By Fred Kroner

Tessa Walker placed third and St. Joseph teammate Tabby Brown ran fifth on Thursday (Sept. 27) in the girls’ Champaign County cross-country meet at Tolono Unity.

Walker’s 2-mile time was 12 minutes, 42.4 seconds. Brown was clocked in 13:01.6.

Other team leaders in the varsity race were Ava Overstreet (11^th in 13:22.0), Kennedi Dean (13^th in 13:31.5), Charlene Barbee (18^th in 13:59.2), Avarie Dietiker (27^th in 14:36.6) and Claire Dirksmeyer (29^th in 14:36.7).

There were 85 runners in the race.

In the team standings, meet champion Mahomet-Seymour totaled 32 points. Runner-up St. Joseph had 50 points and third-place Champaign St. Matthew ended with 99 points.

In the 122-runner open race, 10 St. Joseph runners placed among the top 50, led by Ellie Miller (ninth in 14:20.0) and Aubree Profancik (10^th in 14:22.5).

Other team leaders were Kinsley Oleynichak (15^th in 14:47.7), Marissa Smith (18^th in 15:03.9), Madison Lubinski (19^th in 15:07.7), Kendall Lubinski (21^st in 15:16.1), Alayna Nekolny (29^th in 15:37.3), Thea Hinkel (32^nd in 15:44.7), Payslie Hogan (47^th in 16:24.9) and Sophia Albrecht (48^th in 16:28.8.

On Saturday (Sept. 30), St. Joseph finished fourth in the 16-team Monticello Invitational at Lodge Park. The Panthers’ team score was 109 points.

Meet champion Shelbyville compiled a team score of 47 points. M-S was second (54).

Walker finished eighth out of 127 runners in 13:10.8.

Trailing her were Brown (22^nd in 13:44.5), Overstreet (23^rd in 13:44.5), Dean (24^th in 13:45.9), Dietiker (36^th in 14:14.3) and Oleynichak (69^th in 15:14.6).

In the 193-runner open race, Miller led the way for the Panthers, entering the finish chute in 14:31.8. She placed 12^th.

Other St. Joseph competitors among the top 50 were Dirksmeyer (14^th in 14:36.8), Madison Lubinski (32^nd in 15:23.1), Profancik (33^rd in 15:23.3), Nekolny (43^rd in 15:42.9), Smith (44^th in 15:44.2) and Kendall Lubinski (50^th in 15:53.2).

St. Joseph will return to action on Saturday (Oct. 7) in a 14-school IESA Class 2A regional which it will host. The girls’ race will start at 10:30 a.m.