Panthers look forward to state

By Fred Kroner

The St. Joseph Junior High boys’ cross-country team qualified for state as did one runner from the Panthers’ girls’ team.

In an IESA Class 2A sectional hosted by St. Joseph on Saturday (Oct. 9), St. Joseph was second to Tolono Unity in the boys’ race and earned an automatic bid to state.

Unity’s composite team score was 53 points. St. Joseph had 124 points. Third-place Monticello also qualified for state with 134 points.

The Panthers were led by eighth-grader Lance Retz, who ran the 2-mile course in 11 minutes, 36.8 seconds and finished in fifth place.

Rounding out the team’s lineup in the 97-person race were: sixth-grader Patrick Clark (19^th in 12:32.9), eighth-grader Quinn Stahl (31^st in 13:22.1), seventh-grader Colin Burnett (32^nd in 13:28.9), eighth-grader Colton Overstreet (37^th in 13:36.0), eighth-grader Cyrus Zadeh  (71^st in 14:53.2) and sixth-grader Sam Zadeh (74^th in 15:01.2).

The IESA state meet will be on Saturday (Oct. 16) at Maxwell Park, in Normal.

St. Joseph will have one representative in the girls’ race. Sixth-grader Ava Gallo advanced as an individual with a 2-mile time of 13 minutes, 43.4 seconds.

She was the 11th-place finisher overall.

The automatic state team spots for girls went to Tolono Unity (27), Shelbyville (89) and Robinson (116).

St.  Joseph was fourth in the 13-team field with 131 points.

Other Panthers to run at the sectional were: Averie Dietiker (20^th in 14:18.6), Sydney Steinbach (31^st in 14:37.9), Faith King (34^th in 14:44.4), Hannah Mock (35^th in 14:45.1), Ava Overstreet (37^th in 14:52.5) and Tessa Walker (44^th in 15:12.3).

There were 89 runners in the girls’ race.