Jake Mueller showed his coach some of the killer instinct she’s been looking for going all the way back to the track and field season.

The Wright City senior finished third in Monday’s Eastern Missouri Conference meet in Elsberry in 19 minutes, 31.15 seconds.

Mueller helped lead the Wildcats to a second-place finish behind Bowling Green.

“We’ve finished second a bunch this year, but you’re always going to finish second to Bowling Green because Bowling Green is a power,” Wright City Head Coach Sue Wright said. “But Jake ran a great race. I saw some things out of him that I haven’t seen yet. I’m still trying to get that killer instinct out of him, but he was just great.”

The Wildcats battled a stiff wind that kept times down across the board.

Tanner Riley was the only Wright City runner to improve his time at the meet.

Riley finished ninth overall in 20:09.95

“He’s running so well,” Wright said. “He’s just driven.”

Wright also was impressed with first-year senior runner Wyatt Deroy, who finished 10th in 20:12.94.

“Wyatt was really excited after coming out for his senior year, and he’s one of those kids that you wish you had all four years,” Wright said. “He’s running really well and he’s really getting into the feel of the pace he needs.”

Other Wright City boys finishers included Tristin Riley (21:06.73), Kyle Bruning (21:09.60) and Stephon Norwood (22:15.93).

“The cool thing about our guys’ team is that every time we run it seems we have someone new finish first,” Wright said. “They’re all really close in times, so sometimes it might be Wyatt or Tristin or Jake or Tanner. It’s cool that we’re all together.”

Erin Tomschin led the Wright City girls with a third-place finish.

Tomschin finished in 22:14.59 behind the North Callaway duo of Reyna and Daelyn Schmauch.

“She’s running really well, and she’s gotten stronger, too,” Wright said. “I think what she’s doing right now will help her get out of districts, and her experience will only help her going forward.”

Tomschin qualified for the Class 2 state championship last fall, but the Wildcats moved up to Class 3 this season, putting potentially tougher competition in Tomschin’s path next week at the district meet at Warrenton.

Zoe Pezold finished 15th in 26:26.49, followed by Maryanna Hale (28:45.01) and Ashley Schulte (31:37.02).

“We’ve gotten better,” Wright said, “and now is the time you have to be better because you’re running against kids you weren’t always used to running against.”