PIASA — The Piasa Southwestern boys cross country team secured a spot in the sectional meet next week at Elmwood, demonstrating strong performance at the IHSA Class 1A Rushville-Industry regional meet held Saturday morning, Oct. 26, 2024, at Scripps Park Golf Course.
Pleasant Plains claimed the team title with a commanding score of 33 points, significantly ahead of second-place Quincy Notre Dame Catholic, which finished with 86 points. Petersburg PORTA followed closely in third with 91 points, while Carthage Illini West took fourth with 116 points. Liberty finished fifth with 124 points, and the Piasa Birds secured their advancement with a total of 149 points. Beardstown rounded out the qualifying teams in seventh place with 158 points.
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The Piasa Birds are Altonized Community Federal Credit Union Male Athletes Of The Month.
In individual performances, Thor Springman led Southwestern with a seventh-place finish, clocking in at 16:37.0 for three miles, which marked a personal record for him. Other notable finishes for the Piasa team included Bram Beuttel at 17:41.4, Evan Makler at 18:03.3, Daniel Hall at 19:32.4, Chase Miller at 19:42.6, and Kaden Matuska at 21:20.8.
Piasa Birds head cross country coach Gary Bowker reflected on the team's performance, stating, "The boys finished sixth as a team, grabbing one of the seven-team spots to advance to Sectionals. Sophomore Thor Springman continued to lead the way for the Green & Gold. His time of 16:37 was a PR on what was a most demanding course loaded with the best competition we have seen this year. Junior Bram Buettel is starting to get his cross-country legs after competing on the soccer team this fall."
Other teams that participated in the meet included the Hawks, who finished eighth with 202 points, Havana in ninth with 240 points, and the host Rockets in tenth with 263 points. Astoria finished 11th with 272 points.
Additional schools such as Hamilton West Hancock, Jacksonville Routt Catholic, Mendon Unity, Mt Sterling Brown County, Pleasant Hill, and Winchester West Central also had runners compete but did not have enough participants to earn a team score.
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