In its second season as a program, the first as a co-op, the West Prairie/ Southeastern High School cross country team achieved a milestone at Saturday’s Illinois High School Association Class 1A Regional at Spring Lake Park.
The Cyclones girls and boys raced their way to qualifying for next week’s Class 1A Sectional at Elmwood.
“Regardless of us qualifying, I’m tremendously proud of all of the athlete’s growth this season,” said WP/SE coach Logan Lommel.
The WP/SE girls claimed the seventh and final team qualifying spot with a score of 153 points.
Host Macomb claimed the regional title with a score of 37 points. LVC was second with 67 points, followed by South Fulton (81), Liberty (97), Beardstown (130), Havana (146) and WP/SE.
Four of the five Cyclone runners, all freshmen, recorded personal bests on Saturday.
Layla Dallefeld finished 30th overall, posting a personal best time of 23 minutes, 19.5 seconds for the three-mile course.
Alice Heizel was 44th (PB, 25:22.7), followed by Kate Beck (45th, PB, 25:23.7), Daylee Smith (52nd, PB, 26:14.4) and Emmalyn Wilson (54th, 26:41.8).
Havana sophomore Kasyn Jibben claimed a regional title for the second consecutive year, posting a winning time of 17:36.0 in besting 66 other runners.
Other individual qualifiers for sectional competition included Rebecca Reed of Pleasant Hill (second, PB, 18:21.0), Hayven Rundle of Monmouth United (third, 18:25.0), Emmalyn Hensley of Knoxville (seventh, 19:57.9), Kaylyn Forbis of Pleasant Hill (ninth, SB, 20:20.4) and Makayla Lewis of Knoxville (19th, 22:37.3).
In the boys race, WP/SE finished fifth with a score of 128 points.
Macomb won the team title with a low score of 31 points. LVC was second with 100 points, followed by Beardsown (120), Abingdon- Avon (122) and WP/SE.
Pleasant Hill (143) and Liberty (162) also advanced to sectional team competition.
Individually for the Cyclones, six of the seven runners recorded either personal bests or season bests on Saturday.
Sophomore Ayden Lacey led the way, finishing ninth with a personal best time of 16:45.2.
Senior Payton Totten was 26th (PB, 18:34.5) followed by sophomore Milo Rodeffer (29th, 18:45.8), sophomore Ezra Bithos (40th, SB, 19:29.2), junior Mason Sorrells (41st, PB, 19:31.3), freshman Connor Griswold (43rd, PB, 19:41.7) and sophomore Michael Lynn (58th, PB, 21:00.0).
South Fulton sophomore Karter Chenoweth won the individual title, topping the field of 83 runners in posting a winning time of 15:56.4.
Other individual qualifiers included Bryar Rodeffer of Illini West (eighth, SB, 16:37.3), Parker Walker of Illini West (10th, 16:45.4), Silas Thiner of Rushville- Industry (14th, PB, 17:27.1) and Max McVey of Monmouth United (22nd, 18:24.0).
“We ran at Spring Lake to open the season in August,” Lommel noted. “Had our team today faced off against themselves in August, our boys team would’ve beaten themselves by 20 points and our girls team by 15 points.”
“It speaks a lot to their commitment and character this season although many of them did not know what lies ahead with about half of them competing in their first ever cross country season,” he added.
“Every member of our team outperformed the place they were seeded heading into the race,” Lommel noted. “All that you can ever ask as a coach is for your athlete’s to give their best effort, and they simply did.”
Meanwhile, Bushnell-Prairie City senior Logan Joiner wrapped up his career Saturday, finishing 64th, posting a season best time of 21:43.8.
The IHSA Class 1A Sectional in Elmwood will be held at Maple Lane Country Club with the girls race beginning at 10 a.m., followed by the boys race at 11 a.m.
“Looking ahead to sectional, it will be the first time that any member of our group has competed at that level in high school cross country,” said Lommel. “It will be a great learning experience that we can build on in the following years.”
“That being said, after a race like Ayden Lacey had, you never know what is possible in terms of pushing for a qualifying spot at state,” he added.
Complete team and individual results from this meet can be found at the following link: https://www. athletic.net/CrossCountry/ meet/285878/info
