PERU – Simon Thorpe could not repeat as the Northern Illinois Big 12 cross country meet champion, but he helped Dixon to a strong second-place showing.

Thorpe, a junior, finished fourth, and the Dukes had all five of their scoring runners place in the top 19. Dixon scored 59 points, finishing behind only powerhouse Yorkville, which won the boys conference championship with 27 points on Saturday at Baker Lake.

Thorpe was in contention the entire way, but came up a bit short. His time of 15 minutes, 23.8 seconds was 9 seconds behind winner Jake Hoffert of Yorkville.