PEORIA - Jersey's Ben Flowers finished seventh in the Class 2A-3A boys competition of the Peoria Invitational cross-country meet at Detweiler Park in Peoria Saturday, the site of the Nov. 5 IHSA state cross-country championships.
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Flowers covered the three-mile course in 14:45.60; he was the fastest area runner at the event.
“Ben broke his own school record,” Jersey head cross country coach Harold Landon said. “He ran 14:45.7, the old record was 14:53, both times were set at Detweiller Park in Peoria. The race conditions were perfect, it was cool and temps in the 60s. There were some spot showers to take the pollen and dust out of the air. The competition was awesome.”
Charlie Kern of Elmhurst York won the race in 14:21.
Landon praised his entire team’s efforts in the meet, and said of the 13 distance runners they took, 10 cracked personal records.
“Ben’s first mile may have been too fast (4:42),” Landon said. “We would have liked it to be closer to 4:50. His goals are to be in the 14:30s in four weeks at the state meet.”
The Panthers finished 30th of 37 teams in the field with 809 points; Granite City was 26th at 729 and Alton was 31st at 815 points. Will and Andrew O'Keefe finished 43rd and 45th respectively for the Warriors, Will O'Keefe turning in a time of 15:30.20 and Andrew O'Keefe a 15:32.20. Arie Macias was the leading Redbird runner, finishing 112th in 16:15.50.
LaGrange Lyons took the team title with 65 points, with the individual championship going to York's Charlie Kern in 14:21.50.Brent Feeney also contributed to this story.
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