GRANITE CITY – Edwardsville freshman girls cross-country runner Riley Knoyle had a very impressive debut in the Granite City Invitational, finishing third, while teammates Makenna Lueking finished 13th and Jillian Welsh 54th as the Tigers tied for fifth with Mascoutah as a team in the race, held Saturday morning at Wilson Park in Granite City.
O’Fallon won the team championship with 42 points, finishing ahead of runner-up Chatham Glenwood, who had 87 points. Triad came in third with 135, Waterloo was fourth with 154, the Indians and Tigers each had 185 points, Freeburg came in seventh with 242, Roxana was eighth with 248, the host Warriors were ninth with 258, and Quincy rounded out the top ten with 270.
Among area teams, Civic Memorial placed 15th with 402 points, Alton was 17th at 458, Jersey was 21st with 554, and Piasa Southwestern did not record a team score.
The Tigers held back two of their runners, but it also enabled the younger runners to pick up valuable experience on the varsity.
“We had to hold a couple of girls out,” said Edwardsville head coach George Patrylak, “so it was nice to have some freshman and sophomores gain some varsity experience, and the sixth-place finish was solid for the ladies that ran today.”
A big plus was that Lueking was able to cut her time from last year’s race by three minutes, which Patrylak was very proud of.
“Absolutely,” Patrylak said. “Makenna is a lot stronger now than she was than this time last year, and she was almost three minutes faster than last year’s race.”
And Knoyle’s third-place finish is the first of many good things to come from the promising freshman.
“Riley is obviously one of our most talented athletes that we have,” Patrylak said, “and she’s also one of our hardest workers we have, and that’s a great combination. I think Riley’s still trying to put together a three-mile race, and I’m excited for the chance she has in Peoria next week, especially with the depth in that race.”
O’Fallon’s Peyton Schieppe was the winner with a time of 17:24.65, with Lydia Roller of Staunton second at 17:36.93. Knoyle’s time was 18:27.53, with Alyssa Elliott of West coming in fourth at 18:30.50, Janelynn Wirth of the Shells was fifth at 18:36.27, Breanna Chandler was sixth with a time of 18:44.35, Chessy Nikonowicz of Granite was seventh at 18:55.97, eighth place went to Nia Gibson of Glenwood with a time of 18:58.67, and a pair of O’Fallon runners, Julia Monson and Kaitlyn Walker, were ninth and 10th respectively with times of 19:02.40 and 19:03.77.
Lueking’s time was 19:30.73, while Welsh came in at 21:03.91. Among other Tiger runners, Arabella Ford had a time of 21:32.64, Madison Strotheide came in at 21:35.38, Kaitlyn Loyet’s time was 21:37.25, and Avah Marse was at 22:25.16.
Besides Wirth, the top finishers for the Shells were Riley Doyle, who had a time of 20:55.75, and Jennifer Palen at 21:20.39. For the Redbirds, the top three finishers were Jessica Markel, with a time of 21:11.69, Sophia Paschal at 21:54.58, and Alayna Rabozzi, with a time of 22:15.36.
Alyssa Kowalski was the top finisher for the Knights, coming in at 19:51.12, followed by Sydney Hartoin at 21:20.59, and Chloe Gough, with a time of 20:23.63. CM’s top three finishers were Zoey Lewis at 21:38.75, Hannah Meiser at 21:54.47, and Tori Standefer at 22:08.41.
The top three for Jersey were Makenna Dugger, with a time of 22:17.24, Chloe Kallal, with a time of 22:29.93, and Grace Sharich at 23:46.03. The top three runners for Southwestern were Allison Brown, with a time of 22:28.78, Laina Wilderman at 22:31.86, and Mackenzie Conlee at 23:47.44. Granite’s top three finishers were Nikonowicz, Claire Sykes at 20:42.06, and Lauryn Fenoglio at 21:12.08.
The most important thing for the Tigers was the experience the younger runners gained in important races such as this, and how it will help in future races this season.
“I’m most excited on the girls’ side is of the valuable experience that they gained today,” Patrylak said.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
