By Fred Kroner
One boy and one girl from Heritage Junior High secured berths in the IESA Class 1A state cross-country meets.
Eighth-grader Kiara Jones left no doubt about her advancement by winning the junior high sectional race on Saturday (Oct. 9) at St. Thomas More, in Champaign.
Her 2-mile time was 12 minutes and 50 seconds. Jones had a 28-second margin of victory.
Among all IESA Class 1A sectional meets, Jones posted the third-quickest qualifying time.
In the boys’ junior high sectional, Heritage seventh-grader Clark Roland advanced to state after placing 12th in a 95-runner field. Roland’s 2-mile time was 12:33.
Teammate Christian Paul missed a state berth by 10 seconds. He ended 20th in 13:07.
Other Heritage sectional participants were Eli Denmark-Collins (45th in 14:07), Clayton Thomas (56th in 14:28.9) and Atticus Ashbrook (95th in 22:24).
Champaign St. Matthew copped team honors in the boys’ race with 73 points. Heritage was eighth in the 12-school field with 194 points.
The IESA state meet will be on Saturday (Oct. 16) at Maxwell Park, in Normal.
