DANVILLE — The Vermilion Valley Conference meet was a microcosm of the whole cross country season in the area.
The Hoopeston Area boys team and Oakwood/Salt Fork girls team had been on top for most of the season and they continued on that path Tuesday at Winter Park.
The Cornjerkers took the top four spots in the boys race and was led by senior Owen Garrett, who won the individual title with a time of 17 minutes, 42 seconds.
“I was hoping when they came through 1-4, I was hoping another of my guys can make that a perfect score,” Hoopeston Area coach Erika Seidel said. “But one of our runners was out for an injury and we have been dealing with knee injuries for one of our five, so it has been shaky now.”
“I love the course, especially the trails that me, Eli, Keenon (Anderson) and everyone else does,” Garrett said. “We do better in the woods and that’s the best part. The course was flat instead for some spiral staircases, but it feels very good.”
The performances from the Cornjerkers was almost a reverse from last month’s Vermilion County meet at Hubbard Trail Golf Course. Garrett finished second to Chrisman/Georgetown-Ridge Farm’s Aidan Morgan at that meet, but after a slight battle at the start of Tuesday’s run, Garrett took over.
“I came back on top and at the end of the day, I was the first one across the line,” Garrett said. “He’s a really good kid and I love him as a friend and as a teammate and if I can run against him everyday, I would be a way better runner. Going against him for the first two miles kept my mindset together in passing the line first.
“They were a little bit hungry after that (the county meet),” Seidel said. “Owen and Aiden goes back and forth and that has went back to track season. It is not anything new for them to compete for the No. 1 spot. so they know what to expect from each other.”
For the Cornjerkers, it was the second straight VVC title, which makes it the first time Hoopeston Area has won back to back conference titles since the Cornjerker teams from 1981-83 won.
“Last year, it was the first time we won county champs and VVC in 10 years,” Garrett said. “Myself, Eli (Hasting), Landon (Frech) and Keenon have done well putting the team in certain placements.”
Hasting was second (17:42), Fresch was third (17:54) and Anderson was fourth (17:59). Owen Borders from Iroquois West was fifth (18:06), Watseka’s Hayden Sullivan took sixth (18:10), Morgan was seventh (18:11), CGRF’s Bennett Sands was eighth (18:14), Schlarman’s Marquan Pinkston was ninth (18:14) and CGRF’s Casen Rogers took 10th.
In the girls meet, the Comets were led by junior Callie Richardson, who added to her county title with a time of 18:58 for the conference crown.
“It’s three laps, which was different,” Richardson said about the Winter Park course. “It’s a good course with a little hill. It was a little harder than the course at Hubbard Trail and I liked it.”
Richardson bested CGRF’s Lean Phipps (20:28) by 1:30 and was racing a race by herself.
“Running by myself can be hard,” Richardson said. “The girls in this conference are good runners, and I was trying to get the best time I can before regionals. I love to run the girls in the conference and it is fun.”
Emily Lancaster was sixth (22:08) for OSF, while Taylor Wells was seventh (22:10), Taylor Remole was ninth (22:50) and Amber Betzwiser took 10th (23:06).
“We have definitely been focusing on pack running and that has helped us a lot in getting the championship today,” OSF coach Emily Mills said. “She (Richardson) takes her job seriously and she had goals. We want a state qualification from her, so we are very excited for her.”
Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin’s Natalie Thomason was third (21:22), Armstrong-Potomac’s Kayla Wernigk took fourth (21:48), Schlarman’s Jocelyn Wear took fifth (22:01) and Armstrong-Potomac’s Addy Tholl was eighth (22:36).
After a break of over a week, regional action will start on Oct. 25. OSF, BHRA, Schlarman and Westville will travel to Chrisman.
“Regionals are at Chrisman, which will be a tough course and a little nerve-wracking,” Richardson said. “We hope to have fresh legs and stay excited because we want to make sectionals as a team and to make it at state as a team as well. We love running together and we have had these goals for a while and we feel this is best year to do it.”
“We still have lofty goals, but it will be tight,” Mills said. “I will say that we are in the toughest regional in the state. We have some nationally ranked runners and it will be tough.”
Hoopeston Area will have its regional at Kankakee McNamara.
“I think getting out of regional will not be a problem, but sectional might be different,” Seidel said. “We are projected to go to state by simulation, so we are going to feed into that and keep the momentum going. We have a week and a half off and we need that break especially with how hard we have worked and we are ready to come down for a while.”
“I am not going to concentrate on reaching the finish line first, because there will be runners that are out of stride reach, so I am going to focus more on placement,” Garrett said. “I am happy, but my team matters the most. If it were not for them, we were not be able to go out as a team. We are all a family and have been together since eighth grade and without them and my coaches, I wouldn’t be anywhere.”