Vanessa Teel of Pinckneyville wins Girls’ overall title (19:41.4) and Landen Roman of Pinckneyville takes Boys’ overall title (15:56.7)
By Jim Beers
CHESTER, Ill. – The 34th Annual Chester Invitational Cross Country Meet took place Thursday October 3 at the Randolph County Conservation Area. The event kicked off at 4:30 p.m. with the Girls’ Race and 5:15 p.m. for the Boys’ Race.
Shelter 1 was the center of the staging area and the location where the race began and ended. The event featured a Varsity Race and a Freshman/Sophomore Race with Overall Results calculated for all competitors.
It was a mild, sunny day with temperatures in the low 70’s. The 3.0-mile course was dry and had several places where there were minor obstacles such as various sorts of nuts and sticks underfoot. That is the nature of true cross country courses and races.
Girls’ Race
Overall there were a total of 55 runners that took off in the Girls’ Race as Race Official Paul Stallman fired the starting pistol. The Girls’ Race had runners from 10 different schools that were registered in either the Girls’ Varsity Division or the Girls’ Freshman-Sophomore Division. Overall results were also calculated.
The overall winner of the Girls’ Race was Vanessa Teel of Pinckneyville. She is a senior and won among the 55 runners with her time of 19:41.7 and a pace of 6:34 per mile. The Chester course is known for being rather difficult in places.
The 10 schools that were represented included Pinckneyville, Okawville, Christ Our Rock Lutheran, Columbia, Red Bud, Freeburg, Woodlawn, Marissa, Waterloo Gibault Catholic and Bluford-Webber.
Times ranged from 19:41.4 by Pinckneyville’s Vanessa Teel (1st Place) to 41:20.6 by Okawville’s Paige Kolweier (55th).
The Girls’ Varsity Division included a total of 22 runners from seven schools including Pinckneyville, Okawville, Christ Our Rock Lutheran High School, Columbia, Red Bud, Freeburg, and Waterloo Gibault Catholic.
Vanessa Teel won the Varsity Division with her time of 19:41.4 and race pace of 6:34 per mile. Paige Kolweier of Okawville finished in 22nd Place with her time of 41:20.6. She turned in an overall race pace of 13:47 per mile. Chester had no entries in the Girls’ race, either division.
The Freshman-Sophomore raced had a total of 33 runners from 8 different schools. Schools included were Okawville, Pinckneyville, Freeburg, Columbia, Woodlawn, Marissa, Red Bud, and Bluford-Webber.
Katelyn Gogolek of Okawville won the Freshman-Sophomore Division. Her time was 22:17.6 with a race pace of 7:26 per mile.
Teams had to have at least five (5) runners to qualify for a team score. There were five schools that qualified for a team score. Results from the “team” category included the 2024 winner, Pinckneyville, with a total team time of 1:50:11 and an average runner time of 23:02.
The other four teams included Okawville (2nd, 1:52:52, 22:35); Freeburg (3rd, 1:59:28, 23:54); Columbia (4th, 2:02:39, 23:32); and Red Bud (5th, 2:12:01, 26:25).
Boys’ Race
The Boys’ Race had a total of 76 runners that came from 13 different schools. The Boys’ Race also featured both a Varsity and a Freshman-Sophomore Division. In addition, Overall Results were calculated.
Competing schools included Pinckneyville, DuQuoin, Bluford-Webber, Christ Our Rock Lutheran High School, Gibault Catholic High School of Waterloo, Columbia, Freeburg, Trico, Chester, Okawville, Sparta, Marissa, and Red Bud.
The overall winner of the Boys’ Race was Landen Roman of Pinckneyville. Roman’s time was 15:56.7 and he had a race pace of 5:19 per mile. Times ranged from Boman’s 15:56.7 to Gage Lang of Freeburg who recorded a time of 30:24.8.
Out of the 13 schools, only seven schools qualified for a team score. Team standings included Pinckneyville who was the overall winner with a team total time of 1:25:20 and an average runner’s time of 17:04 per mile.
Other finishers in the team standings included Bluford-Webber (2nd, 1:29:00, 17:48); Christ Our Rock Lutheran High School (3rd, 1:34:07, 18:50); Okawville (4th, 1:35:09, 19:02); Freeburg (5th, 1:36:07, 19:14); DuQuoin (6th, 1:38:38, 19:44); and Columbia (7th, 1:42:00, 20:24).
Landen Roman was the winner of the Boys’ Varsity Division with his time of 15:56.7 and his race pace of 5:19 per mile. There were 37 runners in the Varsity event.
There were 11 schools represented including Pinckneyville, Bluford-Webber, Okawville, Christ Our Rock Lutheran High School, Gibault Catholic High School of Waterloo, Columbia, Red Bud, Freeburg, DuQuoin, Okawville, Trico, and Chester.
Chester’s four runners competed in the Varsity Division. Ivan Hobbs, a senior, finished 26th out of 37 in the Varsity Division and 48th out of 76 runners overall. His time was 20:46.8. Race pace was 6:56 per mile. Victor Fuentes, a sophomore, finished 30th out of 37 runners in the Varsity Division and 62nd out of 76 runners overall. His time was 22:01.3. His race pace was 7:21 per mile.
Ivanovich Duran, senior, was the YellowJackets’ 3rd finisher in the Varsity Division. He finished 32nd out of 37 runners and turned in a time of 24:45.2. His overall finish was 68th out of 76 runners overall. Chester’s 4th finisher was Will Welge, a senior. Welge finished 70th out of 76 runners overall and had a time of 24:52.9. His Varsity finish was 33rd out of 37 runners with a race pace of 8:18 per mile.
The Freshman-Sophomore Division was won by Caiden Cook of DuQuoin. He is a sophomore and won with a time of 16:20.2 and a race pace of 5:27. There were 39 runners in this division with times ranging from 16:20.2 to 30:24.8.
Chester’s No.1 runner was senior Ivan Hobbs. He finished 26th out of 37 runners in the Varsity Division and 48th out of 76 runners overall. His time was 20:46:8 and his average time per mile was 6:56. Jim Beers Photo
Victor Fuentes, a sophomore, was Chester’s second finisher. His time was 22:01.3. He finished 30th out of 37 runners in the Varsity Division and 62nd out of 76 runners overall. His average time per mile was 7:21. Jim Beers Photo
Race Official Paul Stallman fires the gun to start the 2024 Chester Invitational Cross Country Meet. It was the 34at Annual event. There were 76 runners in the Boys’ Race. Jim Beers Photo
Ivanovich Duran, a senior CHS cross country runner, was the YellowJacket’s 3rd finisher with his time of 24:45.2. His overall finish was 32nd out of 37 runners in the Varsity Division. He was 68th out of 76 competitors overall. His time time per mile was 8:16 per mile. Jim Beers Photo
Will Welge, a Chester High School senior Cross Country runner, finished 4th in the YellowJacket lineup. His overall finish was 70th out of 76 runners and his Varsity finish was 33rd out of 37 runners. Welge posted a time of 24:52.2 and his time per mile was 8:18. Jim Beers Photo
This was the start of the Girls’ Race at the 2024 Chester Invitational Cross Country Meet. Race Official, Paul Stallman fired the gun to begin the day with the Girls’ 3.0-Mile event. Jim Beers Photo