Local Runners Perform Well At East Alton-Wood River Boys Cross Country Invite

WOOD RIVER - Local runners performed well, with many top ten finishes as Collinsville, Roxana, Piasa Southwestern and Marquette Catholic all competed in the East Alton-Wood River Invitational meet held Saturday at EAWR High.

In a very unique format, all four classes, from freshmen to senior, compete against each other in separate races, with no team scores being kept. The race is run on a four kilometer (2.49 miles) course.

In the freshman race, Trey Peterson of the Kahoks won with a time of 12:57, with Steeleville's Cayton Cratch second at 13:38, nipping Collinsville's Andrew Gonski, who came in third with the same time. Fourth place went to Steeleville's Camden Pierce, who had a time of 13:59, with Columbia's Carson Mueth fifth at 14:02, Peyton Broyles of O'Fallon First Baptist Academy sixth at 14:07, Sam Hiller of Belleville Althoff Catholic seventh with a time of 14:33, coming in eighth was First Baptist's Noah Jasper at 14:43, Columbia's Lucas Cole in ninth at 14:45, and Ian Holm of the Crusaders 10th at 15:04.

For the Shells, Hunter Ponce came in at 15:21, and Erik Scroggins had a time of 16:35. Michael Hudson and Ryan DeClue of the Explorers both came in at 16:14, while Daniel Kline was clocked at 16:30, and Josh Kreitner came in at 19:34. Southwestern's Garrett Beutell had a time of 15:24, while the Oilers' Evan Baker came in at 19:01.

Cole Gruenke of Trenton Wesclin won the sophomore race with a time of 13:20, with Greenville's Judah Liss second at 13:57, three Steeleville runners --- Eli Rushing, Clayton Donagher and Evan Reitz --- came in third, fourth and fifth, with respective times of 14:03 for Rushing and Donagher, and 14:23 for Reitz, EAWR's Aiden Loeffelman was sixth at 14:31, two Columbia runners --- Joe Caya and Sam Donovan --- came in seventh and eighth respectively, their times being 14:38 and 14:48, Peter Taylor of Dupo finished ninth, also with a time of 14:48, and rounding out the top ten was Ravonne Clemons of Althoff, coming in at 14:52.

Collinsville's Alejandro Mendoza finished with a time of 14:59, with Timothy Dolan was clocked in 20:22. The Piasa Birds' Collin Robinson came in at 16:40, with teammates Lane Gage having a time of 19:16, and Daniel Cokel came in at 26:34.

In the juniors' race, the winner was the Crusaders' Jack Hiller, who had a time of 12:30, with Columbia's Thomas Crossley second at 12:42, Brock Cunningham of the Kahoks third at 13:10, Nick Fehr of Red Bud fourth, coming in at 13:11, and Christian Rees of Steeleville fifth at 13:16. Daniel Garcia of Collinsville was sixth, with a time of 13:57, Southwestern's Logan Santel was seventh, coming in at 14:09, the Shells' Chris Holbrook eighth with a time of 14:10, Issac Miller of the Musketeers ninth at 14:14, and Wesclin's Connor Garsnett rounding out the top ten with a time of 14:17. Roxana's Dane Slayden had a time of 17:32.

Finally, in the senior race, the Kahoks went one-two, with Theo Paxton the winner at 12:25, and Axel Muniz second at 13:03. Gavin Hill of Wesclin was third at 13:09, with the Kahoks' Kevin Varela fourth at 13:11, and fifth place went to Steeleville's Ray Dagner, who had a time of 13:24. Finishing sixth was the Crusaders' Braden Voss at 13:46, coming in seventh was Keyonte Scarbrough of Dupo with a time of 13:50, Wesclin's Grant Miller was eighth at 13:57, and two Roxana runners --- Matt Olbert and Carlos Ruvalcaba --- came in ninth and 10th with respective times of 14:05 and 14:13.

Austin Walker of the Shells was 11th with a time of 14:19, while teammate Kaleb Smith came in at 15:56.Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.

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