Edwardsville Sweeps Titles At Its Own Invitational

The Girls' varsity race got things rolling early Saturday morning at the Edwardsville Invitational. Jenna Schwartz (Jr., Waterloo) took the expected early lead from the start of the race and Edwardsville ran strong as a pack closely behind. Although leading the race all alone and with packs of girls not too far behind, Schwartz was able to run a tremendous race from start to finish. She crossed the line in an impressive 18:44.68 on the 5K course; a personal best for the distance. Edwardsville was led by Abby Korak (So.) who had teammate Abby Schrobilgen (Jr.) right beside her for nearly the entire race. The two paced one another until Korak managed to pick things up slightly in the last half mile to finish in 19:11.88 for second place. Schrobilgen ran 19:18.45 to place third, and teammate Melissa Spencer (Sr.) placed fourth in 19:44.03. Kylie Goldfarb (Fr., John Burroughs, MO) placed fifth in 19:50.63, ahead of two more Tiger girls.

The five Edwardsville girls finishing among the top seven gave them an impressive 17 points. Nerinx Hall placed second (82) and Highland third (95). Jacksonville and Litchfield placed fourth and fifth and were separated by just one point (171-172).

In the Boys' varsity race, Justin Mumford, the freshman from Wesclin, proved once again just how strong of a runner he is. The 1A competitor, running against mostly 2A & 3A schools, held his own against the strong pack running of the Edwardsville boys. There was no clear leader through the first half of the race, with Mumford, four Edwardsville runners including Francesco Romano (Sr.), Max Hartmann (Jr.), Roland Prenzler (Jr.), and Jack Pifer (So.), Jefferson Ross Bushur (Fr., Father McGivney), Cassius Havis (So., Alton), and Javon Watkins (Sr., Madison) all in the mix. It wasn't until taking on the more challenging portion of the race that the runners started to space out. It became a pack of three consisting of Prenzler, Mumford, and Hartmann coming out of the woods, and later became a two person battle between Mumford and Prenzler coming down the final stretch. Mumford outkicked and held off Prenzler to the end, finishing with a time of 16:22.13, while Prenzler crossed the line at 16:26.05. Hartmann placed third in 16:52.56, while Romano finished in 16:56.29 and Ross Bushur 16:56.63.

Edwardsville boys easily took the win with a team score of 32, while Waterloo placed second with 110 points. Christian Brothers College placed third (136), and Wesclin (149) placed fourth and Jacksonville (178) fifth.