Christian Paul finishes as runner-up at Class 1A Sectional

By Fred Kroner

Eighth-grader Christian Paul was the IESA Class 1A sectional runner-up for Heritage on Friday (Oct. 6) in a meet held at Danville’s Winter Park.

Paul qualified for state by covering the 2-mile course in 10 minutes, 59.6 seconds.

The top seven runners not on teams that secured state berths also advanced to state.

The Class 1A boys’ race, to be held at Normal Parkside, will start at 10 a.m. on Saturday (Oct. 14).

Heritage had one other entry in the boys’ race. Seventh-grader Owen Elmore placed 69^th in 16:29.0.

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Two Heritage eighth-grade girls also advanced to the IESA Class 1A state finals.

Reaghan Stierwalt placed eighth individually at the sectional (13:45.3) and Leah DelRossi was 15^th (14:26.2).

They will run at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday (Oct. 14) at Normal Parkside.

Heritage finished fifth in the team chase at sectionals with 115 points. Meet champion Champaign St. Matthew accumulated 49 points and runner-up Effingham St. Anthony had 73 points. Schlarman Academy finished in third place with 77 points.

The other Heritage sectional competitors were fifth-grader Rhorie Stierwalt (27^th in 15:02.3), seventh-grader Rylen Stierwalt (28^th in 15:06.4), sixth-grader Gwen Keely (38^th in 15:26.4) and seventh-grader Kimber Sands (52^nd in 16:42.4).