Charlie Parish would eventually pull away late in what was a tight race (Tracy Burmester photo)
In the boys' race, there was a pack of runners right before the one-mile mark being led by Pinckneyville junior Grant Batteau. As they climbed the first hill and reached the mile marker, junior Charlie Parrish of Freeburg took the lead and settled in nicely. Working behind Parrish to establish a place up front was Batteau, junior Brandon Schnitker of Nashville, Freeburg senior Alex Mack, and junior Luke Goebel of Breese (Mater Dei). At the two-mile mark, Parrish was comfortably in the lead, with Mack coming around the bend in second, and Schnitker and Goebel running strong shortly behind. Coming into the finish first was Parrish running 16:26.96. Within the final stretch behind Parrish were Schnitker and Mack running very strong side by side. The two were neck and neck until about 100 meters to go where Schnitker kicked it into a higher gear to claim second with a time of 16:41.07. Goebel then breezed by to capture third place in 16:48.18. Mack placed fourth with 16:50.28 as his finishing time.
| BOYS 5,000 METER RUN | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | POINTS | ||
| 1 | Charlie Parrish | 11 | Freeburg High School | 16:26.96 | 1 | |
| 2 | Brandon Schnitker | 11 | Nashville High School | 16:41.07 | 2 | |
| 3 | Luke Goebel | 11 | Breese Mater Dei High School | 16:48.18 | 3 | |
| 4 | Alex Mack | 12 | Freeburg High School | 16:50.28 | 4 | |
| 5 | Grant Batteau | 11 | Pinckneyville High School | 16:58.03 | 5 | |
| 6 | Taijhan Nelson | 12 | Murphysboro High School | 17:10.01 | 6 | |
| 7 | Caleb Zgonina | 11 | Nashville High School | 17:18.49 | 7 | |
| 8 | Garrett Johnson | 11 | Pinckneyville High School | 17:23.77 | 8 | |
| 9 | Mason Wills | 10 | Benton High School | 17:27.15 | 9 | |
| 10 | Corbin Schwable | 10 | Freeburg High School | 17:29.04 | 10 | |
Winner Charlie Parrish post race reaction-
The Freeburg boys won as a team
with just 42 points. Placing second was
Pinckneyville with 108 points. Also
advancing to state placing third through fifth was Breese (Mater Dei),
Steeleville, and Roxana.
| top 5 TEAM state qualifiers | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS | SCORERS | TIMES | ||
| 1 | Freeburg High School | 42 | 1+4+10+11+16 (19+20) | 1:30 1-5 Split | 17:16 Avg | ||
| 2 | Pinckneyville High School | 108 | 5+8+23+29+43 (48+84) | 1:53 1-5 Split | 17:59 Avg | ||
| 3 | Breese Mater Dei High School | 122 | 3+15+22+35+47 (71+75) | 2:08 1-5 Split | 18:06 Avg | ||
| 4 | Steeleville High School | 129 | 12+13+18+34+52 (65+78) | 1:27 1-5 Split | 18:15 Avg | ||
| 5 | Roxana High School | 160 | 17+25+28+32+58 (93+112) | 1:17 1-5 Split | 18:33 Avg | ||
The seven advancing individuals are Schnitker , Taijhan Nelson of Murphysboro, Caleb Zgonina of Nashville, Mason Wills of Benton, Austin Knight of Carterville, Javon Watkins of Edwardsville (Metro-East Luteran), and Brenden Springman of East Alton Wood River.