Princeville boys win LTC XC title

 Published Date: October 16, 2024

By JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post

KEWANEE – The Princeville boys cross country team defended its Lincoln Trail Conference title last Thursday at Midland Golf Club.

The victory came by the tightest of margins as the 17th-ranked Princes edged Annawan-Wethersfield, 30-31.

Four Princeville runners finished in the top 10 to earn all-conference honors, led by senior Tucker Sennett, who was third in 16:37. The other all-LTC runners were junior Taylor Hess (5th, 16:54), sophomore Jacob Bosch (6th, 17:16) and freshman Hunter Keyster (7th, 17:23). Sophomore Collin Bowers (14th, 18:14) was the fifth runner for Princeville.

“Hess, Bosch, Keyster and (freshman Michael) Winters all ran liftetime PRs,” Princeville Coach Jeremy Melick said. “Bosch and Keyster, in particular, ran extremely well, fed off each other and were both able to get in before A-W’s No. 3. I think those might have been the key races on the day for us.”
ROWVA-Williamsfield placed third with 74 points and was led by Jonas Carlson, who placed 10th in 17:50 to earn an all-LTC medal.

Karson Shrum of A-W was race winner in 16:03 and freshman Evan Knobloch of Stark County was second in 16:11.

In the girls race, Stark County won with 29 points to top Ridgewood (35 points), whose Emily Downing was the race winner in 17:58.

Princeville sophomore Bethany Sennett earned all-conference honors by finishing fourth in 19:18.
Princeville is at Detweiller Park in Peoria on Saturday, Oct. 19, for the Patriot Invite, then runs in a Class 1A regional Oct. 26 at the Seneca Ag Farm.

• Amboy – The fifth-ranked Elmwood-Brimfield boys had a strong outing Monday during their annual trip north to the Amboy Columbus Day Invite at Shady Oaks Golf Course.

E-B won with 55 points, edging fourth-ranked Winnebago (59 points).

Aiden Faulkner led the Trojans, placing seventh on the 2.95-mile course in 15:37. Winnebago’s Nicolai Martino won in 15:11.

Not far behind Faulkner was the Trojans pack of Darwin Herman (11th, 15:59), Mika Nelson (12th, 16:01) and Reed Florey (14th, 16:04).

Fifth runner Kai Nelson, a freshman, was 26th for E-B at 16:44.

Even without Nelson, the Trojans won the frosh-soph boys race with 42 points to edge Byron (43). Freshman Danny Sharp (2nd, 13:59) led E-B in the 2.4-mile race.

In varsity girls action, E-B placed fourth with 119 points behind winner Winnebago (49), Byron (92) and Aurora Central Catholic (114).

Freshman Bristol Schmidgall led E-B by placing 14th in 19:45. Other scoring runners were freshman Mya Hill (16th, 19:55), freshman Riley Kelly (26th, 21:08), freshman Ashlyn Bertsch (28th, 21:10) and sophomore Callie Wight (49th, 22:22).

E-B will run at Detweiller Park on Saturday, Oct. 19, in the Patriot XC Invite. This will be the final tuneup before the teams run in a Class 1A regional race on Oct. 26 at Donovan Park in Peoria.

• IESA – Junior-high girls basketball season is well underway and junior high boys basketball practices start on Oct. 21.