The final postseason events of the high school fall sports schedule were held on Saturday. Several local student-athletes took part in IHSA cross country sectional meets. Monmouth-Roseville and United High School each had individual runners at the Class 1A Seneca Sectional at the FFA Ag Land Lab Course. Monmouth-Roseville sophomore Rafael Tomas Francisco placed 29th out of 113 runners in the boys race. United senior Bridget Brokaw was 51st out of 114 female runners. After capturing the Alleman Regional team title, the Sherrard Tiger boys squad placed runner-up to Rockford Christian on Saturday. However, the Tiger boys did have the winning individual, as Jacob Belha (Bella) crossed the finish line first. The Mercer County boys team placed 7th, led by Golden Eagle sophomore Derek Coulter’s 17th place finish. Also on the boy’s side, Ridgewood senior Nick Janson was 20th. Winnebago was the team champion in the girl’s event. Orion was 6th, followed closely by Mercer County in 7th, Ridgewood in 8th and Stark County in 9th. Ridgewood’s top female was Kendra Downing in 14th.
Another Class 1A Sectional meet was held at Maple Lane Country Club in Elmwood on Saturday. The Macomb Bomber boys and girls both qualified as teams out of the Liberty Regional. The Macomb boys would place 6th in Elmwood, while the Bomber girls finished 12th. Stanford Olympia was the boys champion and Normal University was the girls team title winner. Macomb had two boys place in the top10, individually. Senior Ben La Prad (prod) was 7th and his teammate, senior Stan Melkumian (mel-KOO-mee-un) was 10th. The Macomb Bomber girls squad’s top finisher was senior Olivia Bishop in 21st out of 111 total runners. The Knoxville Blue Bullet girls team placed 5th out of 15 total schools participating. Sophomore Bryn Bahnks was the top Blue Bullet, crossing the finish line in 22nd.
The Galesburg Silver Streaks had one boy and one girl running in the Class 2A Peoria Notre Dame Sectional at Detweiller Park in Peoria. Senior Ben Vasquez was 25th in the boy’s race and sophomore Briana Admire was 46th in the girl’s event.
Congratulations to all of our local harriers!!
