The Benton Boys Sectional highlights
Benton City Park; Benton IL-
The 1A boys' race also contained attention-grabbing performances. Cree Stumpf, a senior from Roxana, had his first breakthrough performance last weekend when he captured a regional title at Freeburg. Today, he backed up his regional win with a sectional title as well. Not intending to lead from the start, Strumpf sat with a pack of runners through the first half mile, where he made his first move to the front. He continued to push the pace and his position never changed, crossing the finish line in 14:52 for the three-mile course.
Tyler Guthrie (So) of Father McGivney ran second to Stumpf for the majority of the race, followed closely by Justin Mumford (So) of Wesclin. Mumford, who sat out the majority of the season due to injury, did not let that stand in his way from advancing to state. With about a half mile to go, Mumford kicked it in to pass Guthrie and place second in 15:15. Guthrie placed third in 15:20, followed by Corbin Schwable (Sr) of Freeburg in 15:26. Mumford, Camden Sadler (Sr., Althoff), Isaac Sinn (Jr., Sparta), Ty Barbre (So., Carmi White County), Liam Oliver (Sr., Pinckneyville), Kade Portz (Jr., Marissa), and Seth Hamerski (Fr., Bluford Webber) will all advance to state as individuals.
#6 Freeburg captured the sectional title with 68 points and was followed by Father McGivney (80) and #10 Steelville (95), to qualify for the state meet. Stumpf will advance to state with his team, who placed fourth, while Benton captured the fifth spot to qualify for state tallying 175 points.