DHS girls capture cross country meet at Murphysboro, boys finish third
MURPHYSBORO - The Du Quoin High School girls cross country team beat out a talented field Wednesday at the Murphysboro Invitational held at Riverside Park.
With 26 schools competing altogether, the Indians placed first with 49 points (lower scores are the better scores like golf). Runner-up was Benton with 64 points. Pinckneyville was a distant third at 151 points. Nashville was fourth (174) and Anna-Jonesboro fifth (177 points). Bigger schools like Carbondale, Marion and Centralia also competed.
Top individual performer for the Lady Indians was Gabby Alongi, who placed second overall to Benton's Mia McLain. Alongi turned in a time of 19 minutes, 39.62 seconds, while McLain was a stunning 18:54.47. Du Quoin's second best finisher was Olivia Phillips, who was eighth overall at 20:59.32. Lauren Heape was ninth overall at 21:05.58. Grace Alongi followed in 13th place with a time of 21:24.44. And Jacqueline Crain was 17th overall in 22:07.32.
The PCHS girls were led by Ashlee Hirsch, who was 21st overall at 22:45.48. Olivia Buza was 29th in 23:16.32. Madison Morgenthaler was 32nd in 23:40.33. Gayle Winter was 33rd in 23:41.20. Carsyn Cowley was 36th in 23:59.51 and Aubrey Bruns was 39th in 24:09.29.
On the boys' side, Centralia was the team winner with 74 points followed by Marion at 101 points. The Indians were third at 113 points. Benton was fourth at 145. Carbondale placed fifth with 202 points. Steeleville was sixth with 211 points and Pinckneyville ended up seventh with 213 points. There were runners from 26 different schools competing.
Top individual runner for DHS was Landen Swiney, who cranked out a time of 16:34.30 to place fifth overall. Tucker Poshard of Carbondale was first in 16:08.05.
Jonathan Gomes was 20th in 18:02.08. Wendell Killian, Jr. finished 24th in 18:25.53. Nathan Smith was 25th in 18:26.11 and David Gomes was 39th in 19:04.37.
The Panthers were paced by Daniel Paravalgia, who finished 17th in 17:45.22. Steven Hirte was 33rd in 18:41.77 and Trenton Morgenstern was 37th in 18:58.82.