GRANITE CITY – In the Granite Girls 3A Sectional Cross Country race, Edwardsville’s girls advanced as a team with a sixth-place finish.
Yorkville emerged as the team champions with 73 points, with Plainfield North second with 91 points, Oswego East was third at 130 points, New Lenox Lincoln-Way Central was fourth at 139 points, Minooka came in fifth with 143 points, the Tigers came in sixth with 148 points and Frankfort Lincoln-Way East claimed the seventh and final team berth with 179 points. O’Fallon finished ninth with 247 points, but qualified two runners for state as Individuals. Alton, Belleville East and Granite City also had runners who competed in the race, but not enough to record a team score.
Tessa Russo of Plainfield North won the individual title with a time of 16:53.55, with Bree Counihan of Lincoln-Way Central second at 16:57.95, Morgan Dick of Oswego East was third at 17:18.93, Marlie Czarniewski of Plainfield North was fourth at 17:24.69 and Ali Ince of Normal Community rounded out the top five with a time of 17:25.38.
Madison Popelar led the Tigers with a time of 17:48.35, with Antonella DeAvila right behind at 18:06.60, Emma Patrick was in at 18:12.86, Olivia Coll had a time of 18:14.68, Ella Thompson came in at 18:34.31, Maya Lueking was home at 19:05.93 and Ava Horsfall was clocked in 20:12.33.
Although the Panthers didn’t qualify for state as a team, they’ll still send Ellie Bush, who finished ninth, with a time of 17:34.96 and Mae Naveira, who had a time of 18:05.18. Other runners were Madelyn Lane, who was in at 19:28.10, Kayla Kainer was right behind at 19:30.09, Ava Thung came in at 19:44.97, Ella Peterson was in at 20:12.34 and Autumn Gavin had a time of 20:27.46.
Among the individuals in the race, the Redbirds’ Sophia Helfrich had a time of 20:28.27, while Monica Klockenkemper was in at 20:39.67. The Lancers had Bria Johnson in at 20:10.06, while the Warriors’ Emilee Franklin had a time of 19:20.53 and teammate Lydia Harris came in at 19:52.35. All individual runners didn’t qualify for the state meet.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
