Cross Country Steeleville finishes strong at New Athens Invitational

Steeleville High School's boys cross-country team made a statement at the annual New Athens Cross Country Invitational Meet, finishing second overall in team standings.

The Warriors fielded 11 runners in the Aug. 20 varsity event. Gavin Conway finished 3rd overall out of 175 runners with his time of 16:49. Other Steeleville finishers included Connor Warhausen (15th, 18:07); Logan Fulkerson (16th, 18:09); AJ Stearns (18th, 18:16); Ronin Doiron (42nd, 19:23); David Coleman (71st, 20:18); Ray Dagner (110th, 21:51); Christian Rees (116th, 22:09); Drake Smith (123rd, 22:36); Joey Stoffel (125th, 22:42); and Dayton Baue (164th, 26:24).

The Chester High School boys and girls teams participated in the event, but did not have enough runners to qualify as a team due to a late start in developing the team as a result of the unexpected deparure of Coach Curt Gilpin and the hiring of Chris Kern as the new coach just weeks before the start of the season.

In the boys race, Chester had three runners enter the competition. Out of 175 runners, the Yellowjackets' Trent Bierman was the first to cross the finish line. finishing 76th overall with a time of 20.25. Jakob Cushman finished in 104th place with a time of 21:23, and Jordan Hughes finished in 120th place with a time of 22:17.

Camden Sadler of Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville was the winner of the event with his time of 16:26.

Boys team standings were Columbia (1st, 71); Steeleville (2nd, 78); Nashville (3rd, 148); Gibault (4th, 151); Althoff (5th, 180); Okawville (6th, 209); Breese Central (7th, 211); New Athens (8th, 221); Red Bud (9th, 255); Salem (10th, 255); Marissa (11th, 272); Dupo (12th, 282), Wesclin (13th, 297); East Alton-Wood River (14th, 305); Sparta (15th, 317); Metro-East Lutheran (16th, 359); and Lebanon (17th, 379).

In the Girl's division, Steeleville fielded a team of seven runners. Kadence Bockhorn was the Lady Warrior's first finisher with a time of 25:35 and finished 43rd. Morgan Creamer finished 44th with her time of 25:44. Other Steeleville finishers included: Kylie Ernsting (76th, 29:23); Shealyn Conway (86th, 30:32); Paige Anderson (88th, 31:04); Lexi Renner (96th, 31:49); and Mia Gall (102, 35:13).

Chester had four runners; not enough to field a team. The Lady Jacket's first finisher was Addie Blechle, who finished 69th with a time of 28:36. Amelia Shemonic finished 85th with a time of 30:26. Elizabeth Soellner finished 100th with a time of 33:40, and Melody Colonel finished 106th with her time of 35:48.

Brooke Biffar of Gibault Catholic High School won the event with her time of 20:49 and pace of 7:04 per mile.

In team competition, Althoff was the winner with 46 points followed by: Okawville (2nd, 55); Breese Central (3rd, 93); Nashville (4th, 107); New Athens (5th, 119); Salem (6th, 148); Columbia (7th, 215); Southwestern (8th, 251); Red Bud (9th, 258); Dupo (10th, 258); Valmeyer (11th, 260); Steeleville (12th, 290); and Metro-East Lutheran (13th, 312).