CHS girls cross country Lady Jackets finish 4th at home meet; 2nd at Goreville
CHS hosts hexagonal meet, finishes 4th
On Sept. 21 the Lady Jackets hosted runners from Columbia, Gibault, Christ Our Rock, Vienna and Valmeyer at the Randolph County Conservation Area. Thirty-two girls met at the starting line at 5:15 p.m. to begin the three-mile trek around the challenging course.
Only four schools had enough runners to qualify for a team score. Vienna won the race with 38 points; Christ Our Rock was second with 40 points; Columbia came in third with 57 points and Chester had 87 points.
The individual winner was Madison Missey, a Columbia sophomore, who crossed the finish line in 20:36 with a 6:52 minutes per mile pace. Senior Brooke Biffar of Gibault was runner-up at 21:49 and a pace of 7:17.
Sarah McKowen, a freshman from Christ Our Rock of Centralia was third at 7:17; her teammate Kylie Eversgerd, a junior, was fourth at 21:54. Vienna's Katie King rounded out the Top 5, finishing in 23:18.
The Lady Jackets were led by seniors Josie Kattenbraker and Madison Kribs who finished just three seconds apart. Kattenbraker finished in 17th place with 27:04; Kribs finished in 27:07.
Other Lady Jacket contributors were junior Hannah Blechle (24th, 29:14); freshman Josalynn Anaya (25th, 29:24); senior Amelia Shemonic (26th, 29:27); senior Katie Shinabargar (31st, 31.15) and Melody Colonel (32nd, 40:59). Shinabargar improved her time by two minutes on a tough Chester course while Colonel improved almost three minutes.
Lady Jackets finish second at Goreville
The next day at Goreville the ladies from Chester finished second with a team score of 45. Hamilton County won with just 15 points. Eight schools were there altogether, including Pope County, Goreville, NCOE, Christopher, Johnston City and Cobden. Only Chester and Hamilton County fielded team scores (having at least five runners).
The first Lady Jacket to finish was Josie Kattenbraker who placed 13th with a time of 25:00 and a pace of 8:38. Hannah Blechle finished 15th with a time of 25:47 and pace of 8:54.
Madison Kribs, Josalynn Anaya and Amelia Shemonic finished back-to-back-to-back. Kribs (19th, 26:22); Anaya (20th, 28:31); and Shemonic (21st, 28:32). Katie Shinabargar crossed the line in 25th place with a time of 32:15.
The winner of the event was Pope County freshman Ahry Comer, who won with a time of 18:26 and a pace of 6:22. Hamilton County junior Maddie Karcher was runner-up with her time of 20:24 and pace of 7:02.
Hamilton County also had the No. 3 and No. 4 finishers. Hannah Moore, a freshman, finished 3rd with a time of 20:34 and junior Ashlee Wellen finished 4th in 21:00 flat. After Gracie Markus of Pope County finished 5th (21:10), Hamilton County runners rounded out their roster finishing 6th, 7th, and 8th.
Other top runners included Goreville's Gracie Grammer (10th, 23:48); NCOE's Heilei Yager (11th, 24:24); Christopher's Sydney Yosonavich (12th, 24:52); Johnston City's Michaela Moulton (23rd, 31:21); and Cobden's Anayeli Munoz (25th, 31:49).