Roxana Shells
The Roxana cross country program accomplished history on Saturday at the Class 1A Benton Sectional championship meet at Benton City Park.
The Shells qualified both boys and girls teams to the Class 1A state meet in Detweiller Park in Peoria on Nov. 3 after both squads finished fourth in sectionals. It’s the first time Roxana advanced both boys and girls teams to state in the same year.
The Roxana boys finished with 174 points, one point ahead of host-Benton. It’s the second time in three years the boys team qualified for state. The program earned a state berth for the first time in ‘16 after placing fifth in the Metro East Lutheran Sectional.
The Roxana girls finished with 169 points and have qualified for the state meet for the fourth time. Their last appearance was in ’15.
The Roxana boys and girls will be the lone AdVantage-area representatives at the state meet. The Roxana girls are scheduled to run at 9 a.m., and the boys will run at 10 a.m.
Also on Saturday, Roxana senior Cree Stumpf won the individual boys title at the Benton Sectional with a time of 14:52. It’s Stumpf’s fifth consecutive victory and his sixth overall.
Three other area runners – Andrew O’Keefe and Chessy Nikonowicz of Granite City and Marquette Catholic junior Riley Vickrey -- came up short of a state-qualifying bid on Saturday.
O’Keefe, who competed at the state meet in each of the last three years, came up one place short of a state-qualifying bid after placing 14th with a 15:51 at the Class 3A Quincy Sectional. The senior won a sectional title last year.
Vickrey came up two places short of going to Peoria for the second time after finishing 20th with a 19:17 at the Class 1A St. Teresa Sectional at Hickory Point Golf Course in Forsyth, outside Decatur. She competed at state in her freshman year and came up one place short of a state berth in her sophomore season.
Nikonowicz, a junior, finished 33rd with a personal-best time of 19:24 at Quincy, coming up five places short of becoming the first Granite City girl runner to qualify for state in 33 years.
Granite City finished 14th in the girls race and 15th in the boys race at Quincy. Four Alton runners – Cassius Havis, Jay’ion Harrison, Sophie Paschal and Jessie Markel – competed at sectionals as individuals, but none of them qualified for state.
Marquette’s Jacob Rummerfield and the East Alton-Wood River boys squad also competed at the St. Teresa Sectional, but didn’t advance to state. The Civic Memorial boys raced at the Class 2A Decatur Eisenhower Sectional, which was also held at Hickory Point Golf Course, but their season ended with a 15th-place finish.
Stumpf will make his second trip to the state meet. He’s also the lone returning runner from the ’16 Roxana squad that went to Peoria.
Senior Mark Vongprachahn, junior Douglas Johnson and sophomores Carlos Ruvalcaba, Matthew Olbert, Austin Walker and Kaleb St. Cyr are the other Roxana boys.
Sophomore Janelynn Wirth was the Shells’ top finisher in the Benton Sectional girls race, placing 14th with a 19:13. Sophomore Jennifer Palen finished 25th with a 19:40.
Seniors Lette Palen, Elizabeth Ruvalcaba, Michaela Tarpley and Victoria Tarpley and sophomore Delaney O’Donnell round out the team. The Tarpleys were members of the last Roxana girls team that went to state in ’15.
The Roxana girls also competed in Peoria in ’11 and ’12.