By FRED KRONER
Eighth-grader Hunter Montgomery was the individual champion in his final junior high school cross-country race.
Montgomery, from Heritage, toured the 2-mile course at Casey-Westfield in 11 minutes, 42.5 seconds on Friday (Oct. 16) to win the IESA sectional title. His margin of victory over the runner-up was 11 seconds.
As a team, Heritage placed third in a four-school field with 75 points. Meet champion Casey-Westfield had a composite score of 33 points. Runner-up Villa Grove had 48 points.
Christian Paul was the second Heritage finisher. He was 12th overall, but first among fifth-graders who participated at sectional. His time was 13:01.4.
The team’s other representatives were: sixth-grader Clark Roland (23rd in 14:26.3), seventh-grader Eli Denmark-Collins (29th in 16:41.1) and fifth-grader Atticus Ashbrook (31st in 21:32.0).
The meet was the final one of the season for all Illinois junior high programs.
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Montgomery and his Heritage teammates excelled in a final tune-up on Wednesday (Oct. 14) for the IESA postseason.
Montgomery was the individual winner in a three-school boys’ cross-country meet at Paxton, running the 2-mile course in 12 minutes and 21 seconds.
He finished 47 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
One teammate joined him in the top five. Paul was fifth with a time of 13:30.
The other Heritage participants were Roland (15th in 15:50), Denmark-Collins (18th in 19:20) and Ashbrook (20th in 22:40).
In the team race, host Paxton-Buckley was victorious, with a composite score of 33. Runner-up Tri-Point totaled 39 points and Heritage ended third with 54 points.
