The Annawan/Wethersfield cross country team participated in last Saturday’s prestigious First to the Finish Invitational in Peoria.
A total of 5,447 runners from 202 teams ascended on Detweiller Park to compete in eight races (6 varsity and two open events). The meet serves as a good way for coaches and runners to gauge where they are in their training at this point of the season.
If Saturday’s race was any indication, A/W senior standout Kennady Anderson should be very pleased with the result. She finished in third place among the 403 runners entered in the Girls Class A race.
Her PR time of 17:33.10 topped her time of 17:45.66 that garnered her a fourth place medal at last year’s race state meet.
Anderson’s time of 17:33.10 also happens to be the fastest time in the history of the girls A/W co-op. Coach Creston Fenn had high praise for Anderson, saying, “Kennady made a gutsy move in the middle of the race to leave her pack and to go after the leader.”
Katie Foltz of Tuscola was the winner in a time of 16:48.10 and Elena Ryback of Glen Carbon (Father McGivney) finished second at 17:29.30.
As a team, the A/W girls placed 31st amongst the 38 teams entered in the Girl’s 1A event. Other A/W runners were Page Sirens (134th) in a time of 21:52.60, Tyra Church (309th) at 26:21.40, Ellie Merrick (339th) 27:15.90 and Makenna Verkruyse (369th) at 28:58.40.
A/W junior Karson Shrum had a good race as well. His time of 16:00.0 was good for 32nd place in the field of 548 runners in the Class A boys race. The top 50 finishers in each race earned medals.
“Karson almost ran a PR in the mile,” said Coach Fenn. “He had a fantastic last mile to almost finish in the top 30 against an elite group of runners.”
Shrum’s effort was the third fastest time in A/W program history.
The A/W boys placed 30th out of 46 teams. Rounding out the scoring for A/W was Noah Feltner (161st – 18:09.90), Logan Davis (228th – 18:57.80), Cash Verstraete (283rd – 19:41.20), Matthew Ponce (404th – 21:34.50), Daylon Hendrix (23:07.30) and Lucas Fehlberg (498th – 24:08.70).
