SEE PHOTO GALLERY:
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
GRANITE CITY - Edwardsville's Emily Nuttall came in eighth and Maya Lueking ninth, as O'Fallon placed two of its runners in the top three, but won a tiebreak over the Tigers as the two teams finished tied for first in the Granite City Invitational cross country meet held on a rainy Saturday morning at Granite City's Wilson Park.
The Tigers and Panthers finished tied for first with 82 points each, but O'Fallon's sixth runner placed ahead of Edwardsville's sixth runner, which gave the team title to the Panthers. Chatham Glenwood was third with 92 points, Waterloo was fourth with 127 points, Triad came in fifth with 179 points, Quincy was sixth at 216 points, coming in seventh was Highland with 240 points, Mascoutah was eighth at 270 points, Breese Mater Dei Catholic was ninth with 273 points and Springfield rounded out the top ten with 293 points.
Belleville West came in 11th with 301 points, Civic Memorial was 12th with 318 points, Belleville Althoff Catholic was 13th with 350 points, Belleville East was 14th with 388 points, Carbondale was 15th with 404 points, the host Warriors were 16th with 412 points, Freeburg was 17th at 434 points, in 18th place was Columbia with 515 points, Roxana was 19th at 525 points and Salem was 20th with 528 points.
"I was really pleased with how the girls raced today," Civic Memorial Head Cross Country Coach Jake Peal said.
Marquette Catholic came in 21st place with 555 points, with 22nd place going to Dupo at 582 points, Centralia was 23rd with 589 points, Mt. Vernon was 24th with 605 points and Trenton Wesclin was 25th with 678 points.
Much as in 2019. when Edwardsville was without injured star runner Abby Korac, who missed the season, the Tigers were without Riley Knoyle, who's currently out with a stress fracture in her right foot that she suffered in the IHSA Class 3A state track meet in June.
"Unfortunately, it seems like a little bit of deja vu," said Edwardsville head coach George Patrylak. "Riley's freshman year, we were trying to figure things out without Abby, and this year, we're trying to figure things out without Riley."
Although the Tigers were without Knoyle, the team still performed very well, and Patrylak hopes the team continues to progress as the season goes on.
"I thought our top five did a solid job," Patrylak said, "but we need to continue to make progress throughout the season."
Nuttall, a transfer from Olney Richland County, ran exceptionally well and has improved exceptionally well.
"Our current number one, Emily Nuttall, finished in the top 30 in the Class 1A sectional last year," Patrylak said, "and finished eighth in a top-notch invitational, so she's way ahead of where she was last year."
Overall, the Tigers did very well, and Patrylak expects more big things from his runners this season.
"Our kids ran well, and I expect them to progress throughout the season," Patrylak said. "If we can keep those runners ready, we showed today that we could qualify for state without Riley. That being said, we hope that Riley will be able to rejoin us before the end of the season. Overall, I was pleased with the girls' performance today."
Peyton Schieppe of O'Fallon won the individual title with a time of 17:38.6. with Althoff's Eris Nelson second at 18:11.8, Julia Monson of the Panthers was third at 18:24.7, fourth place went to Belleville West's Alyssa Elliott at 18:40.3, Quincy's Anna Schuering was fifth at 18:46.6, a pair of Waterloo runners, Danielle Mudd and Angelynn Kanyuck, were sixth and seventh respectively with times of 19:09.2 and 19:22.6, Nuttall was eighth with a time of 19:33.4, Lueking was ninth at 19:36.5 and O'Fallon's Britney Brown rounded out the top ten with a time of 19:41.9.
Besides Nuttall and Maya Lueking, the Tigers had Whitney Dyckman in at 20:01.2, Madison Strotheide was in at 20:06.9, Olivia Coll had a time of 20:09.2, Emma Patrick was in at 20:52.1 and Anna Singh's time was 21:05.0.
Blaire Cunningham led Triad with a time of 20:08.4, with Anna Keller in at 20:10.1, Chloe Gough came in at 20:25.3, Mattie Noyes had a time of 20:49.2, Amanda Bagwell was in at 20:55.2, Kennedy Bowman's time was 21:09.5 and Claire Schaft was in at 21:44.9.
Hannah Meiser was the Eagles' top runner, finishing 11th with a time of 19:45.9, with Alyssa Mann's time 21:05.9, Katelynn Hallstead was in at 21:43.3, Allison Hallstead came in at 22:32.3, Eliza Donaldson was clocked in 23:10.1 and Shelby Quick came in at 24:41.
Lauryn Fenoglio was the top runner for the Warriors with a time of 20:33.5, Emilee Franklin was timed in 21:11.0, Lillian Harris had a time of 22:10.7, Madison Tanksley came in at 24:10.3, Lydia Harris was in at 24:25.8 andRowan Wallace's time was 29:10.6.
Riley Doyle led the Shells with a time of 20:43.6, and was followed by Makinzie Hosier at 23:26.4. Jessi Ponce was timed in 25:16.6, Lexi Ryan had a time of 25:37.8, Madison Herrin came in at 26:05.0, Paige Lohman was clocked in 27:26.5 and Taylor Partridge had a time of 32:06.7.
Leading the way for the Explorers was Katy Johnson, with a time of 22:03.0, followed by Kailey Vickrey at 23:34.0, Paige Rister was in at 23:43.1, Claire Antrainer had a time of 26:22.2, Jaimie Jarzenback's time was 27:21.1 and Ava Certa was in at 27:33.1.
Among the individuals in the race, Alton's Sophia Paschal was in at 21:37.3, Morgan Johnson of Jersey had a time of 21:46.9, Izzy McLeod of Metro-East Lutheran had a time of 22:52.6, teammate McKenna Getta came in at 26:42.5, another Metro-East runner, Alison Waller, was clocked in 27:26.1 and a pair of runners from East St. Louis, Courtasja William and Brenay Smith, had times of 31:34.4 and 33:53.6 respectively.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
More like this:
