St. Joseph finishes second at Champaign County Meet

By Fred Kroner

The St. Joseph Middle School girls’ cross-country team placed second in the 12-school Champaign County meet on Tuesday (Sept. 27) at Tolono Unity.

Mahomet-Seymour was the meet champion with a score of 42 points. St. Joseph was next with 82 points.

All seven St. Joseph competitors placed among the top 30 in a field with 84 participants.

Leading the way was Tessa Walker, who was fifth in 12 minutes, 43.5 seconds.

Teammates following Walker were Ava Overstreet (13^th in 13:12.0), Mia Miller (14^th in 13:12.1), Averie Dietiker (22^nd in 13:30.4), Ava Gallo (28^th in 13:44.4), Faith Jackson (29^th, also in 13:44.4) and Tabby Brown (30^th in 13:47.8).

In an open girls’ race that attracted 127 runners, the Panthers’ leaders were Hadley McDonald (11^th in 14:18.7), Kennedi Dean (19^th in 14:49.3), Marissa Smith (27^th in 15:28.6), Ellie Miller (30^th in 15:41.4), Claire Dirksmeyer (31^st in 15:41.9), Leah Stephenson (41^st in 16:05.4) and Kinsley Oleynichak (43^rd in 16:09.2).

St. Joseph was third with 81 points in the girls’ open race. M-S ran first (18 points) and Tolono Unity was the runner-up (52 points).