Washington’s Claire Horak (center) sprints toward the finish line of last month’s Fairfield cross country meet at Waterworks Park. Photo by KCII Sports Nate Gonner.

The final tuneup before next week’s state qualifying race will take the Washington Demon cross country teams to Fairfield tonight. The Demons will run in the annual Southeast Conference meet at Waterworks Park.

Washington will compete against runners from Fairfield, Fort Madison, Keokuk, and Mount Pleasant for ten spots on the all-conference squad. Recent graduate Emme Keith was the Demons’ lone all-conference runner last year, finishing the girls’ race in seventh place.

The Demons last ran at the IMS Invitational on October 3. Claire Horak posted Washington’s best finish, placing fourth in the girls’ race at 20:27. Brennan Horak topped the Demons runners in the boys’ field, taking 15th place with a time of 18:24.

The varsity girls’ race is set to begin at 5 p.m. and the boys’ will follow at 5:30 p.m.