Morton Boys, Wilson Georges Win Shazam 2A Titles

RESULTS I PHOTOS I VIDEOS

Chillicothe IL-

Cross country fans are the greatest, especially here around peak time. The inaugural Shazam XC Championships have brought out the rabid portion of those in attendance.

As the flight races were recorded, the fastest winner prior to the fast section was Paul Proteau of Riverside-Brookfield. He was a late add and got redemption in 16:25. 

The final race of the day featured some of the best talents in the state. Among the choices were Wilson Georges (Limestone), Alex Partlow (Carbondale), Ian O'laughlin (Metamora), Julian Watson (Hinsdale South), and Peter Walsdorf (Woodstock Marian). 

The first mile was the swiftest of any championship race to this point. Local product Georges headed the group followed by Partlow, Walsdorf, Michael Schumacher (St. Viator), and Chris Cherry (Taylorville) were all under 5:00. 

Georges and Partlow began to pull away and were in lock step at two miles in 10:06 and 10:07. The strung out chase pack followed between a dozen and 15 seconds behind.

With just a quarter-mile to go, Georges had opened up complete daylight on the field. Partlow had disappeared and replaced by O'laughlin who was in the far distance.

Georges crossed the third mile checkpoint in 15:13 but did not put the hammer down to try and grab the fastest time of the weekend to date. More importantly, the reality of winning the title of the best runner in Division 2 had its place in history. Thus, the 13-second win in 15:46 was good enough.

The team battle between the top two teams Chatham-Glenwood and Morton did not exactly materialize. Morton ran away with the title scoring 104 points to a very surprising Mahomet-Seymour who tallied 154 points in the runner-up position. Freshman Josh Weeks led the way for Morton in sixth place overall with a time of 16:16.