Young teams continue to improve
By Jim Beers, Contributing Writer
CHESTER – The Chester High School Cross Country teams have been busy competing at meets around the Southern Illinois area. Numbers are still low on both the YellowJacket and Lady Jacket programs, however, those runners that are participating have been working hard and times have been improving.
CHS freshman, Mackenziee Deimund been the No.2 or No.3 runner for the Lady Jackets in several races this season. Deimund was Chester’s No. 2 at Sparta (30:19.7), No.3 at Nashville (34:15.0), and No.2 at Freeburg (26:25.9). Jim Beers Photo
Chester High School sophomore Will Welge is adjusting to high school cross country and its higher level of demand compared to grade school cross country. The length of races at the high school level is minimally 1-mile longer and sometimes even longer. Welge has improved his stamina and his racing ability this year and enables the YellowJackets to compete as a team at most races. Jim Beers Photo
The Girls’ Team still only has only four runners and are not able to qualify for team scores at meets. It takes at least five runners to qualify as a team. The Boys’ Team has seven runners when everyone is available, so at most meets the boys do earn a team score.
Recent meets include the Sparta Invitational, Nashville Invitational, Goreville Blackcat Den Cross Country Invitational and the Freeburg Invitational. Meet distances vary, but most meets average 3.0-miles.
Sparta Invitational
Girls’ Race
In the girls’ race there were 4 teams and 48 runners representing nine schools. Sparta won the event with 41 points followed by Nashville (2nd, 44), Okawville 3rd (4th, 45) and Red Bud (5th, 102). The overall winner of the race was freshman Caroline Tepe of Okawville who finished with a time of 19:17.2 and a race pace of 6:26 per mile.
Lady Jacket performances included freshman Addie May (34th, 29:36.6, 9:53); freshman Mackenzie Deimund (37th, 30:19.7, 10:07); junior, Josalynn Anaya (42nd, 31:43.3, 10:35); and junior Rylie McDonough (43rd, 31:59.8, 10:40).
Boys’ Race
There were seven teams of boys with a total of 51 runners that represented eight different schools. The winner of the team competition as Okawville with a score of 72 points. Other finishers included Nashville (2nd, 73), Centralia Christ Our Rock (3rd, 90), Marissa (4th, 96), Red Bud (5th, 98), New Athens (6th, 113), and CHESTER (7th, 113).
YellowJacket finishes included freshman Gabe Coffman (5th, 17:46, 5:56), senior Jacob Handel (16th, 19:16.0), junior Blake Farmer (17th, 19:20, 6:27), freshman Gavin Wilderman (40th, 23:10.2), freshman Ivan Hobbs (47th, 26:02.2, 8:41), and freshman Drew Wilderman (48th, 27:34.4, 9:12).
Nashville Invitational
The Nashville Invitational took place at the Washington County Lake. It was sunny with 91 degrees and a west wind of 6 miles per hour.
Girls’ Race
The girls’ race featured 118 runners from 20 schools. There were 11 teams that qualified for a team score. Breese Mater Dei was the winner with 57 points, followed by DuQuoin (2nd, 59), Pinckneyville (3rd, 85), Nashville (4th, 117), Anna-Jonesboro (5th, 121), Okawville (6th, 142), Breese Central (7th, 160), Murphysboro (8th, 203), Greenville (9th, 278), Trico (10th, 294), and West Frankfort (11th, 309).
Miah Gilmore of Murphysboro, a sophomore, was the overall winner with her time of 20:00.2 and race pace of 6:28 per mile.
Chester results included Addie May (74th, 29:01.7, 9:22), Josalynn Anaya (99th, 33:43.0, 10:53), Mackenzie Deimund (102nd, 34:15.0, 11:03), and Rylie McDonough (106th, 35:07.1, 11:20).
Boys’ Race
The Boys’ Race had a total of 121 runners from 21 different schools. There were 14 schools that earned a team score. Pinckneyville was the winner with a score of 55 points, followed by Herrin (2nd, 83), Nashville (3rd, 112), Breese Mater Dei (4th, 117), Breese Central (5th, 147), Okawville (6th, 210), Centralia Christ Our Rock (7th, 217), CHESTER (8th, 230), Murphysboro (9th, 233), Greenville (10th, 257), Red Bud (11th, 258), Anna-Jonesboro (12th, 260), New Athens (13th, 272), and Carmi-White County (14th, 281).
Goreville Blackcat Den Cross Country Invitational
The Goreville Blackcat Den Cross Country Invitational took place at the Ferne Clyffe State Park under sunny skies. It was a very hot, humid day with temperature at 97 degrees. There was a West wind at 10 miles per hour.
Girls’ Race
There were no “teams” that competed in the Girls’ Race. All girls ran independently. The overall winner of the race was Molly Merrill of Goreville. Molly is a sophomore and completed the race with a time of 21:58.9 and a race pace of 7:19 minutes per mile.
In the race there were a total of 18 runners that represented six schools including Goreville, Junction Gallatin County, West Frankfort, Norris City NCOE, Chester, and McLeansboro Hamilton County.
Chester results include Addie May (12th, 31:31.4, 10:29), Rylie McDonough (16th, 36:42.0, 12:12), and Josalynn Anaya (18th, 38:37.8, 12:50).
Boys’ Race
The Boys’ Race featured 57 runners from 12 different schools. There were eight teams that qualified for a team score. McLeansboro won the event with 60 points, followed by Junction Gallatin County (2nd, 86), Norris City NCOE (3rd, 86), Crab Orchard (4th, 89), Golconda Pope County (5th, 116), Christopher (6th, 138), CHESTER (7th, 141), and Agape Christian (8th 153).
The individual winner was Brady Bundren of Cobden. Brady is a senior and ran the race in 18:49.6 with a race pace of 6:16.
Chester’s finishers and their respective results included, Blake Farmer (14th, 21:27.7, 7:08), and Jacob Handel (18th, 22:17.5, 7:25).
Freeburg Invitational
The Freeburg Invitational was the biggest race that the YellowJackets and Lady Jackets have participated in this season. The Lady Jackets ran as individuals while the YellowJacket Boys ran as a team.
Girls’ Race
The Girls’ Race had 146 runners from 29 different schools. From that number of participants there were 19 teams.
Waterloo won the competition with 51 points, followed by Breese Mater Dei (2nd, 111), DuQuoin (3rd, 116), Troy (4th, 130), Glen Carbon Father McGivney (142), Roxana (6th, 179), Freeburg (7th, 216), Centralia (8th, 239), Benton (9th, 247), Breese Central (10th, 248), Okawville (11th, 295), Salem (12th, 319), Centralia Christ Our Rock (13th, 246), Columbia (14th, 353), Edwardsville Metro-East Lutheran (15th, 358), Sparta (16th, 359), Greenville (17th, 472), Trenton-Wesclin (18th, 489), and Dupo (19th, 510).
The top runner was Ahry Comer from Golconda Pope County. She finished with a winning time of 17:33.2 and a race pace of 5:52 minutes a mile.
Chester finishers include Addie May (103rd, 24:40.2, 8:14), Mackenzie Deimund (119th, 26:25.9, 8:49), Josalynn Anaya (136th, 28:41.7, 9:34), and Rylie McDonough (140th, 29:31.4, 9:51).
Boys’ Race
The Boys’ Race showcased 171 runners from 27 different schools. From that pool of runners, there were 24 teams.
The winning team was Benton with 53 points, followed by Bethalto Civic Memorial (2nd, 63), Troy Triad (3rd, 89), Waterloo (4th, 147), Freeburg (5th, 160), Glen Carbon Father McGivney (6th, 230), Belleville Althoff (7th, 268), Roxana (8th, 304), Breese Mater Dei (9th, 324), Steeleville (10th, 348), Salem (11th, 353), Okawville (12th, 364).
Other teams included Edwardsville Metro-East Lutheran (13th, 373), Breese Central (14th, 374), Centralia (15th, 391), McLeansboro Hamilton County (16th, 396), Dupo (17th, 421), O’Fallon First Baptist (18th, 429), Centralia Christ Our Rock (19th, 442), DuQuoin (20th, 453), Trenton-Wesclin (21st, 489), Marissa (2nd, 518), CHESTER (23rd, 529), and Greenville (24th, 543).
The individual winner was Gavin Genisio from Benton. He is a junior and had a time of 14:53.3 with a race pace of 4:59 per mile.
Chester finishers included Blake Farmer (103rd, 19:49.5, 6:37), Jacob Handel (106th, 19:58, 6:40), Ivan Hobbs (154th, 23:15.3, 7:46), Gavin Wilderman (167th, 26:13,8, 8:45), Drew Wilderman (168th, 26:54.4, 8:59), and Will Welge (170th, 28:42.4, 9:35).
In Week 6 Chester will travel to Carterville Monday September 26 and on Thursday September 29 they will host their annual Chester Cross Country Invitational at the Randolph County Conservation Area at Shelter 1. The meet will kick-off at 4:30 p.m.