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Triad Cross Country Squads Finish Strong Seasons At Olney Sectional As Girls Team Takes Seventh, Boys Unit Claims Eleventh Overall

By Anthony Jones

Halloween meant running from house to house for many local youth, but for Triad’s cross country teams it meant running a three mile course. The school’s boys and girls teams both travelled to the IHSA 2A Sectional at Olney this past weekend. They faced off against their fellow top five finishers from the Highland Regionals, as well as top finishers from the Jacksonville and Taylorville Regionals.

On the girl’s side of action, the Lady Knights had a strong day on the course. Their performances landed them seventh out of the fifteen teams, which earned them state qualifier status. Their average finish time was 20:42.78.

The team’s total score for the day was 173. This put them a mere three points behind sixth place Waterloo. They also finished only twenty four points behind the Highland Bulldogs.

Leading the way for the Lady Knights was Sydney Hartoin. The senior finished the course in 19:54.52, which made her the only Triad runner below 20 minutes. She finished fourteenth overall among the 115 runners.

Chloe Gough was the next best runner for Triad. She clocked in at 20:41.64 as she finished the race. The sophomore runner’s time earned her fortieth overall.

Triad’s next two runners were Clare Schaft and Alyssa Kowalski. Schaft placed forty sixth overall after finishing in 20.54.07. In less than two tenths of a second after her, Kowalski finished the race in forty-seventh.

Two more Triad runners managed to land in the top sixty overall. Kailey Peterson, a sophomore, had a solid outing with a time of 21:09.43, landing her in fifty fourth. Blaire Cunningham also had a solid finish. The sophomore ran the course in 21:16.73, which netted her fifty ninth overall.

The seventh Lady Knight runner on the day was Mattie Noyes. The junior year runner placed, seventy fourth overall, beating out forty one other runners. Her time for the course was 21:44.74.

The boy’s side of the meet also saw several strong performances for Triad. The team claimed eleventh place in a field of fifteen top level teams. Their average finish time for the course was 17:37.34.

A total score of 285 on the day had the team edge out Civic Memorial by a single point. They team was also only fifteen points behind conference for Highland and 24 behind Champaign(Central).

Triad’s best performer on the day was Drake Bleier. The senior star clocked in at 17:13.18 as he finished the course. That time earned him forty seventh overall.

Ten seconds behind Bleier, another Knight finished the race. This was junior Ethan Dudley, who ran the course in 17:23.44. His effort placed him fifty sixth overall.

The Knight’s third and fourth runners finished even closer together. Freshman Andrew Pace ran the course in 17:33.74 and took home sixty sixth. Senior Caleb Bagwell finished three and a half seconds later, which provided a nice placement of sixty ninth.

Just outside of the top 100 finishers was Jaden Henderson. The senior cruised through the course in a time of 18.19.10. This left him in one hundred first overall.

The final two runners for Triad were Jacob Metcalf and Ben Winslow. Metcalf, a freshman, finished the course in 19:08.58. This earned him one hundred sixteenth place. Placing in one hundred twentieth was Winslow, after running a time of 19:43.75.

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