Centerville should stand a little (OK…A LOT) taller this week after hosting one of the most successful and exciting cross country events of the year in our region this past Saturday night! If you missed this event, you missed something really special happening in the CHS Stadium! Our 8,000-capacity stadium was nearly filled with fans for a combined total of 15 races in which 3,400 thousand athletes representing four states competed for their personal best times on our beautiful course under the lights on Saturday night.
Saturday Night Lights (SNL) proved to be a HUGE team showing for Centerville Girls Cross Country as they raced their hearts out in four of the 15 races, capturing 5thplace out of 9 teams in the 9/10 Race, 7th place out of 19 teams in Open Race, 5th place out of 28 teams in the Varsity A Race, and 2nd place out of 24 highly competitive teams in the Championship Race.
Up first for the Elks were the freshman and sophomore runners in the 9/10 Race, who continue to grow as athletes in this program. Centerville was led by freshman Claire Maxwell 22:20 (8th place), followed by freshman Leah Vanbeysterveldt 23:00 (21st), sophomore Kalie Adrian 23:05 (22nd), freshman Alex Jackson 23:36 (29th), and freshman Emma O’Brien 23:43 (31st).
Next up was the Girls Open Race where the upper classmen showed their sure-footing and maturity as runners for CGXC. Finishing first for Centerville in this race was team captain Madison Millhouse 22:26 (25th place), followed by Megan Clements 22:36 (31st), Ashley Engel 22:49 (37th), Krishna Patel 23:08 (53rd), and captain Alex Bielecki 23:12 (59th).
As darkness descended on Centerville, the Varsity A girls took to the course and brought home a fifth place finish with solid races by Megan Knauer 20:57 (24th place), Megan Kafka 21:16 (41st), Kylie Boggs 21:18 (42nd), Anna Bostwick 21:35 (48th), and Jessica Kimbrell 21:44 (57th).
The Championship Race, featuring the top runners representing some of the best teams across the state, got underway right at 9:15pm, with perfect running conditions on a pristine course that had witnessed record-breaking times all afternoon. Centerville Girls were looking once again to reclaim their title from last year, but came up just a few points short of victory, sailing beautifully to a second place finish behind a very strong Woodridge team from outside of Cleveland. Leading these elite runners for Centerville was an outstanding finish by freshman Kerri Walsh with a season best and personal best time of 18:40, finishing 14th overall. Walsh was followed on her heels by Savannah Lowe 18:43 (17th), Rachel Whitehead 19:02 (25th), Keli Walsh 19:08 (30th), Dalia Einstein 19:39 (61st), Sophie Hippenmeyer 20:15 (95th), and Laura Drew 20:28 (109th). While the girls would have liked the coveted first place SNL title, 6 of these 7 runners posted a season best time, 2 of these runners posted a personal best time, and 2 of our runners broke the 19 minute barrier, all clear indicators that this team is building for a STRONG post-season showing!
Congratulations to both the Centerville Boys and the Girls Cross Country teams for a fantastic day of racing! Both teams are looking great heading into October with all of their eyes on the post season championship meets. #hungry4more