Area Runners Finish In Top Ten In All Four Races At East Alton-Wood River Invite

WOOD RIVER - Runners from Collinsville, Roxana, Marquette Catholic and Piasa Southwestern and the host school saw many top ten finishes in the four races of the East Alton-Wood River cross country Invitational meet, held Saturday at EAWR High.

In one of the most unique formats in the St. Louis area, the four classes, freshmen through seniors, compete against one another in the four kilometer (2.49 miles) course, and no team scores are kept.

In the freshman race, the winner was Kara Krulick of O'Fallon First Baptist Academy, who had a time of 15:27, with the Piasa Birds' Kendall Meisenheimer coming in second at 17:35, Maddie Wick of the Lions third with a time of 17:45, edging out fourth place finisher Aubrey Bockhorn of Steeleville, who had a time of 17:46, and the Explorers' Katie Johnson came in fifth at 17:54. Red Bud's Harlie Braun was sixth at 18:08, with Paige Rister of Marquette seventh with a time of 18:12, First Baptist's Emily Smith eighth at 18:20, Logan Helling of Southwestern ninth at 18:21, and Page Mushaney of Dupo 10th with a time of 18:45. Ava Certa of the Explorers was 11th at 19:31.

The sophomore race went to Eris Nelson of Belleville Althoff Catholic, who had a time of 15:13, with Madison Missey of Columbia second at 15:32, Kailey Vickrey of the Explorers third at 16:04, with three Roxana runners --- Zoey Losch, Gabrielle Woodruff and Riley Doyle --- placing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, their times being 16:49 for Losch and 16:50 for both Woodruff and Doyle, Simone Liefer of Red Bud seventh with a time of 17:06, Columbia's Brooklyn Oestreich came in eighth at 17:09, Kiersten Scheibel of the Crusaders ninth with a time of 17:42, and Trenton Wesclin's Avery Huffman 10th at 17:44.

Marquette's Claire Antrainer was 11th, coming in at 18:24, and teammate Hudson McCowan had a time of 19:42. Alison Wilson of the Birds had a time of 18:48, with Macaylin Day coming in at 20:24, and Audrey Gordon's time was 24:14. Collinsville's Kiera Winterich was clocked in 20:27, the Shells' Lily Daughtery had a time of 21:59, and the Oilers' Mary Nguyen came in at 22:56.

In the junior race, the winner was Izzy Barker of Columbia, with a time of 16:32, with the Kahoks' Kassidy Rea second at 17:06, Sarah Vanover of Dupo third at 17:16, Greenville's Mia Emken fourth with a time of 17:45, the Shells' Jessi Ponce placed fifth with a time of 17:51, Azia Douglas of Althoff was sixth at 18:01, Madison Ragsdale of Dupo came in seventh at 18:36, Southwestern's Emily Lowis was eighth with a time of 18:53, ninth place went to the Lions' Gabrielle Miller at 18:57, and rounding out the top ten was Laina Wilderman of the Birds, coming in with a time of 19:36.

The Kahoks' Colleen Zinke had a time of 19:56, with teammates Loralei Harness having a time of 20:25, and Leslie Rivera coming in at 22:09. Southwestern's Grace Greenwell was clocked at 20:21, and Ally Helling had a time of 29:45. Sabrina Fulkerson of EAWR came in at 20:32, and Roxana's Kaylee Schardan was timed in 21:31.

Finally, the seniors' race was won by Althoff's Julia O'Neill with a time of 14:59, with Red Bud's Adrienne Vallet second at 15:36, Brooke Biffar of Waterloo Gibault Catholic was third at 16:14, Maggie Fitzgerald of the Kahoks placed fourth with a time of 16:22, and fifth place went to Musketeers' Merideth Whelan at 16:49. A trio of Roxana runners --- Keiko Palen, Macie Lucas and Janelynn Wirth --- came in sixth, seventh and eighth, with their respective times being 16:53 for Palen, and 16:54 each for Lucas and Wirth, the Oilers' Megan Douglas was ninth at 17:03, and Collinsville's Hannah Petit rounded out the top ten with a time of 17:04.

The Explorers' Megan Jarzenbeck had a time of 17:56, while the Shells' Olivia Mouser came in at 19:13.Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.

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