OLNEY – Highland won the team championship, while Civic Memorial also went through as a team to state, and Mascoutah finished in ninth, but advanced Leo Cozzi as an individual in the IHSA Class 2A Olney Richland County sectional cross country meet, ran on Saturday morning at Olney Central College.
The Bulldogs won the meet with 127 points, with Mahomet Seymour finishing second with 135 points, Marion came in third with 145 points, Mt. Vernon was fourth with 158 points, Chatham Glenwood was fifth with 180 points, the Eagles were sixth at 188 points, and Herrin won the seventh and final team berth with 203 points. Eighth place went to Taylorville with 205 points, the Indians were ninth with 213 points, and Mt. Zion rounded out the top ten with 238 points. Triad was 13th with 291 points, and Waterloo came in 19th with 407 points.
The individual champion was Gabriel Greer of Marion, who had a time of 14:57.83, with Caleb Mathias of Champaign Central second at 15:02.22, in third place was Raphael Greer of the Wildcats at 15:14.88, in fourth place was Henry McMurray of Mahomet Seymour at 15:22.75, and Cozzi rounded out the top five with a time of 15:23.25.
Max Weber of CM finished sixth to lead the Eagles with a time of 15:26.66, while Landon Kearbey had a time of 15:53.85, Jacob Cranford came in at 16:41.48, Logan Kearbey was home at 16:42.28, Tulio Zampieri was in at 16:54.75, Joshua Cranford’s time was 16:57.23, and Glenn Collins had a time of 17:10.61. Christian Knobeloch finished in ninth for the Bulldogs at 15:28.22, while Caleb Knobeloch came in at 16:03.64, Adin Roach had a time of 16:04.38, Joshua Knobeloch was in at 16:13.12, Donnie Miller came home at 16:19.72, and Walker Nehrt came in at 17:29.82.
In addition to Cozzi, Mascoutah saw Lucas Jensen have a time of 15:57.16, Chris White was home at 16:36,58, Zachary Barshay’s time was 16:59,24, Jacob Chung was in at 17:04,88, Henry Kohler was timed in 17:18,32, and Kaine Climaco was home at 17:23,45. Triad was led by Drew Twyman, who finished seventh at 15:28.88, while Sam Kuckuck came in at 16;34.87, Michael Schram was in at 16:44.28, Jacob Ramers had a time of 17:14.87, Gavin Woolverton was home at 17:29.00, Caden Meier had a time of 17:42.87, and Gray Lipe had a time of 18:00.70. Twyman’s finish was enough to put him through to the state meet.
Among the individuals, Dawson Rueter of Breese Central came in at 16:16.33, while East St. Louis’ Darius Ivy had a time of 16:98,56, and Nark Rozhon of Freeburg came in at 16:04.39. All three runners failed to qualify for the state meet.
The team and individual qualifiers will all compete at the state meet Nov. 9 at the now traditional home of Illinois cross country Detweiler Park in Peoria.