The Woodlawn High School cross country team had a strong showing Thursday at the West Frankfort Redbird Invitational at Frankfort Community Park, with one Top-20 finish and two personal records.
In the girls varsity race, senior Zelena Koch continued her impressive start to the season, placing 18th and earning her fourth consecutive Top-20 finish. Koch came out strong during the opening mile, but battled a side stitch for much of the remainder of the race. Despite the setback, she fought through the discomfort to secure another Top-20 finish.
Freshman Zaylor Koch turned in the biggest improvement of the day for the Woodlawn girls. Zaylor finished 22nd in 23 minutes and 20 seconds, lowering her previous personal-record time by one minute and 14 seconds. She narrowly missed a Top-20 finish and the meet T-shirt awarded to those runners, but established a new PR in just her early high school career.
In the boys varsity race, freshman Camden Hughes accomplished a goal he had been working toward for several weeks. After setting a personal best of 20:28 at the Mascoutah Invitational, Hughes set his sights on breaking the 20-minute barrier.
He did just that Thursday, crossing the finish line in 19 minutes and 45 seconds. Hughes shattered his previous PR by 43 seconds and finished 37th in the boys varsity division.
With cooler temperatures following the rain, Woodlawn’s runners took advantage of the better conditions and produced some impressive results. The team’s hard work in workouts and training miles continues to pay off, with all three runners coming away with plenty to be proud of.
