Thor Springman champion, Danny Hall runner-up at Southwestern XC Invitational
On Oct. 1, Carlinville cross country runners James Bray, Dom Gennetti, Patrick Dunn and Giampaolo Pascarella medaled at the Southwestern Invitational. Bray, Gennetti and Dunn each placed third in their respective flights. Pascarella ranked runner-up. Photo contributed.
By JACKSON WILSON
Enquirer Democrat Reporter
On Oct. 1, Thor Springman and Danny Hall were the top two finishers in a 47-man middle school boys’ race at their home Southwestern Invitational.
Springman ran two miles in 11:23 and Hall finished right behind him at 11:25. The two Piasa boys separated themselves from the rest of the pack by 19 seconds.
The Gillespie boys also attended the meet and were led by Matthew Plovich in the 21st spot. Plovich finished in 13:06 and was followed by Asher Putnam (13:48) in 25th, Lucca Kapp (14:38) in 30th, Raiden Hannah (14:57) in 32nd, Holden Sies (16:34) in 38th and Caleb Best (22:19) in 45th.
Sloane Brawner, Paige Swank and Giana Kapp, all of Gillespie, led all county runners in a larger girls’ race. The trio of Indians crossed the finish in a pack with Brawner (15:09) in 20th out of 58, Swank (15:10) 21st and G. Kapp (15:14) 22nd. Ella Brawner (25th; 15:25) followed closely behind in front of Lyla Drewel (27th; 15:45), Payten Taylor (28th; 15:58) and Madisyn Thomas (55th; 22:54).
High school race
The high school portion of the Southwestern XC Invite was divided into groups that were based off everyone’s flight from their respective teams. The top runners in attendance competed against each other, then the second best and so on. Medals were awarded to the three fastest finishers in each group.
North Mac’s Olivia Thoroman (21:09) and Southwestern’s Bram Beuttel (17:52) each placed third amongst the No. 1 runners under their respective gender. Gillespie’s Mia Brawner placed fifth in 22:12 and Maddie Gordon (23:54) represented her hometown Piasa Birds in seventh. Lexi Hester of Staunton ranked eighth in 25:38. Leo Page, the leading Gillespie runner, placed sixth with a time of 19:25. Carlinville’s Daniel Eichen placed seventh in 20 minutes flat.
Garrett Buettel came in second place for Southwestern at 18:04 in the No. 2 runner race. Rhyse Rucker (18:28) of Staunton ranked third. John Bray (20:04) placed fifth for Carlinville. Gillespie’s Hank Fletcher rounded out the pack of eight runners in 21:17. On the girls’ side, Lexi Pfieffer ranked fifth for Staunton with a time of 23:18. Gillespie’s Erika Gill crossed the line in 24:54 for seventh and Jillian Beilsmith placed eighth in 25:35 for Southwestern.
Southwestern’s Drew Spangler placed third amongest No. 3 boys’ runners in 18:19. Thomas Ogata of Staunton came in fifth at 19:53. Jack Rives of Carlinville clocked a seventh place time of 22:02 with Gillespie’s Marshall Garwood two seconds behind in eighth. Mallory Lucykow of Staunton (23:23) finished fourth in the girls’ race. Gillespie’s Lily Brown (26:01) came in sixth. Layla Hall finished in 28:47 – seventh place for Southwestern.
Macoupin County runners filled the lower three slots in both of the No. 4 races. Eben Makler (20:34) and Kaylyn Holtorf (26:53), both of Southwestern, got fifth. Carlinville’s Cooper Fullington (22:21) and Gillespie’s Kori Petersen (27:48) settled for sixth. The seventh spots were occupied by Gillespie’s Carter Sies (23:10) and Staunton’s Elsah Clark (30:17).
Dom Gennetti of Carlinville fell five seconds shy of winning the No. 5 boys’ race. He finished third in 19:45. Southwestern’s Zach Rue (21:54), Staunton’s Trevor Meyers (24:22) and Gillespie’s Collin Oberkfell (24:50) placed seventh through ninth, respectively. In the girls’ race, Southwestern’s Reagan Beilsmith placed fifth in 26:25. Brooke Rucker of Staunton (28:54) followed in sixth and Gillespie’s Ady Drewel finished in seventh at 31:20.
A.J. Reisinger of Gillespie finished fourth amongst the sixth string girls’ runners in 27:08. Southwestern’s Katlyn Kemna was fifth in 29:26. Cheyanne Butcher of Staunton ranked sixth in 30:09. As for the boys, Carlinville’s Austin Homer ran his race in 21:04 to take fourth place. Logan Custer of Southwestern ended in 22:05 for fifth.
Giampaolo Pascarella of Carlinville ranked runner-up amongst seventh string boys in 21:44. Southwestern’s Chase Miller (25:11) placed fourth. Ruthie Bunting, also of Southwestern, nabbed the girls’ third place spot in 26:22. Hallie Lomelino of North Mac finished fifth in 28:36 and was followed by Staunton’s Kristin Wagner, who placed sixth in 29:32.
A trio of Carlinville runners competed in the No. 8 boys’ race, including James Bray, who won first place in 21:36. His teammates Pat Dunn and Tom Cottingham followed. Dunn placed third in 26:55 and Cottingham finished in 31:20 for fifth, behind Southwestern’s fourth place racer Marek Kirsch (29:13). Olivia Matesa of Staunton ranked fourth in the girls’ competition at 29:15 and Southwestern’s Megan Stewart rounded out the field in fifth at 31:27.
Peoria Invite
The other Carlinville High School runners competed at the Peoria Invite on the same day.
Will Meyer placed 101st out of 292 boys in the Class 1A/2A race with a time of 16:45. Sam Wilson ranked 225th in 18:20. Alex Behme finished 240th at 18:53. Charlie Wilson came in 266th, clocking 19:53. Alex Scott’s time was 20 minutes on the dot, which put him 268th. Jack Goby placed 275th in 20:26.
Morgan Carrino led the CHS girls in 150th place out of 249 with a 21:34 time and was followed by Elyse Eldred (22:25) in 178th, Samantha Scott (23:38) in 209th, Sayuri Owada (25:44) in 235th, Madalyn Quarton (26:57) in 241st and Abbie Heusing (31:00) in 247th.
