Season Wraps Up As Lady Knights, Pace Run At State

By Anthony Jones

Deep postseason runs for both Triad’s girls cross country squad and sophomore standout Drew Pace came to an end last Saturday as they competed in the IHSA State Finals. Held at Peoria Detweiller Park, the event featured 56 teams and 472 runners.

Bringing home the best finish of the day for Triad, Pace finished in 107 place as the lone runner in the boys race. His time for the course was 16:15.45, leaving him less than 5 seconds from a top 100 placement.

In the girls race, the Lady Knights finished in 28 place as a team. Their team score for the day was 714 points.

Leading the way for Triad was Blaire Cunningham. The junior clocked in at 19:25.98, good for a placement of 122. Thirty seconds behind her was Kennedy Bowman, who finished in 167 place.

Finishing just past the 20 minute mark, Ana Keller was the next Lady Knight in as she finished in 20:06.03. The senior’s time was good for 185 place overall.

Finishing only five spots away from each other, Clare Schaft and Mattie Noyes were the next to runners across the line for Triad. Schaft finished in 214 place after recording a time of 20:34.79. Noyes finished just behind her at 20:41.37.

Closing out the day for the Lady Knights was the duo of Chloe Gough and Kailey Peterson. On her way to a finish in 221 place, Gough raced through the course in 20:59.80. Peterson’s time of 21:09.71 gave her 224 place.