Gabe Coffman leads boys’ and Josalynn Anaya leads girls
By Jim Beers, Contributing Writer
CHESTER – The Chester Yellow Jacket Cross Country Team competed at the 2022 Carterville Cross Country Invitational Monday September 26. The event kicked off at 4:30 p.m. and both Chester’s Girls’ and Boys’ Teams made the trip to Carterville for the event.
Lady Jackets are led by junior Josalynn Anaya
The Girls’ Race featured 91 runners from 16 different schools. There were 11 teams represented in the race with all other girls competing independently. It takes at least five runners to have a team score. The Lady Jackets have only had four runners all season, thus the “Chester Four” have had to compete independently this season.
Chester High School junior, Josalynn Anaya, a Lady Jacket Cross Country runner, was Chester’s lead female runner at the 2022 Carterville Invitational Meet Monday September 26. Anaya finished in 74th Place and recorded a time of 28:36.8. This was one of her best performances of the season thus far. She is a three-year competitor on the Lady Jacket team. Jim Beers Photo
Chester’s top runner at Carterville was junior, Josalynn Anaya. Anaya ran the race in a time of 28:36.8. This was one of her best times of the 2022 season thus far. Anaya finished 74th out of the field of 91 runners.
Freshman Addie May, who has often been the No.1 runner for the Lady Jacket squad this year, finished 82nd, and teammate, freshman Mackenzie Deimund, finished right behind may in 83rd place. May had a time of 30:08.7 while Deimund recorded a time of 30:09.9.
Just two places behind Deimund was junior Rylie McDonough, who is a newcomer to cross country this season. She previously played for the Lady Jacket Golf Team during the fall season. McDonough finished in 85th Place with a time of 30:50.3.
The overall winner of the Girls’ Division was Brodie Denny from Anna-Jonesboro. Denny crossed the finish line in 18:22.8 to earn her title of Champion. Miah Gilmore of Murphysboro was runner-up with a time of 19:06.0 and Molly Robertson of Carterville finished 3rd with a time of 19:25.1.
Rounding out the Top-5 runners were Molly Merrill of Goreville who turned in a time of 19:55.6 and Zoe Jones of Anna-Jonesboro who had a 19:58.2 performance.
In the team competition Anna-Jonesboro won the competition with a score of 31, followed by Carterville (2nd, 65), DuQuoin (3rd, 86), Nashville (4th, 118), Okawville (5th, 133), Sparta (6th, 148), Herrin (7th, 189), Vienna (8th, 228), Red Bud (9th, 231), Trico (10th, 270), and West Frankfort (11th, 287).
YellowJacket Boys’ Team is led by freshman Gabe Coffman
The Boys’ Race had a total of 100 runners which came from 24 different schools. From that pool of runners came 13 different teams that competed in the team competition.
The Herrin Tigers were the winners of the 2022 Carterville Invite. They won the Boys’ Division with a score of 59 points. The other Top-5 finishers included Nashville (2nd, 132), Carterville (3rd, 140), Okawville (4th, 154), Steeleville (5th, 178), Anna-Jonesboro (6th, 178), Murphysboro (7th, 194), Metropolis-Massac County (8th, 199), Vienna (9th, 203), Red Bud (10th 206), Harrisburg (11th, 207), DuQuoin (12th, 222), and CHESTER (13th, 227).
Ivan Hobbs, a freshman, rookie, Chester High School Cross Country runner on the YellowJacket squad, competed at the Carterville Invite Monday September 26. Hobbs placed 84th overall with a time of 23:12.5. Hobbs has been making a good adjustment to running at the high school level and has promises of becoming a key YellowJacket competitor in years to come. Jim Beers Photo
The Yellow Jacket’s top runner was Gabe Coffman, a freshman, who finished in 15th Place overall with a time of 20:05.0. Blake Farmer, a junior, finished next as Chester’s second finisher with a time of 18:14.9. His overall finish was 31st. Jacob Handel, Chester’s only senior, finished in 48th Place. His time was 20:05.0.
Ivan Hobbs, a freshman, turned in a time of 23:12.5 which was good enough for 84th Place. Fellow freshman, Gavin Wilderman, finished just 29.3-seconds after Hobbs with a time of 23:41.8. Gavin placed 88th overall out of the field of 100 runners.
Drew Wilderman, Gavin’s twin brother, finished in 97th Place. His time was 27:53.3. Will Welge, Chester’s only sophomore, had a time of 28:48.3 and a finish of 99th.
Waylon Hall of Herrin was the winner of the Boys’ Division with his time of 16:54.5. The other Top-5 finishers included Braden Hudgens of Herrin (2nd, 16:55.0), Jaydon Miller of Metropolis-Massac County (3rd, 17:08.1), Luke Winkleman of Harrisburg (4th, 17:19.9), and Grant Schleifer of Okawville (5th, 17:11.8).