Prep Cross Country: DuQuoin runners stride to victory at Chuck Ingram Invite
The Harrisburg high school cross country team has been hosting the Chuck Ingram Invite since 1975 in honor of their head coach, Chuck Ingram.
On Wednesday, 16 schools from the area gathered at Southeastern Illinois Community College to race. This included the DuQuoin Indians who's girls team ran their way to the top, placing first in the A girls race with a total of 35 points.
The boys team placed third in the A boys race with a total of 98 points; just one point behind the second place Frankfort high school Redbirds.
"The boys were impressive," said Eric Kirkpatrick, Indians' head coach. "They ran pretty well today. The girls, I was not surprised about what they did today. They always run well."
Gabby Alongi led the pack for the DuQuoin girls squad. She placed fourth overall in the race with a time of 20:09. Her teammate, Andrea Lopez crossed the finish line moments later, finishing her race with a time of 21:50. Kirkpatrick also noted that Kate Smith ran her best race of the season with a time of 22:58.
"This was our tune-up race before the conference meet," Kirkpatrick said. "All of them have improved since the season started. We're just going to have to run better for conference."
In the AA girls race, the Marion high school Wildcats found success taking second place with a total of 47 points. Their top runners were Maddy Bruce, who finished in seventh place overall, and McKenzie Miller, a freshman who is still adjusting to high school races.
"Overall [Miller] had a good race," said Sara Baker, Wildcats' assistant coach. "She's still learning who she should be catching up to."
Baker added that Bruce had a slightly worse performance than she usually gives. This was due in part to a previous knee surgery that Bruce underwent last year that she is still bouncing back from.
"She did tell me that throughout the race her knee was bothering her," Baker said. "Overall there were some up sides to the race and some down sides. For the amount of injuries we are having and not having our full squad, we are happy [with the finish]."
Baker said that her team is looking to stay healthy for the rest of the season. The Wildcats goal is to push through the pain and come out as successful as possible in the remaining races. The Marion boys team was not present at the invite.
As for the host team, Harrisburg Bulldogs, the girls team finished the A girls race in fifth place with a total of 103 points. And the boys team finished the A boys race in sixth place with a total of 157 points.
"As young as we are, we did okay," Ingram said. "We'd like to be a little better... the times were better. We're just hoping we can improve enough to get out of the regional."
The boys squad was lead by Seth Thai, who placed sixth in the race with a time of 18:25. He was followed by Christian Murray who finished his race with a time of 20:48.
For the girls, junior Franchesca Laurencio led her squad, finishing in ninth place with a time of 22:31. The second place finisher for the Bulldogs was senior McKenzie Sullivan who finished in 25:12. This was Sullivan's first race back from an injury and Ingram wanted to see how well she could race before the conference meet.
"We just want to run well in conference," Ingram said. "We haven't beaten any of them yet... it'd be nice to slip in on one, but we're just hoping times come down some more. That's all you can ask for.
Carrier Mills-Stonefort also ran at the Chuck Ingram Invite.
Those competing for the Wildcats included: Brandon Walker (11, 18:53), Billy Lewis (27, 19:58), Kyle Bristow (49, 22:29), Nick Walker (50, 22:30), Darion Barners (51, 22:35), Rostin Lewis (52, 22:59) and Andrew Lollis (57, 24:38).
"I was pleased with the way the boys ran today," CMSF head coach Mike Eisenhauer said. "Every one of them improved their time from when we ran here a couple of weeks ago."
The conference meet is schedule for next week Tuesday and will be hosted by DuQuoin high school.