By Fred Kroner
Zach Ruwe placed third individually on Tuesday (Sept. 22) in a three-school boys’ cross-country meet for Villa Grove/Heritage at Dodds Park, in Champaign.
Ruwe’s 3-mile time was 18 minutes and 15 seconds. The race was the third for the team in a four-day span.
“We used these races as opportunities to get in some really hard training as we prepare for the final stretch of the season,” VG/Heritage coach Jim Kestner said.
Urbana Uni High was the meet champion with a score of 23 points. Runner-up VG/Heritage totaled 48 points and third-place Tuscola had 54 points.
Other Blue Devils’ participants were Rowan Denmark-Collins (sixth in 19:21), Lukas Carey (12th in personal-best 19:40.56), Daniel Olson (14th in 20:14), Aidan Ashbrook (16th in 20:56) and Logan Chapman (25th in 25:05).
VG/Heritage also competed on Monday (Sept. 21), at Oakland, and were led by first-place winner Ruwe, whose time was 18:41.
Teammate Denmark-Collins registered a personal-best time, placing third in 19:12.
The team’s other finishers were: Ashbrook (eighth in 20:28), Olson (10th in 21:05), Carey (11th in 21:11) and Austin Zoch (17th in 26:36).
VG/Heritage returns to action on Saturday (Oct. 3) at the Lincoln Prairie Conference meet.
