Minooka Sweeps The Day At 3A Edwardsville Sectional

Following the morning 1A session came the 3A schools and the accompanied high temperatures that reached up to 80 degrees. Overall, the Edwardsville Sectional hosted by SIU-E presented a ruggedness not often seen by teams from the Chicagoland area. Indeed the tough cross country course produced respect from the competitors as well as it demonstrated good teamwork and excellence.

Girls-

O'Fallon junior Brooke Witzel was quick to take the lead in the first mile, but the Minooka runners made their move just at the mile mark.  Running as a team, senior Mackenzie Callahan, senior Ashley Tutt, and junior Emily Shelton surged to the front.  Also in the mix were Yorkville runners sophomore Nicole Greyer and junior Allyssa Edwards.

Callahan led the way for her team and really picked up the pace in the second mile to be able to separate herself slightly. Coming in after Callahan was Greyer followed by Tutt and Shelton.  Two other Yorkville runners, seniors Maddie Dearborn and Alexis Grandys, had moved by the two mile mark trailing Edwards, and following them was sophomore Vivian Van Eck of Minooka.  Coming down the final stretch, Callahan had a huge lead and crossed the finish line at 17:55.63, a new course record and over thirty seconds ahead of second place. Tutt had significantly separated herself from Greyer within the last mile and placed second with a time of 18:27.10.  The other two Minooka runners had strong showings within the final stretch as they out-kicked the other Yorkville runners to secure third and fourth place.  Shelton was third at 18:37.97 and Van Eck was fourth at 18:39.83.  Following Minooka's 1-4 finish, was another four in a row placings for Yorkville as well.  From fourth to eighth place was Greyer at 18:43.52, Edwards, Dearborn, and Grandys.

The next seven advancing individuals are Mara Smith of Normal (Community West), Mackenzie Brownrigg of New Lenox (Lincoln-Way Central) Maddie Baauw of Joliet (West), Paige Arseneau of Pekin, Jenna Diers and Teagan Lyke of New Lenox (Lincoln-Way West), and Lydia Kurfman of Quincy.

Mackenzie Callahan's post race reaction-