LEXINGTON — The Fairview girls cross country team fared better than last year.

St. Henry easily won its eighth straight Class A state team title with 48 points Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park, and Trimble County was second with 109. The Lady Eagles were third with 118 — one spot higher than last year’s fourth place — and they edged Louisville Collegiate by a single point.

Fairview notched a perfect 15 to win the regional meet last week, but coach Becca Stacey was mostly pleased about yesterday.

“I just hate being that close,” Stacey said. “They gave a great effort. We were fourth last year, third this year; it’s a step in the right direction.”

Fairview actually somewhat overachieved. Two of the top runners during the regular season, sixth-graders Lindsey Burke and Katie Richards, were ineligible for the postseason because of their age.

Freshman Brooklyn Bowen was the first Lady Eagle in 18th place with a time of 21 minutes, 3.22 seconds.

“I’m happy about it,” Bowen said of finishing third as a team. “We worked hard for it.”

Rounding out Fairview’s first five runners were: seventh-grader Haley Layne in 23rd place (21:15.63), eighth-grader Maddy Rymer in 32nd (21:34.98), eighth-grader Morgan McIntyre in 35th (21:38.42), and sophomore Audrey Sizemore in 40th (21:49.58).

Bowen ran wounded — she has battled tendonitis in her knees for months, and she ices them and takes anti-inflammatory medicine every day. She admitted Saturday she could have done a better job of hydrating and stretching before the race.

“I feel like I did pretty good,” Bowen said. “It was hot. (Not hydrating) slows me down, it takes my energy away.”

Stacey added: “If she was healthy, she’d have finished in the top 10.

Lexington Sayre’s Maddox Patterson won the Class A race in 19:42.5. Following her in the top five were junior teammate Ann Eason, Owen County’s Danielle Hoop, Madison Peace of Walton-Verona and Maria Frigo of St. Henry.

Elliott County senior Jhonda Ison was the next highest local finisher in 56th place, and she was disappointed because she wanted to place in the top 50.

“I was a little nervous,” Ison said. “After the first mile, my legs got a little stiff.”

Equally perplexed was Elliott County coach Stephanie Cantrell after the Lady Lions finished 18th.

“I had two girls that were sick,” Cantrell said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Raceland finished 19th. Eighth-grader McKenzi Sparks finished 95th in 24:08.21.

Stacey, meanwhile, can’t wait for 2010.

“All these girls are coming back,” she said. “I have two sixth-graders that can run.”

In Class 2A, Russell finished eight with 376 points. Eighth-grader Jennifer Slone led the Lady Devils in 37th place (21:58.10).

South Oldham easily defeated North Oldham, 41-106, for the team championship. Christian Academy-Louisville was third with 107, followed by Lloyd Memorial with 193 and Louisville Presentation with 202.

Russell finished 14th with 376 points.

Individually, Christian Academy junior Jenna Rogers won by 32 seconds over Lloyd’s Elisha Overpeck. South Oldham’s Jessie Murner was third, and Krisston Senter of Allen County and Grace Whitworth of Allen County took fourth and fifth, respectively.