LEXINGTON – Jacob England ran out of steam too early.

The defending Class 2A champion didn’t have the same energy needed to repeat, but still put up a top-three finish in the KHSAA Class 2A Boys’ State Cross Country Championship on Saturday at Kentucky Horse Park.

The Warren East senior finished a distant third in 16 minutes, 23.24 seconds behind runner-up Adam Walker of Lexington Catholic (16.10.09) and champion Steven Ott from Christian Academy-Louisville (16:07.03).

His teammate Colton Bullington finished fifth in 16:38.06 to help the Raiders finish second in the team standings with 134 points.

Lexington Catholic ran away with the 2A team title with 39 points.

“It feels really great,” Bullington said. “I’m glad we got runner-up. Not many teams can do that and get to state, but we get here and get runner-up and that’s really great. It’s not just me and Jacob, it’s the guys in the back and we depend a lot on them as well.”

For whatever reason, England said he didn’t have the necessary energy in the last third of the 3.1-mile race to catch up to the leaders. He and Bullington hung in the lead for the first half of the run before Ott and Walker pulled away.

His final cross country finish was one second slower than his time to win the 2A, Region 2 meet last week and 18 seconds off his state-winning 16:05.08 from last season.

“I really couldn’t tell you exactly what it was, I was just shot,” England said. “I got two-and-a-half, two-and-a-quarter in and it was just gone. I didn’t have it there. I just kept expecting something to come and click and get a nice spurt in my legs and it just didn’t come.

“I was really excited going into the race today, obviously. You don’t get a lot of chances to do something like win back-to-back state titles. Just the opportunity to have that is really great. The race didn’t necessarily turn out like I wanted. I had a really great season and I’m blessed with everything running has done for me.”

Bullington’s fifth-place finish now gives him back-to-back top-five finishes at the state meet.

“It’s pretty good being consistent,” Bullington said. “I’m hoping to get better next year and get in better position.”

In the girls’ 2A race, Franklin-Simpson eighth-grader Jaydee DeGraffenreid showed off early speed before older runners took control of the race. DeGraffenreid finished fifth in 19:40.96, 25 seconds behind individual girls’ champion Victoria Dotson of Rockcastle County (19:15.80).

DeGraffendreid said she expected at least a top-10 finish and was especially ecstatic to place fifth.

She jumped out to a substantial lead in the first mile, then dropped back to seventh place in the homestretch before edging out two runners at the finish line.

“I wanted that feeling of, ‘I’m first in the state right now,’ ” DeGraffenreid said. “I just wanted that feeling and I knew that would help me throughout the rest of the race. It got a lot harder mentally. Even though I knew I would likely not get first, I felt like mentally it was really challenging, but I had to fight through it.

“At the end, it’s like the third mile and they took off and I was like, ‘They’re going to die.’ ” I told myself to keep running and I got right to where the white stripe starts and it was where I put it all out. I knew they were going to lose their lead right there and they did.”

In 3A, Matt Wininger and Luke Spurrier each earned top-10 finishes to put the South Warren boys’ team in third place with 202 points. St. Xavier won the 3A title with 62 points and Trinity was second with 79.

Wininger finished eighth in 16:12.05 and Spurrier, who beat his teammate by 10 seconds to win the 3A, Region 2 meet last week, finished 10th in 16:17.92.

“I’m extremely pleased,” Wininger said. “It’s something we’ve been dreaming of since we were freshmen and it’s finally happened. (Luke and I) push each other a lot in workouts and in races it’s even better.”

South Warren’s girls’ team earned 213 points to place fifth in the 3A standings. Spartans junior Lucy Knutson was the highest finisher on the girls team in 27th in 20:33.98.

Class A Top 100

Girls

50. Courtney Garrett, Edmonson County, 22:12.67

78. Alexas Engel, Edmonson County, 22:50.38

99. Caroline Parsley, Edmonson County, 23:24.68

Class 2A Top 100

Girls

5. Jaydee DeGraffenreid, Franklin-Simpson, 19:40.96

30. Emma Steff, Warren East, 20:50.44

87. Caroline Murphy, Glasgow, 22:25.13

88. Emma McGuffey, Warren East, 22:25.81

89. Autumn Jenkins, Butler County, 22:26.80

100. Hannah Leonard, Warren East, 22:32.97

Boys

3. Jacob England, Warren East, 16:23.24

5. Colton Bullington, Warren East, 16:38.06

42. Will Lovell, Warren East, 18:01.13

43. Jacob Williams, Warren East, 18:01.41

55. Dalton Sledge, Warren East, 18:17.66

56. Garrett Elrod, Warren East, 18:20.98

70. Jackson Sevilla, Franklin-Simpson, 18:32.80

86. Trey Colson, Warren East, 18:44.39

Class 3A Top 100

Girls

27. Lucy Knutson, South Warren, 20:33.98

28. Kristin Dent, Bowling Green, 20:34.43

36. Megan Kitchens, South Warren, 20:47.58

49. Katlin Barnes, South Warren, 20:58.37

50. Brooklyn Wilkins, South Warren, 21:00.04

72. Haylee White, South Warren, 21:23.82

95. Samantha Sutton, Bowling Green, 21:53.15

Boys

8. Matt Wininger, South Warren, 16:12.05

10. Luke Spurrier, South Warren, 16:17.92

21. Carter Chavira, South Warren, 16:38.66

49. Kyle Woodward, South Warren, 17:18.00

70. Kyle Heltsley, Greenwood, 17:38.10

80. Deshawn Crowe, Bowling Green, 17:43.54{&end}