Ben Flowers and teammate Nick Reynolds run together for a period in the conference meet at Principia College.

ELSAH - Jersey’s Ben Flowers blew away his competition Thursday in the Mississippi Valley Conference Cross Country Championship at Principia College, winning the race (over a five-kilometer, or 3.1-mile, course) in 15:43.

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Mascoutah won the boys title with 34 points, Jersey had 54 points for second and Waterloo was third with 69 points. Triad had 115 points. Civic Memorial recorded a score of 117 points, followed by Highland with 122.

Highland won the girls meet with 42 points, Triad followed with 47, then Mascoutah had 67 points, Waterloo had 70, Jersey 158 and Civic Memorial 160.

Flowers was satisfied the race, but said he feels he needs a few days of rest before hitting the regional, sectional and state meets.

“I wanted to win this and I want to win regionals, sectionals and finish in the top five at state,” he said of his upcoming goals. “I will probably have an easy week before sectional and state and get my legs back.”

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Jersey coach Harold Landon said Mascoutah caught the Panthers by surprise on Thursday, but one of his better runners, Mike Roach, did not train all week because of an injury and he thought it was difficult for him to come back with no training.

Nick Reynolds was fifth for Jersey with a time of 16:42, followed by Roach in 15th with a time of 17:11, Mark Wendell, 16th in 17:11) and Drew Bertman, 17th in 17:24.

Kiara Chapman finished 23rd for the Jersey girls with a time of 21:43 while Kaleigh Grace was 30th for the Panthers in 23:11. Civic Memorial’s Alex Singleton was 14th in 20:17.

Jersey and Civic Memorial will take part in the IHSA Class 2A Jacksonville Regional next weekend.

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