By Fred Kroner
Heritage sophomore Zach Ruwe was a near-miss in his bid to qualify for the Class 1A boys’ cross-country state meet.
His 3-mile time at the Saturday (Oct. 30) IHSA sectional at Decatur’s Hickory Point Golf Course was 17 minutes, 9.78 seconds.
Runners who were not on teams that advanced to state could move on individually if they were among the top 10 for runners not on the qualifying teams.
Ruwe’s time was 2.13 seconds past the 10th qualifier, who ended in 19th place in a field with 154 competitors. Ruwe placed 22nd to lead the Hawks.
Heritage finished 18th in the 20-school meet with a composite score of 400 points.
The top six schools qualified for state. That group included sectional champion Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond, St. Joseph-Ogden, Monticello, Decatur St. Teresa, Newton and Shelbyville.
Heritage’s sectional lineup featured six underclassmen.
Joining Ruwe were sophomore Lukas Carey (83rd in 18:35.520, junior Rowan Denmark-Collins (109th in 19:06.84), sophomore Aidan Ashbrook (110th in 19:10.65), freshman Hunter Montgomery (122nd in 19:28.80) and sophomore Cohen Sands (141st in 20:29.69).
