Lady Yellow Jackets cross country wins BDC title
The Chester High School girls and boys cross country teams competed in the Black Diamond Conference meet on October 12 in Fairfield.
The Lady Yellow Jackets won the girls' race, while the Chester boys took fourth overall. The Lady Yellow Jackets have won the BDC title in seven of the last eight years from 2010 to 2017, with 2015 being the lone exception.
Chester finished with 56 team points, followed by Hamilton County (61), Carmi-White County (65), Fairfield (81) and Goreville (89) in the top five.
The top five finishers at the conference meet earned All-Conference honors, with Taylor Dunning (2nd, 21:15) and Jessica Kattenbraker (4th, 21:26) earning a selection. Carmi-White County's Payton Dixon won the race with a time of 21:05. Chester's other finishers were Avery Runge (12th, 23:45), Addie Blechle (18th, 25:17), Breanna Brigham (23rd, 26:56) and Elizabeth Soellner (29th, 28:37).
"The girls performed great as usual," said Chester coach Curt Gilpin. "What made the real difference was not only our top runners, but the lower runners.
"Only the top five finishers are counted in the final score, but all seven runners helped out by finishing well and above other runners from the other teams."
Ronin Doiron, who recently returned to action after playing golf and recovering from a nasty running injury, led the Yellow Jackets in the boys' race.
Doiron finished 17th overall with a time of 19:12. Jordan Hughes also earned a top-20 finish for the Yellow Jackets in 19th place with a time of 19:40.
Other Chester runners were Zach Zappa (23rd, 20:31), Lance Bohnert (4th, 20:36), Lance Bohnert (25th, 20:36), Mitchell Colonel (26th, 20:57) and Jakob Cushman (31st, 22:22).
Fairfield's Jazale O'Neal took the BDC crown with a time of 17:31, while Hamilton County was the team champion with 35 points.
Fairfield finished runner-up with 48 points, with Vienna (52), Chester (110) and Goreville (137) rounding out the top five.
"All of our boys ran well and had good times compared to their former times," Gilpin said. "In cross country, the place a team or individual does not necessarily represent how well a team or individual finishes.
"You must look at improvements in overall times and individual times. Our boys ran well and I am proud of their efforts."
The Yellow Jackets and Lady Yellow Jackets will compete in the Benton Invitational on Monday and will compete in the IHSA Class 1A Carterville Regional at John A. Logan College next Saturday.