Elizabeth Sims finishes first on Kickapoo Rail Trail

By Fred Kroner

Individual champion Elizabeth Sims posted a 27-second victory over the runner-up on Saturday (Oct. 3) in a three-school meet at Urbana at the Kickapoo Rail Trail.

Sims’ winning 3-mile time was 19 minutes and 54 seconds.

The next five Bulldogs crossed the finish line within 12 seconds of one another, starting with Emily Bednar (fourth in 20:45.35). She was followed by Ava Boyd (fifth in 20:47.35), Delaney King (sixth in 20:53.42), Klein Powell (seventh in 20:56.03) and Grace Lietz (eighth in 20:57.1).

Grotelueschen said Bednar “was followed closely by four of her teammates, who much like practice worked very well together.”

M-S had a second tight pack of seven finishers who ran within 49 seconds of one another.

That group was led by Ella Scott (10^th in 21:31.07). She was trailed by Chloe Allen (11^th in 21:35.25), Callie Jansen (12^th in 21:37.82), Olivia Bunting (13^th in 22:00.00), Alyssa Christensen (14^th in 22:03.89), Lauren Bednar (15^th in 22:17.46) and Ella Wolters (16^th in 22:20.75).

In order to properly social distance, the girls’ meet was run in seven waves with each one starting 30 seconds after the previous one. The times were then adjusted and compiled into one list of results.

“As has become typical this season, meet hosts have to think outside of the box for race locations and race formats,” M-S coach Jama Grotelueschen said.

Other M-S finishers in the 39-runner field were CeCe Abramson (19^th in 22:40.46), Meg Turner (22^nd in 23:35.21), Gretchen Scheele (23^rd in 23:35.75), Fiona Taylor (24^th in 24:16.28), Hannah Hofbauer (26^th in 25:02.39), Zoe Joyce (30^th in 25:37.1), Emily Bergia (31^st in 25:39.28), Sadie Wilcoxon (35^th in 27:13.85) and Natalie Parrott (39^th in 28:11.16).

Seven Bulldogs recorded personal-best times, including Joyce, who trimmed 4 minutes, 30 seconds off her previous best in the second race of her prep career.

Others with their top times were Christensen (who Grotelueschen said “has such a great work ethic on a daily basis”) and five others who dropped their times for the second week in a row: Lauren Bednar, Abramson, Turner, Bergia and Wilcoxon.

“Gretchen Scheele, Fiona Taylor and Natalie Parrott had good races on Saturday and continue their streak of lowering their time each race this season,” Grotelueschen added.

In the team chase, unranked M-S (Class 2A) outdistanced state-ranked (Class 1A) Clinton, 23-71. Third-place Urbana ended with a score of 106. Clinton was ranked 23^rd in the most recent state poll by milesplit.com.

M-S will return to action on Tuesday (Oct. 13) at the Apollo Conference meet at Eastern Illinois University.