The KC men and women cross country teams traveled to Charleston and the campus of Eastern Illinois University for the NJCAA Region 24 Cross Country Championships.
Good news was it was not raining, bad news the early day rains had the course near swamp conditions. The #1 Nationally Ranked Heartland Hawks women lived up to their ranking with an impressive team victory with 18 points. As their took 4 of the top 5 spots with Natalie Garneau taking the top spot in 19:46. Blue Angel Meagan Cook had a fantastic racing placing 3rd, holding off a Heartland racer at the finish in a time of 20:39.1. The 3rd place finish earned the Okawville native NJCAA All Region 24 honors. Summer Chelf of Mt. Vernon was 11th overall in a time of 21:41, Cayla Krueger of Nashville was next in 12th in a time of 22:00. Maggie Fitzgearld a Collinsville graduate came across in 24:07, followed by Breese Mater Dei’s Mya Albers in 24:13 and next was Centralia’s Mace Hargis.
On the men side, the 4th ranked Heartland Hawks took the top 5 spots for a perfect score. Noah Penry was first in a time of 26:58. Ty Reynolds of Salem was the top placer for the Blue Devils in 8th with a time of 28:15. Next was Alex Detmer in 17th, followed by Sam Britt of Patoka. Caleb Klein of Nashville HS and Kolton Shoemaker of Centralia were the next two Blue Devils, followed by Andrew Stevenson and Ryan Gerdes. Alex Huegen, the Breese Central graduate was next.
