CGS Cross Country competes at Waterloo, Benton and Cohen Complex

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Coaches Jennifer Stumpe and Dale Rucker have worked hard preparing their 2010 Chester Grade School Cross Country runners for the really big meets leading to the 2010 State Meet. In doing so the Jr. Jackets have competed at Waterloo, Benton and at the Chester Cohen Complex during a home triangular meet.

The Jr. Jackets ran at Waterloo Thursday September 30 in what was a quadrangular meet between Waterloo, Collinsville, Alton and CGS. There were no team scores for this meet, but individual times and places were provided at the end of the event.

In the Varsity Division Chester's Cheree Miller, a 7th grader, placed 4th overall and recorded a time of 11:32. Miller earned a medal for her excellent performance. McKenzi Rucker, an 8th grader, finished 19th overall with a time of 13:23.

Other varsity runners included Miah Mitchell, a 5th grader who ran 14:48 placing 25th overall. Haley Middendorf, a 6th grader, turned in a time of 14:58, finishing 29th overall. Jackie Hopkins, a 6th grader, ran the fifth position for the varsity and finished 38th overall with her time of 17:46.

In the Boy's Varsity event Cody Dempster, a 7th grader, was the first Chester runner to finish. His time was 12:43 and he placed 25th overall. Zac Conner, also a 7th grader, finished 30th with a time of 13:30.

Logan Horman, a 7th grader and Mitchell Colonel, a 5th grader, finished 38th and 39th respectively. Horman had a time of 14:05 while Colonel recorded a time of 14:11. Baylee Modglin rounded out the varsity squad with a time of 16:02. He placed 48th overall.

Seven girls competed in the JV Division. Brie Childs, a 6th grader, was Chester's top runner with a time of 15:59. Childs finished 33rd overall. Other JV runners included Taylor Howie (35th, 16:45), Ashley Hennrich (36th, 17:23), Alyssa Keith (37th, 17:43), Emily Tudor (39th, 18:08), Avery Sebastian (41st, 21:13 and Alexis Brunkhorst (42nd, 21:14).

In the Boy's JV Division Curt Meyer, 5th grader, finished first among the CGS competitors. Meyer ran a time of 13:50 and finished 35th overall. Other Jr. Jacket runners included Scotty Kozora (44th, 15:29), Nick Morris (46th, 15:44), Clay Herrell (47th, 16:01), Derek Neal (49th, 16:05), Lance Bohnert (50th, 16:15) and Eian Sickles (58th, 20:21).

Coach Stumpe was pleased with her athlete's performances noting that the competition was fairly keen and the size of the other schools was significantly bigger than CGS.

Saturday October 2 the Jr. Jackets traveled to Benton for what is known as the Benton Pre-State Meet. Coach Stumpe stated after the meet, "Everyone ran great against very tough competition.

Stumpe continued, "Cheree Miller was the only medal winner at Benton with her 11th place finish. Those girls who qualified for the State Meet included Cheree, Jackie Hopkins and Miah Mitchell. The girl's alternative runners included Brie Childs and Taylor Howie. The members of the Boy's Team who qualified for State included Cody Dempster, Zac Conner, Logan Horman, Curt Meyer and Mitchell. Alternates were Scotty Kozora and Clay Herrell.

In the Girl's varsity race Cheree Miller finished 11th with a time of 11:35 while McKenzi Rucker had a time of 12:28 and a finish of 42nd. Boy's varsity runners included Cody Dempster who finished 39th overall with a time of 11:05, Zac Conner with a 122nd finish and a time of 13:03 and Logan Horman who finished 155th with a time of 13:58. There were 155 girls in the varsity race and 172 boys in the varsity race.

The JV race included seven girls and six boys. The JV girls included Jackie Hopkins (40th, 9:25), Haley Middendorf (51st, 9:34), Miah Mitchell (56th, 9:41), Taylor Howie (69th, 10:10), Brie Childs (70th, 10:11), Ashley Hennrich (80th, 10:35) and Emily Tudor (83rd, 10:39). There were 143 girls in the JV event.

JV boys included Curt Meyer (45th, 8:58), Mitchell Colonel (49th, 9:05), Scotty Kozora (101st, 10:04), Clay Herrell (113th, 10:38), Lance Bohnert (118th, 10:58) and Baylee Modglin (121st, 11"06). There were 133 boys competing in the JV race.

Monday October 11 Chester Grade School hosted a small meet at the Cohen Complex with CGS, Murphysboro and St. Andrews in Murphysboro. No team scores were recorded and no major awards were presented.

Coach Stumpe and Coach Rucker were very appreciative of the help offered by the parents and community members who assisted with the organization and implementation of the event. Coach Stumpe stated, "Chester runners ran well and this event was good preparation for the upcoming State Meet".

CGS only had two varsity girls run 1.8-mile race. Cheree Miller was the overall champion of the varsity race with a time of 11:57. McKenzi Rucker placed 4th with a time of 13:45. She twisted her ankle along the way but was able to complete the race.

There were only three Jr. Jacket varsity boys runners in varsity race including Cody Dempster who finished 2nd overall with a time of 11:44; Zach Conner who finished 4th overall with a time of 12:25 and Logan Horman who turned in a time of 14:04. He finished 10th overall. All three Chester varsity boy's runners finished in the top-ten.

CGS entered 10 girls in the JV race and all ten finished. Miah Mitchell finished 3rd overall with a time of 9:64. Haley Middendorf was close behind finishing 4th in 9:55. Ashley Hennrich ran a good race finishing 5th overall with a time of 10:22. Right behind Hennrich was Brie Childs who finished 6th with a time of 10:31. Taylor Howie ran the race in 10:41. She finished 8th overall making it five CGS runners who finished in the top-10.

Alyssa Keith ran a good race finishing 11th overall with her time of 11:08. Jackie Hopkins finished 12th (11:09) and Emily Tudor finished 13th (11:26). Rounding out the JV race were Alexis Brunkhorst and Avery Sebastian. Brunkhorst finished 15th with a time of 13:57 while Sebastian finished 16th at 13:58.

There were six Chester JV boys who competed. Curt Meyer won the JV race with a time of 9:16. Eian Sickles was runner up with a time of 9:47. Mitchell Colonel finished 3rd in 10:32 while Clay Herrell was the 4th finisher (11:05). In 5th place was Lance Bohnert who had a time of 11:15 and Tristen Delay completed the race in 6th place. His time was 11:37. CGS had the top six finishers in the JV race.