CHS cross country starts season on the road at New Athens and SIUE
<span>The Chester High School cross country teams kicked off the season on the road with meets at New Athens (August 25) and at SIU-Edwardsville (August 29).</span>
<span>The CHS boys team brought home three medals from the two meets, while the Lady Yellow Jackets earned four medals from the two outings for a total of seven medals in the first two competitions of the season.</span>
<span>At New Athens, Taylor Dunning (13th, 22:16), Jessica Kattenbraker (23rd, 23:17), Lucas Doiron (39th, 19:26) and Josh Haberberger earned medals for their performances.</span>
<span>Ellen Blechle (75th, 27:31) and Jason Schwartz (75th, 20:49) rounded out Chester's representatives in the top 75 of their respective races.</span>
<span>At Edwardsville, the Yellow Jackets competed in the annual "First to the Finish Kickoff Cross Country Meet," hosted by Metro-East Lutheran High School.</span>
<span>"This was probably the toughest course on which we will compete this season," said coach Curt Gilpin. "There were hundreds of runners in both the girl's and boy's races and the course was a bit longer than we are used to training on."</span>
<span>The Chester girls finished 21st of 30 competing teams. Taylor Dunning (54th, 23:10) and Jessica Kattenbraker (64th, 23:35) each earned medals for their effort.</span>
<span>Rochester was the winner of the girls' race with 58 points followed by Decatur St. Teresa (58); Notre Dame Cape Girardeau (97) and Freeburg (137) rounding out the top four.</span>
<span>In the Boys Division, there were 37 teams represented and 10 schools that did not have five runners to complete a team.</span>
<span>Lucas Doiron was the first Yellow Jacket to cross the finish line. He had a time of 20:31 and finished 117</span><span>th</span><span> out of the field of 400 runners, earning a medal for his effort.</span>
<span>Salem won the boys division with a team score of 96 points, followed by Cape Notre Dame (107), Freeburg (118), Mascoutah (177) and Breese Mater Dei (254) rounding out the top five.</span>
<span>"Our times don't really represent the real times that we can accomplish on a different day," Gilpin said. "This course was very hilly and there were hundreds of runners in each race.</span>
<span>"Just to finish is an honor and all of our runners had improvement in their performances. We are getting stronger and our stamina is constantly getting better."</span>
Other Chester Results
Girls Division
<span>Ellen Blechle (180</span><span>th</span><span>, 27:06)</span>
<span>Shea Petrowske (213</span><span>th</span><span>, 28:00)</span>
<span>Whitney Gibbs (246</span><span>th</span><span>, 29:10)</span>
<span>Elizabeth Soellner (270</span><span>th</span><span>, 30:21)</span>
<span>Elizabeth Heffernan (294</span><span>th</span><span>, 32:08)</span>
<span>Kaylee James (319</span><span>th</span><span>, 34:23)</span>
<span>Joslyn Abernathy (327</span><span>th</span><span>, 35:44)</span>
Boys Division
<span>nJason Schwartz (217</span><span>th</span><span>, 22:15)</span>
<span>nJakob Cushman (274</span><span>th</span><span>, 23:27)</span>
<span>nJoe Soellner (283</span><span>rd</span><span>, 23:37)</span>
<span>Mitchell Colonel (307</span><span>th</span><span>, 24:05)</span>
<span>Trent Doiron (320</span><span>th</span><span>, 24:27)</span>
<span>Jack Weir (344</span><span>th</span><span>, 25:29)</span>
<span>Ethan Gendron (369</span><span>th</span><span>, 27:02)</span>
<span>Logan Hormann (371</span><span>st</span><span>, 27:06)</span>
<span>Jacob O'Riley (384</span><span>th</span><span>, 28:52)</span>
<span> </span>