EFFINGHAM — Trevor Crutcher held up one finger to the sky as he was nearing the finish line.
For the first time in three tries, the Dieterich senior was a conference cross-country champion, winning the National Trail Conference Meet in 15 minutes, 36 seconds on Tuesday at Effingham Community Park.
“The win felt great,” Crutcher said. “I haven’t been able to get the job done lately — sophomore year, I got seventh and junior year, I got third. It really humbled me getting third place [last year].”
Crutcher said the course was challenging, but rewarding at the same time.
He still felt that he could run fast.
“It’s a very challenging course, but I think you can still run pretty fast because some of it’s on the road for the majority of the time,” Crutcher said. “I really like the atmosphere; Cumberland coming in brought more competition — it made the conference, as a whole, more competitive and brought the best out in everyone.”
The Movin Maroons, as a team, finished fourth with 83 points. Jaden Ordner was 21st at 19 minutes. Sylus Niland was 22nd at 19:04. Tanner Niemerg was 23rd at 19:15 and Keith Hoelscher was 26th at 19:33.
St. Anthony won the meet with 38 points. Cumberland County was second with 39. Cowden-Herrick-Beecher City was third with 73 and Altamont was fifth with 125.
Camden Bloemer finished fifth for the Bulldogs at 16:35. Oliver Kreke was sixth at 16:56. Isaac Tays was seventh at 16:59 and Julius Ramos was ninth at 17:12.
Cameron Roedl was second for the Pirates at 16 minutes. Colby Roedl was fourth at 16:20. Gavin Whitaker was eighth at 17:08. Brett Matusas was 10th at 17:15 and Damien Chardon was 15th at 18:12.
August Cosart was third for the Bobcats at 16:10. Deacon Sutter was 13th at 17:52. Porter Lilly was 14th at 18:07. Eli Maxedon was 20th at 18:46 and Hayden Sarver was 32nd at 20:15.
Kelton Dunaway was 12th for the Indians at 17:43. Jacob Johnson was 28th with a season-best time of 19:38. Juan Fulk was 33rd with a season-best time of 20:18. Wyatt Wolff was 44th at 21:36 and Lane Spring was 47th at 22:06.
Windsor-Stewardson-Strasburg and North Clay didn’t have enough runners to compete as teams.
Ben Hille finished 18th for the Hatchets at 18:28. William Eldred was 45th at 21:52 and Parker Storms was 51st at 30:40.
Wyatt Pritchard was 37th for the Cardinals at 20:33. Cooper Givens was 39th at 20:41. Josiah Swope was 43rd at 21:25 and Diego Martinez Gomez was 49th at 24:51.
On the girls side, St. Anthony edged Dieterich by one point, 28-29.
Aubrey Denning won the race for the Bulldogs at 18:18. Emeline Wines was second at 20:12. Nancy Ruholl was eighth with a season-best time of 24:14. Nora Niebrugge was 15th at 25:13 and Taylor Denning was 23rd at 28:32.
Lena Goebel was third for the Movin Maroons at 21:09. Violet Iffert was sixth at 23:28. Avery Bohnhoff was 10th at 24:28. Callie Faller was 11th at 24:38 and Allison Boerngen was 17th at 25:31.
Zoe Sarver finished fourth for CHBC at 21:27. Eve Flores was ninth at 24:27. Laney Doty was 14th at 24:56 and Harper Lilly was 24th at 28:58.
Paula Hohn was fifth for Cumberland County with a personal-best time of 21:32. Molly Moran was seventh at 23:33. Cece Chardon was 16th at 25:31 and Vada Holsapple was 26th at 31:59.
Katie Tedrick was 12th for Altamont at 24:47.
Eliza Sparks was 13th for North Clay at 24:53 and Emma Hickman was 19th for WSS with a personal-best time of 25:47.
Below are other cross country results from around the area from Tuesday:
at Mahomet … Effingham finished fifth in the girls race and sixth in the boys at the Apollo Conference Meet at Barber Park in Mahomet.
The Flaming Hearts girls totaled 116 points. Mahomet-Seymour won with 25 points. Mt. Zion was second with 59. Mattoon was third with 87. Taylorville was fourth with 107 and Charleston was sixth with 141.
Baylee Summers finished 12th with a season-best time of 20:16.1 for EHS.
Alaina Miller was 23rd at 21:24.6. Laynee Pankau was 30th at 22:50. Lauren Etheridge was 41st at 24:36 and Ainhoa Gonzalez-Martinez was 46th at 25:30.2.
The Flaming Hearts boys totaled 157 points. Mahomet-Seymour won with 20 points. Taylorville was second with 51. Charleston was third with 86. Mt. Zion was fourth with 105 and Mattoon was fifth with 134.
Alex Gordon finished seventh at 15:26.1 for EHS.
Ino Mapes was 44th at 18:12.6. Gage Emmerich was 55th at 18:55.7. Anthony Bohnhoff was 63rd at 19:41.3 and Mason Overbeck was 64th at 19:52.5.
at Terre Haute … Newton finished third in the girls and boys races at the Little Illini Conference Meet at Laverne Gibson Course in Terre Haute.
The Lady Eagles totaled 54 points. Marshall won with 29 points. Olney (Richland County) was second with 47. Casey-Westfield was fourth with 110 and Robinson was fifth with 111.
Layna Marshall finished fifth at 19:41.46 for Newton.
Heather Bergbower was seventh at 20:31.24. Avery Geier was 10th at 21:01.28. Nora Street was 18th at 22:51.17 and Kimberly Bierman was 20th at 22:52.96.
The Eagles totaled 80 points. Olney (Richland County) won with 31 points. Paris was second with 41. Robinson was fourth with 101. Lawrenceville was fifth with 116. Casey-Westfield was sixth with 156 and Mt. Carmel was seventh with 180.
Hayden Borgic finished seventh for Newton with a personal-best time of 16:37.71.
Tanner Whitaker was 12th at 17:38.19. Holden Barthelemy was 20th with a season-best time of 18:20.48. Johnnie Brant was 23rd at 18:51.94 and Alec Bower was 25th at 18:59.37.