All through last school year, Ken Eichberg ran with an arm band bearing the initials “JB” in memory of his former Dalton High School teammate, John Bruner.

That was in cross country season and then in indoor and outdoor track seasons for Campbell University in North Carolina.

Saturday morning, Eichberg came to the place where his friend fell a year earlier and won the John Bruner Memorial Missionary Ridge Road Race.

“Thinking of John definitely helped, I think,” he said later. “He was on my mind the whole race.

“It was my first time here. Pretty much right after last year and what happened, I wanted to run it in memory of him.”

Bruner, also a college runner, struggled in last year’s race and collapsed near the finish area at the Bragg Reservation. He died soon after being taken away in an ambulance, and an abnormal makeup of his left coronary artery ultimately was cited as the cause.

Eichberg ran the hilly 4.7-mile course in 25 minutes, 6 seconds Saturday. That was five seconds ahead of Bryson Harper, a 19-year-old Bryan College runner from Sequatchie County High School who recovered from March knee surgery and won the 8-kilometer Chattanooga Chase on Memorial Day.

Greg Bruner, John’s father, gave the pre-race prayer and presented Eichberg and perennial women’s winner Jan Gautier with their prizes. He said Eichberg “logged more miles” with his son than any other friend, and he recalled Gautier’s kindness after last year’s race when she drove his wife to the hospital after John was taken away.

Andrew Bruner, John’s younger brother and a Dalton High runner now, also attended Saturday’s event but did not race.

A large contingent of Dalton-area runners did, many of them wearing Team Bruner shirts in recognition of the project the family started to fund scholarships and, eventually, projects to get children involved in running and other fitness pursuits.

“It’s another way of keeping John alive,” his father said.

Also in his first Ridge race, Harper got off course momentarily at the turnaround, going straight with the idea of turning left when he was supposed to go left and then make a right turn. He quickly realized the error and got back on track.

“It wasn’t much — maybe 15 meters,” he said later.

The youth movement continued with Steve Fassino, 18, and another Bryan runner, 20-year-old Josh Bradley, finishing third and fourth in 25:28 and 25:50. Tim Ensign was fifth and the masters winner in 26:24, and William Warner, 55, was 10th and the grand masters winner in 28:26. There were 229 finishers.

Gautier, 43, was the first female for the 11th time and the eighth time in 10 years — 22nd overall in 30:46. She felt good enough to run some more after finishing the race.

“I’ve been on vacation all week, basically seeing relatives, but I wanted to make sure I was here today, out of respect for John,” she said.

“Summer for me is base-building time,” said Gautier, who coaches Baylor’s middle-school runners, “and this race is a nice kickoff to the beginning of the school year. As hard as it is, this race is a good one to run.

“Today I happened to pass a few guys that often I don’t. Although my time doesn’t really show it, I felt I ran a sound, smart race today.”

Laura Gearhiser was the female masters winner, and Sarah Bowen was the female grand masters winner while her husband, John Walker, won the men’s 55-59 age group.

Bruce McDuffy, 86, got the Arnold Godwin Award as the oldest participant.

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