Oakwood/Salt Fork girls’ cross country advances to Sectional

By Fred Kroner

The entire Oakwood/Salt Fork girls’ cross-country team advanced to a Class 1A sectional based on their performance on Saturday (Oct. 21) at the Chrisman Regional.

The top seven team finishers secured their advancement to the Decatur St. Teresa Sectional. The Comets – who had two of the top six runners — earned their berth by placing seventh.

Senior Macie Russell received an All-Regional designation by winding up in fourth place. Her 3-mile time was 20 minutes, 10.51 seconds.

The first five runners were accorded All-Regional status.

Freshman Callie Richardson finished in sixth place with a time of 20:45.43.

The Comets’ other competitors were sophomore Zoe Moudy (60^th in 27:55.30), sophomore Macie Kinney (64^th in 31:42.00) and freshman Miley Pierce (65^th in 33:46.88).

St. Thomas More (60 points) claimed the team title. The Sabers were followed by Urbana Uni High (76 points), Marshall (78 points), Paxton-Buckley-Loda (98 points), St. Joseph-Ogden (106 points), Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin (139 points) and Oakwood/Salt Fork (159 points).

The St. Teresa Sectional will be held at South Shores Park, in Decatur, with the girls’ race beginning at 10 a.m.

To advance to state from the 21-school meet, teams need to finish among the top six. Individuals can qualify for state – if they are not on an advancing team – if they among the first 10 runners not on an advancing team.

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One Oakwood/Salt Fork cross-country runner – junior Thomas Wells – qualified for the sectional by placing 28^th in the Chrisman Class 1A Regional on Saturday (Oct. 21).

Wells’ 3-mile time was 18:29.14. He was one of the top five runners not on teams that moved on to the sectional.

The Comets placed ninth in the 12-school field and missed out on advancing as a team.

The other Oakwood/Salt Fork participants at the regional were junior Brayden Edwards (38^th in 19:03.76), junior Logan Henthorn (52^nd in 20:08.57), sophomore Ben Darling (65^th in 21:04.04), sophomore Alex Wells (70^th in 21:33.66) and junior Connor Smith (75^th in 22:03.31).

There were 92 participants in the boys’ race.

In the team chase, the regional championship was won by St. Joseph-Ogden (33 points).

The other schools advancing to the sectional were La Salette (37 points), Urbana Uni High (86 points), Heritage (138 points), Paris (144 points), Villa Grove (178 points) and St. Thomas More (196 points).

Oakwood/Salt Fork ran ninth and totaled 228 points.

The St. Teresa Sectional will be held at South Shores Park, in Decatur, with the boys’ race beginning at 11 a.m.

For Wells to qualify for state, he will need to be among the first 10 runners not on an advancing team.