Coffman, Handel, and May win medals; Teams also compete at Red Bud CC Meet
BY JIM BEERS, Contributing Writer
CHESTER; The Chester High School Cross Country Team competed in their only home meet of the season Thursday September 29. The event was the 32nd Annual Chester Invitational Cross Country Meet.
The Chester YellowJacket Boys’ Cross Country Team gathers at the starting line of the 32nd Annual Chester Invitational Cross Country Meet Thursday September 29. The boys finished in 10th Place with a score of 218 points. Pictured are Jacob Handel, Will Welge, Gabe Coffman, Ivan Hobbs, Gavin Wilderman, and Drew Wilderman. Blake Farmer was not present for the event. Jim Beers Photo
The event was held at the Randolph County Conservation Area. Meet headquarters was at Shelter 1 and Paul and Mary Stallman of Alias Race Management coordinated and managed the two-race meet.
It was a great day to run with temperatures at 70 degrees for the Girls’ race and 69 degrees for the Boys’ race. Skies were mostly sunny and there was a Northeast wind of 8-miles per hour. The course was dry and rather hard.
Girls’ Race 4:30 p.m.
The Girls’ race featured 13 schools, a total of 78 runners, and six teams that qualified for a team score (at least five runners). The gun was shot at 4:30 p.m. to begin the all-girl race. Scores were computed for freshmen/sophomores, varsity, and overall results.
Miah Gilmore was the overall winner of the event with a time of 19:14.8 minutes per mile. She is a Murphysboro sophomore and was entered in the varsity race. Her winning pace was 6:25 per mile.
The varsity race featured 42 runners. Times raged from Gilmore’s winning time of 19:14.8, to 34:20.1 for the last runner to cross the finish line with an overall pace of 11:27. Chester’s Josalynn Anaya, and Rylie McDonough, both juniors, competed in the varsity race.
Josalynn Anaya (left) and Rylie McDonough (right) finish strong in the final stretch of 25-yards in the 32nd Annual Chester Invitational Cross Country Meet. Anaya had a time of 29:05.8 good enough for 34th place and McDonough turned in a time of 29:07.3 finishing 35th. Both girls, who are juniors, competed in the Varsity Division 3.0-mile race. Jim Beers Photo
Both girls ran good races with improved times from previous races. Anaya crossed the finish line with a time of 29:05.8 and a race pace of 9:42 per mile and McDonough finished with a time of 29:07.3 and a pace of 9:43. Anya finished in 34th place and McDonough finished right behind her in 35th place. Anaya placed 58th overall out of 78 girls and McDonough finished 59th.
Even though all girls ran at the same time, the computer scored the girls in their appropriate events. Lady Jackets Addie May and Mackenzie Deimund, both freshmen, competed in the freshmen/sophomore race.
Vanessa Teal from Pinckneyville was the winner of the freshman/sophomore race. She is a sophomore. Her time was 19:41.2 and she had a race pace of 6:34 per mile.
Chester’s Adie May, a freshman, won a medal for finishing 14th out of 36 runners at the 32nd Annual Chester Invitational Cross Country Met Thursday September 29. My had a time of 25:03.4 in the freshman/sophomore race. Jim Beers Photo
May finished 14th out of 36 runners with a time of 25:03.4 and a race pace of 8:22 minutes per mile. For her efforts, May earned a medal for finishing in the Top-20. Teammate Mackenzie Deimund finished 26th out of 36 runners and had a 29:47.1 performance with a race pace of 9:56.
Chester freshman, Mackenzie Deimund finishes her 3.0-mile race at the 32nd Annual Chester Invitational Cross Country Meet. She had a time of 29:47.1 and finished 26th in the freshman/sophomore event. Jim Beers Photo
In the overall standings, May finished 35th out of 78 female runners while Deimund finished 63rd out of 78 runners.
In the team standings, Pinckneyville won the overall title with 37 points, followed by Nashville (2nd, 41), Okawville (3rd, 76), Columbia (4th, 86); Freeburg (5th, 120), and Trico (6th, 148).
Boys’ Race
The Boys’ race featured 91 runners from 16 schools. There were 10 schools that had a team score. The race began at approximately 30-minutes following the conclusion of the Girls’ race. As with the Girls’ race, all boys ran at the same time, but scores were computed in three areas, freshmen/sophomore, varsity and overall results.
Isaac Teel was the overall winner of the race with a time of 15:13.7 and a race pace of 5:05. Teel is a junior athlete from Pinckneyville. Times in the Boys’ Division ranged from Teel’s 15:13.7 to the final runner to cross the finish line with a time of 30:06.8 and pace of 10:03 per mile.
Senior Jacob Handel sprints for the finish line at the 3.0-mile 32nd Annual Chester Invitational Cros Country Meet. Handel’s efforts paid off as he finished in the Top-20 earning himself a medal in his final home meet of his high school career. His time was 19:39.2 and his finish was16th. Jim Beers Photo
Chester’s Jacob Handel, a senior, was the only YellowJacket to compete in the varsity race. There were 45 boys entered in the Varsity Division. Handel placed 16th with a time of 19:39.2 and a race pace of 6 minutes and 34-seconds per mile. Handel’s Top-20 finish earned him a medal. Overall Handel finished 33rd out of 91 runners
Chester’s other four runners competed in the freshmen/sophomore race. There were 46 boys entered in this event. The winner of the freshmen/sophomore race was Landen Boman, a freshman, of Pinckneyville. He had a winning time of 17:17.9 and a race pace of 5:46. Boman finished 6th overall out of the 91 male runners.
Chester High School Cross Country runners won medals at the 32nd Annual Chester Invitational Cross Country Meet Thursday September 29. Pictured are Gabe Coffman and Jacob Handel. Coffman (left) a freshman, placed 3rd in the freshman/sophomore race out of 46 runners with a time of 18:01.2. Handel (right) placed 16th in the varsity race out of 45 runners with a time of 19:39.2. Jim Beers Photo
Chester’s Gabe Coffman, a freshman, finished 3rd out of the field of 46 runners with his time of 18:01.2 and pace of 6:01 per mile. His overall finish among all 91 male runners at the meet was 11th.
Other YellowJacket finishers included Ivan Hobbs, a freshman, who finished 37th out of the field of 46 freshmen/sophomore runners. His time was 22:37.5 and pace was 7:33 per mile. His overall finish among the 91 male runners was 72nd.
Gavin Wilderman, another Chester freshman, finished 38th with a time of 22:41.6 and a race pace of 7:34. He finished 74th overall. Freshman Drew Wilderman finished 45th in the freshman/sophomore race with his performance of 26:46.7 and pace of 8:56 per mile. He finished 89th overall. Will Welge, a sophomore, finished 46th with his time of 30:06.8 and pace of 10:03 per mile. His overall place was 91st.
In team competition, Pinckneyville was the winner with 37 points. Other teams included Okawville (2nd, 96), Columbia (3rd, 107), Nashville (4th, 129), Christ Our Rock Lutheran High School (5th, 129), Murphysboro (6th, 146), Marissa (7th, 152), New Athens (8th, 182), Freeburg (9th, 190), and CHESTER (10th, 218).
YellowJackets compete at Red Bud 10-3-22
Monday October 3 the Jackets traveled to Red Bud for a popular meet titled, “Run in the Bud”. In spite of the number of schools involved, the meet was actually a rather small event. The meet featured a junior high boys and girls division as well as a high school boys and girls division. Chester did not enter any junior high athletes, just high school athletes.
High School Girls’ Division
Chester entered its four Lady Jacket runners in the event. The Girls’ Division featured seven schools with just 26 runners. Of those runners, there were just two teams of at least five runners to qualify as teams.
The Girls’ Division featured runners from Sparta, Red Bud, Dupo, Valmeyer, Chester, Waterloo-Gibault, and Marissa. The distance was 3.0 miles.
In the team competition, Sparta was the winner with 18 points. Red Bud followed with 40 points. Chloe Adams from Sparta was the winner with a time of 21:44.25. Red Bud’s lead runner was Hayley Drake with her 22:01.76 performance. Drake was runner-up.
Chester’s Addie May finished 8th overall with a time of 23:37.30. Makenzie Deimund was Chester’s No. 2 runner with her time of 29:34.59. She finished 23rd. Rylie McDonough finished 24th with a time of 29:53.57 and Josalynn Anaya finished 25th with a time of 31:55.59.
High School Boys’ Division
The Boys’ race was 3.0 miles and featured nine schools, 46 runners and five teams. Participating schools included New Athens, Dupo, Red Bud, Valmeyer, Chester, Marissa, Sparta, Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School, and Waterloo-Gibault.
Cole Dachsteiner of New Athens won the Boys’ race with a time of 17:20.84. He is a freshman. Runner-up was Peter Taylor, a senior, from Dupo. His time was 17:30.62. Times in the 46-runner event ranged from Dachsteiner’s 17:20.84 to 34:53.99 from the last person to cross the finish line.
The Chester YellowJackets had three runners finish in the Top-14. Gabe Coffman finished 7th with his time of 18:47.98. Right behind him was teammate Blake Farmer who turned in a time of 19:02.98. He finished 8th. Jacob Handel finished 14th in 19:54.90.
Chester’s Gavin Wilderman finished 36th with his 24:30.77 performance. Ivan Hobbs finished 39th in 25:22.28. Drew Wilderman finished 44th with a time of 29:01.64 and Will Welge finished 45th with his time of 29:24.45.
In the team standings, Marisa was the winner with 64 points, followed by New Athens (2nd, 65), Dupo (3rd, 65), Red Bud (4th, 65), and CHESTER (5th, 79).
Up next for the Jackets will be Thursday October 6 at the Pinckneyville Invitational. The first gun goes off at 4:00 p.m.