Mules, Lady Mules Both Advance To Decatur Cross County Sectional

Hosting a Class 1A cross country Regional, Justin Sanders’ Fairfield Mules and Lady Mules both have advanced to the Decatur St. Teresa Sectional with top four finishes on their home course.

The top seven teams advance out of Regionals. The Lady Mules placed third, while the Mules placed fourth.

Robinson won the girls team title with 41 points, 10 less than second-place St. Anthony. St. Anthony had the top two individual finishers, however.

Freshman Isabella Keller showed elite athletes can come in all sizes, as the diminutive runner smoked the field with a 18:27.9. The next finisher was her teammate, freshman Aubrey Denning, in 21:11.5. St. Anthony had three of the top four and four of the top 15, but then a drop off from four to five put them behind Robinson. The Maroons had five of the top 13, with four girls crossing in order from 10^th to 13^th.

Fairfield’s top finisher was freshman Remi Taylor in fifth at 21:53.1. Junior Ella Sager was seventh at 22;25.7.

Freshman Ellie Vanway placed 14^th, Adi Hickey was 17^th and Jaycie Couch was 24^th to round out the team scoring with 58 points. After Fairfield, there was a big drop off to Newton in fourth with 102 points.

Newton won the boys meet with 57 points, with Cumberland in second with 87 and Cowden-Herrick in third with 88. The Mules followed in fourth with 99. All of that shook out after the St. Anthony boys got disqualified for having too many runners in the race.

Webber’s Jaxon Dalby got the win in the boys race, hitting the chute at 17:29.2. Fairfield’s top finisher was sophomore Grant Jennette, who placed fifth in 18:04.4. Jennette was running in the lead early before setting into the back of a small pack at the front.

Nathan Legg placed 17^th, while Treyton Lewis finished 23^rd, Skylar Bladel was 26^th and Ashton King was 28^th to round out the team scoring.

The Decatur Sectional will be held Saturday morning.

Fairfield Regional

Girls

Team—Robinson 41, Effingham St. Anthony 51, Fairfield 58, Newton 102, Neoga 122, Dieterich 135, Teutopolis 166.

Individual—1, Isabella Keller, SA, 18:27.9. 2, Aubrey Denning, SA, 21:11.5 3, Quinn Wesley, R, 21:45.7. 4, Stacie Vonderheide, SA, 21:51.4. 5, Remi Taylor, F, 21:53.1. 6, Layna Marshall, N, 22:00.7. 7, Ella Sager, F, 22:25.7. 8, Kyndall Sturgeon, O, 22:31.8. 9, Kayla Clark, CW, 22:34.6. 10, Katelyn Jones, R, 22:43.4. 14, Ellanie Vanway, F, 23:20.7. 18, Adi Hickey, F, 23:52.6. 24, Jaycie Couch, F, 25:04.2.

Boys

Team—Newton 57, Cumberland 87, Cowden-Herrick 88, Fairfield 99, Webber 109, Robinson 124, Dieterich 179, Teutopolis 209, Greenville 211, Altamont 258,

Individual—1, Jaxon Dalby, W, 17:29.2. 2, Austin Wesley, R, 17:38.2. 3, Cameron Roedl, C, 17:44.1. 4, Nathaniel Marlow, W, 17:59.7. 5, Grant Jennette, F, 18:04.4. 6, August Cosart, CH, 18:22.3. 7, Luke Weber, N, 18:31.2. 8, Michael Wilson, G, 18:44.8. 9, Riley Morgan, C, 18:46.9. 10, Brock Probst, N, 18:48.8. 17, Nathan Legg, F, 19:48.5. 23, Treyton Lewis, F, 20:26.1. 26, Skylar Bladel, F, 20:36.6. 28, Ashton King, F, 20:38.5. 29, Jarret Vaughan, F, 20:39.6. 34, Scotty Cuff, F, 20:46.2.

Jennette, Sager Advance To Cross Country State Finals In Peoria

Saturday was a good day for the Fairfield Mules cross country team, with two individual runners advancing to the State meet in Peoria. But it was also a bittersweet day with a couple of near misses in Decatur.

Sophomore Mule Grant Jennette and junior Lady Mule Ella Sager both advanced to the State meet as individuals. That was the good.

The Lady Mules just missed a historic feat, however, finishing five points shy of advancing as a team, finishing eighth with 203 points. The top six teams advance, with Clinton in sixth with 198 points. No Lady Mule cross country team has ever advanced to the State meet, making the near miss even more stinging.

Sager placed 21^st as an individual to qualify, running the course in 20 minutes, 7.15 seconds. She would be the only Lady Mule to advance, however, with freshman Remi Taylor suffering the other heartbreak finish. She ran a 20:11.96 to finish 25^th overall. She was clipped at the chute by St. Joseph-Ogden’s Chloe Burkhalter, who ran a 20:22.79 to claim the final qualifying spot, leaving the freshman Lady Mule .17 seconds away from earning the trip.

Rounding out the Lady Mules’ score was Ellanie Vanway in 49^th at 21:04.8, Adi Hickey in 69^th at 21:49.96 and Jaycie Couch in 74^th at 22:02.48.

St. Anthony freshman Isabella Keller continued her season of domination by winning the Sectional in 17:10.88. Tolono Unity won the team title with 45 points.

The Mules’ boy team finished 13^th overall, led by Jennette’s 13^th place finish in 16:08.13. He qualified easily. After Jennette, there was a drop off for the Mules down to 79^th place, where Nathan Legg placed in 17:53.88.

Treyton Lewis was 87^th in 18:04.99, Skylar Bladel was 95^th in 18:22.61, Jarret Vaughan was 99^th at 18:29.04, Scotty Cuff was 112^th at 18:46.94 and Ashton King was 136^th at 19:28.45.

The State finals will be held Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria. The girls will run at 9 a.m., with the boys running at 10 a.m.

Cross Country State; Swim Sectionals Held Saturday

The Fairfield duo of Grant Jennette and Ella Sager wrapped up their cross country seasons Saturday in the State meet in Peoria, with Sager pulling double duty on the day as well by competing in a swim Sectional.

The junior Sager finished 138^th in the 1A girls race, running the Detweiler Park course in 20 minutes, 11.78 seconds, her best on the course yet. Effingham St. Anthony’s Isabella Keller won the 1A title with a 16:26.13, while Tolono Unity ton the team title. Keller advanced out of the Fairfield Regional this year as a freshman.

The sophomore Jennette faired better in the boys race, running a 15:53.21 to place 54^th out of 256 State finalists in the 1A boys race. Benton’s Gavin Ginisio won the State title with a 14:12.56, while Tuscola won the team title.

Double Duty

Sager was not done after her cross country run, however. She had to quickly head from Peoria to Champaign to compete in swim Sectionals.

She even had one of the earlier events of the day, with the 50-yard freestyle as event five. She placed ninth in that race with a 26.42 second sprint. That race had a furious finish, with third place less than a second ahead of her ninth place finish.

Sager then turned around to compete in the 100-yard freestyle shortly after the sprint. In the longer version, she placed seventh with a 58.47.

Sager was joined by Lady Mule teammate Addie Lafikes, who competed in two races. Lafikes placed seventh in the 100-yard backstroke, swimming a 1:07.66 race. She then turned around and competed in the next event, placing eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:17.15.