Steeleville boys cross country finishes 19th

<span>Steeleville boys cross country's first trip to state turned out pretty well for the Warriors.</span>

<span>Nic Hagel set a new personal-best time of 16:35 to place 61st overall, and Steeleville took 19th out of 25 teams at the Class 1A IHSA state meet at Peoria's Detweiller Park.</span>

<span>"If you look at their times, we ran personal bests," said Steeleville coach Neal Haertling. "I think they were really caught up in the excitement. I feel we ran a good race and I feel we ran with Pinckneyville and Nashville."</span>

<span>Nashville finished 18th as a team, while Pinckneyville finished 16th. Tolony Unity won the meet thanks to five runners in the top 10, including state champion Andrew Warnes (14:45).</span>

<span>"I'm pretty proud of (our runners),"Haertling said. "Gavin Conway was leading our group for awhile, which is unusual as he's the one who usually runs fourth for us.</span>

<span>"Hunter (Fedderke) had a good race. I know him and Mel (Mulholland) both felt like they could have done better, but that's just like this team."</span>

<span>Mulholland finished 79th with a time of 16:49, while Fedderke took 94th with a time of 16:57. Conway took 69th with a time of 16:41.</span>

<span>Other Steeleville finishers were Patrick Rohlfing (155th, 18:07), Brad Mevert (162nd, 18:22) and William Qualls (171st, 19:21).</span>

<span>"I think the kids saw some of those times and said 'We can do better,' which is what I thought was neat about it in that they see that," Haertling said.</span>

<span>In only its fourth year of existence, the Steeleville boys cross country program accomplished some significant milestones along the road to the state meet.</span>

<span>The Warriors took third at the Chester Regional and fourth at the Metro-East Lutheran Sectional a week later.</span>

<span>"To get here in four years might be pretty fast, but we've got some good kids," Haertling said.</span>

<span>Steeleville could return nearly everybody in 2016, as Hagel is the Warriors' lone senior.</span>

<span>"We'll be a tough team next year," Haertling said. "We've got some 8th graders who are running pretty good."</span>

<span>In regard to his senior, Haertling called Hagel "one of the originals."</span>

<span>"He's been here for four years and a lot of the guys look up to Nic," he said. "Nic's been a leader and I know Hunter will come up and take that position."</span>

<span>Haertling said Fedderke is "looking for races" and he expressed his hope that the team will continue its development in the offseason.</span>

<span>"The whole team is looking at running a half-marathon sometime this fall," he said. "We're starting to get a program put together where we know what we're doing.</span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-2ca8b15a-e564-e71f-2f0c-78b954826fdf"><span>"These kids know what they need to do and they're good kids."</span></span>