The Okawville High School cross country team had two meets the past week.  They started their week by traveling to Washington County State Lake to compete in the Nashville Invitational on Monday, September 20.  This larger meet consisted of twenty schools.  The race consisted of many hills, running across the dam and alongside the lake, and beautiful scenery.  There were three races at this meet, which consisted of boys’ varsity, girls’ varsity, and an open race of boys and girls together.

Grant Schleifer led the Rockets on the boys’ varsity team, placing 6th with a time of 17:03.  Dominic Perry finished 55th with a time of 21:04, Hayden Shubert finished in 65th in 21:40, Joseph Jansen finished 78th with a time of 22:35, Evan Perry finished 83rd with a time of 23:33, Thor Gavin finished 86th with a time of 23:55, and Jared Juenger finished 88th with a time of 24:16.  There were a total of 104 varsity boy runners.  The Okawville Rockets were 9th out of twelve teams in the team placing.

Chloe Tepe led the Lady Rockets on the girls’ varsity team finishing 23rd with a time of 23:10.  Lydia Luechtefeld finished 25th with a time of 23:13, Cindy Snyder finished 32nd with a time of 24:00, Sarah Cook finished 55th with a time of 26:16, Ady Harre finished 58th with a time of 26:28, Sidney Charles finished 59th with a time of 26:31, and Kylie Buehler finished 66th with a time of 27:42.  There were a total of 86 varsity girl runners.  The Okawville Lady Rockets finished 7th out of nine teams in the team placing.

On Saturday, September 25, the cross country team traveled to Smithton to run in the Freeburg Invitational.  This was a morning race with perfect running weather.  This was also a flat course, and the Rockets and Lady Rockets took advantage of it, achieving many personal records.  This meet consisted of four different races: Girls Varsity, Boys Varsity, Girls Open, and Boys Open.  Around thirty teams competed at the meet.

Chloe Tepe led the Lady Rockets with a time of 20:15 placing 26th.  Lydia Luechtefeld finished 54th with a time of 21:30, Sarah Cook finished 80th with a time of 22:52, Cindy Snyder finished 81st with a time of 22:53, Sidney Charles finished 95th with a time of 23:51, Ady Harre finished 97th with a time of 23:57, and Kylie Buehler finished 103rd with a time of 24:26.  There were 137 girl varsity runners.  The Lady Rockets finished 12th out of seventeen teams.

Grant Schleifer led the Rockets placing 8th in 16:05.  Hayden Shubert finished 92nd with a time of 19:23, Dominic Perry finished 106th with a time of 20:06, Evan Perry finished 109th with a time of 20:11, Joseph Jansen finished 110th with a time of 20:14, Nolan Frantz finished 123rd with a time of 21:40, and Jared Juenger finished 128th with a time of 22:36.  There were 139 varsity boy runners, the Rockets finished 14th of nineteen teams.

Megan Rennegarbe led the Open Lady Rockets placing 16th with a time of 24:26.  Nora Wood placed 17th with a time of 24:34, Madelyn Epplin placed 20th with a time of 24:43, Lexie Todd finished 21st with a time of 25:01, Raelyn Obermeier finished 32nd with a time of 26:28, Hannah Miller finished 35th with a time of 28:11, and Mallory Bening finished 45th with a time of 31:09.  There were 46 open-girl runners.  The Open Lady Rockets placed 2nd of two teams, falling short to Freeburg.

Matt Roesener led the Open Rockets finishing 44th with a time of 21:22.  Thor Gavin finished 46th with a time of 21:30, Oliver Gaubatz finished 53rd with a time of 22:35, and Hayden Hagarty finished 61st with a time of 23:33.  There were 72 open boy runners.  

The cross country teams have a busy two weeks ahead of them with a total of five meets in eight days.  Good luck to Okawville Cross Country as they continue through the last half of their season!