By Jim Beers
CHESTER – The Chester High School Cross Country Team began its 2025 season Monday August 25 at the New Athens “Race by the River” meet. The YellowJacket program is struggling for team members this year with only three girls and four boys on the squad. In recent years numbers have been dwindling at CHS for cross country.
Cross Country is a hard sport. Races are 3 miles and this time of year temperatures run in the 80’s and 90’s with heat indexes that make it seem like temperatures are near the 100’s.
To qualify for a “team score” in cross country, schools must have at least five runners on a team. Chester is under that qualifying mark, so YellowJacket and Lady Jacket runners have to compete individually. Unless numbers increase, the Jackets will not be able to compete as a team this season.
Girl’s Division Results
The girl’s race took place under sunny skies and a NW wind blowing at 8 Miles per hour. Temperature was 72 degrees. The race took place at Okaw Valley Park.
Katelynn Vallett
All three Chester girls competed at New Athens. There were a total of 64 girls in the 3-mile event. The overall winner was senior Caroline Tepe of Okawville. She won with a time of 19:04, and pace of 6:28.0. The 64th runner crossed the finish line at the 32:36.6 mark and pace of 11:04.
Lady Jacket results are as follow:
Katelyn Vallett (freshman) (22nd overall; time of 23:24.4; average pace of 7:57 per mile)
Caitlyn Hargis (sophomore) (25th overall; time of 23:54.1; average pace of 8:07 per mile)
Jaimy Duran (sophomore) (45th overall; time of 27:17.2; average pace of 9:15 per mile)
Team Scores include:
Okawville (1st, 54)
Belleville Althoff (2nd, 56)
Edwardsville Metro-East (3rd, 67)
Breese Central (4th, 75)
Red Bud (5th, 81)
Boy’s Division Results
The Boy’s race took place under sunny skies. NW wind was blowing at 7 Miles per hour. Temperature was 71 degrees. The race was held at Oak Valley Park.
Jaden Ramirez
Two Chester boys ran the 3-mile race. There were a total of 96 boys compete. The winner was Cole Dachsteiner of New Athens. He turned in a time of 15:48.7 with a race pace of 5:22 per mile. The final runner to cross the finish line finished 96th with a time of 29:53.4 and race pace of 10:08 per mile.
YellowJackets results are as follow:
Ivan Hobbs (senior) (63rd overall; time of 21:19.8; average pace of 7:14 per mile)
Jaden Ramirez (sophomore) (77th; time of 22:24.2; Average pace of 7:36 per mile)
Team Scores include:
Edwardsville Metro-East (1st, 25)
Breese Central (2nd, 94)
Okawville (3rd, 104)
Sparta (4th, 113)
O’Fallon First Baptist (5th, 116)
Dupo (6th, 145)
New Athens (7th, 147)
Trenton-Wesclin (8th, 170)
Steeleville (9th, 210)
Next up for the Chester High School Cross Country Team is the Marissa Meteor Invitational Meet Tuesday September 9th at 5:00 p.m.