oklahoma runners.
Alan Gallardo Lopez was third for Fayetteville, running 15:30.14. Cache, Oklahoma had the fourth-place runner in Zachary Williams (15:30.30) and eighth-place runner Ethan Jones (15:36.80).
Webster Groves won the team title with 97 points and that was aided by a pair of top-10 runners. Teammates Dominic Buckman and Corbin Cole finished back-to-back in 6th and 7th, respectively. Only .19 of a second separated the two.
West Plains took second and Lee's Summit West took third in the boys Green Division, with the Zizzers scoring 10 fewer points than the Titans.
In the Gold Division, El Dorado Springs' Wyatt Klaiber (pictured at top) took home first place with a 15:36.12. The sophomore is undefeated this year in four races. The runner-up was Clay McKinney from Regents Preparatory in Tulsa. The junior ran 15:45.69 -- his only faster time came in winning the Class 4A state race (4th largest of 6 classes) at the OSSAA State XC Meet last October.
Two Joplin runners placed high in the Green division. Colton McMillan from New Heights Christian Academy -- formerly College Heights Christian -- was third. Michael Parrigon from McAuley Catholic was seventh and in a unique twist, he is part of the New Heights Christian Academy soccer team this fall as well. McAuley Catholic partners with New Heights Christian for a co-op team that competes as New Heights Christian Academy.
New Heights Christian Academy's Colton McMillan is pictured above while McAuley Catholic runner and New Heights Christian soccer player Michael Parrigon is pictured below
Herculaneum won the team title with 110 points with senior Nathaniel Wright (below) leading the way with a fourth-place finish.