Bulldogs place 11th at Detweiller Park

By Fred Kroner

In a 49-school field on Saturday (Sept. 11) at the First to the Finish cross-country race at Peoria’s Detweiller Park, Mahomet-Seymour’s girls’ cross-country team placed 11^th in the Class 2A division of the meet.

Separate races were held for 1A, 2A and 3A competitors.

The 2A team champion was Grayslake Central (96 points) followed by Dunlap (114) and Vernon Hills (117). M-S’ composite score was 358.

The Bulldogs were ranked eighth in Class 2A in the most recent milesplit.com state poll.

M-S entered 10 runners in the race and each one finished among the top half of the 432-runner event.

Sophomore Ava Boyd was the Bulldogs’ leader. She covered the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 24.6 seconds. Boyd finished 33^rd.

Freshman Ava Jansen was the next M-S placer, coming in 61^st in 20:00.3.

Boyd and Jansen both posted career-best times.

Other M-S participants were Chloe Bundren (73^rd in 20:15.0), Callie Jansen (97^th in 20:38.1), Grace Lietz (100^th in 20:41.8), Emily Bednar (124^th in 20:58.6), Delaney King (153^rd in 21:17.0), Klein Powell (175^th in 21:38.3), Elizabeth Sims (184^th in 21:44.8) and Morgan Waisath (196^th in 21:54.1).

Waisath’s time was also a personal-best.

“Our underclassmen continue to impress as they all had their first experience at Detweiller Park (the state-meet course) this weekend,” M-S coach Jama Grotelueschen said. “The strength of this team is how well they work together and pick each other up. That was very evident today.”

There was also a combined open race for athletes in 1A, 2A and 3A.

Naperville North captured the open title with 17 points. Lyons (42) was second. M-S was 17^th (540).

Forty-three teams participated.

In a field of 595 runners, M-S’ Lauren Bednar was 68^th in 22:13.9.

Chloe Allen finished 135^th in 23:14.2 and teammate Emmaline Culp was 164^th in 23:35.0.

Bednar, a sophomore, and Culp, a freshman, also registered career-best times.

Other Bulldog runners were: Alyssa Christensen (212^th in 24:24.7), Meg Turner (257^th in 24:57.7), Isabelle Scheele (268^th in 25:05.4), McKenzie Hissong (341^st in 26:13.6), Hannah Hofbauer (371^st in 26:37.2), Gabby Reeves (406^th in 27:12.1), Natalie Parrott (465^th in 28:41.5) and Emily Bergia (475^th in 29:13.4).

M-S will return to action on Saturday (Sept. 18) at the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational at Detweiller Park.