The KC cross country teams traveled to Maxwell Park located in Normal, IL for the Heartland Hawks Invitational meet. The meet consisted of community colleges (except for Illinois Wesleyan University’s JV). Both the Blue Devils and Blue Angels placed 3rd as teams.
On the men’s side The Heartland Hawks captured 1st followed by Mineral Area College and then the Blue Devils, side note all 3 teams are NJCAA National ranked. The Blue Devils put together their best race of the season with Oliver Lee and Caidien Beer both setting personal best times for the 8K distance with times of 28:35 and 28:48. Brady Marshall was the number 3 counter in a time of 29:44. The 4th spot belonged to Blake Heimann in 30:14, the final counter was Andrew Latham in 30:16. Branson Pappas crossed in 30:25, Jack Walters in 30:39, William Tepe in 31:28, Zerek Koch in 32:00 and Noah Markus in 32:03. Most of the Blue Devils had either season or personal best times.
The team scoring on the women’s side consisted of Lakeland placing 1st, followed by Mineral Area College and Kaskaskia College. KC was led by Gracie Morgan in a time of 21:19, followed by Rylee Brammeir in 21:23. Alli Lammers was strong 3rd counter in a time of 22:04. Kyndall Sturgeon had another strong race in a time of 22:24. Ryann Becker was the 5th counter for the Blue Angels in a time of 22:46. Ivy Donoho came across the 5K distance in a time of 23:06, followed by Tessa Drueke in 24:27, Lucy Walters in 24:48, and Cora Hill in 26:28. The Blue Angels had the best 1-5 spread of all the teams with a time of 1 minute 26 seconds.
