Prep Cross Country: A Good Day To Run

Posted September 23, 2014 11:00 pm

Staff Report

Loren Whiting led wire-to-wire to win the Harrisburg Invitational Tuesday at Southeastern Illinois College.

The Carrier Mills-Stonefort senior crossed the finish line at the 19:02 mark.

"I thought he ran really well today," Carrier Mills-Stonefort head coach Mike Eisenhauer said. "He had a nice lead the entire race and continued to push the pace. I was extremely pleased with how he ran today."

Also for the Wildcats, Gabe Motsinger finished 11th with a time of 22:04 and Billy Lewis was 20th with a time of 25:48.

For the Eldorado Eagles, Brett Plunkett was second overall with a time of 19:55, while teammates Chris Acheson (17th, 23:11) and Brandon Burnett (22nd, 26:07) rounded out the scoring.

EHS head coach Gina Griffin commented on how all her runners have made personal gains, but none may have been bigger than Plunkett's on Tuesday.

"In all my year's of having Brett run, he's never ran the SIC course in under 20 minutes. That was his goal today and he did it. That course is a tough course," Griffin said of SIC. "There's no paved paths, it's twigs, holes, it's rough."

On the girls' side for Eldorado, Kim Acheson was 10th with a time of 29:02 and Grace Pena finished with a time of 30:02 for 14th place.

The Harrisburg boys won the overall event with a team score of 46, while Massac County finished second (69) and Crab Orchard was third (72).

On the girls' side, Harrisburg pulled away with the title, finishing with 15 points, while Massac County placed second (57) and Crab Orchard was third (69).

Aiden Blades finished third overall, but first for Harrisburg, with a time of 20:18, while Zach Clarida was sixth with a time of 20:44. John Jaggers crossed the line at 21:56 for a 10th place showing, while Donny Hicks finished with a time of 22:28 for a 13th place showing. Adarash Manaway finished with a time of 22:30 for 14th place, while Seth Thai was 15th, finishing in a time of 22:29. Ethan Haney (21st, 25:07) and Darren Harrison (26th, 29:48) rounded out the finishes for Harrisburg.

Taylor McDaniel led the way for the Harrisburg girls' team, finishing in a time of 23:96, while Franchesa Laurencio was second with a time of 23:56. McKenzie Sullivan placed third overall with a time of 24:22 and Tiffanie Milligan was fourth, finishing with a time of 25:18.

Ashley Cain was fifth with a time of 25:54 and Kiara Rann was sixth, crossing the line at 26:18. Harrington placed 19th overall with a time of 37:56.