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O'FALLON - Edwardsville senior runner Emily Nuttall set an all-time personal record by winning with a time of 17:49.4 to take the individual championship as Edwardsville took six of the top ten spots to win the team title in the girls' Southwestern Conference Cross Country Meet Wednesday afternoon at the Milford campus of O'Fallon Township High.
The Tigers won the meet with 25 points, with O'Fallon a close second at 32 points, Belleville West was third with 93 points, Collinsville came in fourth at 118 points and East St. Louis was fifth with 132 points. Belleville East and Alton also had runners in the field, but not enough to record a team score.
The meet was originally scheduled for Collinsville, but was changed at the last minute due to the threat of rainy and possibly stormy weather, which never materialized but remained a possibility all throughout the day. The Tigers lived up to their expectations of being the meet's favorite going in, even with the change of venue.
"Going into the conference meet, I felt that we were going to be the team to beat," said Edwardsville head coach George Patrylak, "and I knew O'Fallon was going to give us everything they had, especially defending their home course. I am excited that the girls were able to defend the conference championship, but I do feel that the girls looked past this meet and were not as zeroed in as I would like them to be."
The Tigers did have some very good performances, including Nuttall's personal record time, along with freshman Madison Popelar running a good race in placing in the top ten. Freshman Sarah Haislar also finished in the top ten and ran a good race. Many new runners had good performances also.
"They took advantage of an opportunity to compete at the varsity level," Patrylak said, "while we rested Riley Knoyle, Dylan Peel and Antonella DeAvila."
Nuttall's personal record time won the race, with Brittney Brown of the Panthers came in second at 18:09.0, with teammate Ellie Bush right behind in third at 18:09.2, Popelar was fourth at 18:20.0, with teammate Emma Patrick in fifth at 18:49.1, sixth place went to the Panthers' Saya Spells at 19:10.7, Olivia Coll of the Tigers came in seventh with a time of 19:24.1, teammate Maya Lueking was in eighth place at 19:30.4, O'Fallon's Ella Peterson was ninth at 19:36.3 and Haislar rounded out the top ten at 19:47.6.
To go along with the top six, Bella Horsford of the Tigers came in at 20:07.5, while the Flyers were led by DiNajia Griggs, who had a time of 24:33.8, Je'Tira Taylor was in at 27:40.3, Skyler Wood had a time of 28:27.9, Bailey Graham was clocked in 29:43.0 and Pea'Ton Walker came in at 30:02.6.
Alton was led by Sophia Helfrich, who's time was 20:54.4, while Monica Klockemper was in at 21:24.5 and Alayna Rabozzi had a time of 22:05.4.
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