ALAH XC Repeat Sectional Champs
Back to Back Sectional Champs!!! The ALAH Knights cross country team continued their 2021 season success by winning the I.H.S.A. Class 1A Sectional hosted by Decatur St. Teresa High School. It was a repeat of last year’s Sectional Championship. The Knights scored 75 points to take first over second place St. Joseph Ogden, 87; third Monticello, 144; fourth Decatur St. Teresa, 152; fifth Newton, 160; and sixth Shelbyville, 200. These six teams qualified for the State meet. There were 20 scoring teams in the sectional. Pictured here with the 2021 Sectional Champion plaque from left to right: Lyle Adcock, Logan Beckmier, Jace Green, Jacob Duzan, Jacob Adcock, Jesus Corona and Steven Edwards.
The ALAH Knights Cross Country team traveled to Hickory Point Golf Club in Decatur on Saturday October 30 to run the IHSA 1A Sectional meet hosted by Decatur St Teresa HS. A week of rainy weather not only put a halt to area harvest but also left the club’s course wet and muddy.
Emma Edwards got the first view of the course in the distaff race run at 10:00am. She completed the two 1.5 mile loops in 24:40 to finish 114th out of 151 girls. Her observation was that many areas looked dry but foot impact resulted in a wet sock. Though not the result she had hoped, Emma’s effort was a solid finish to her junior campaign.
The Knight’ boys squad broke camp and assembled in starting box 7 while awaiting the starter’s pistol fire. Competing in a talented and deep field, a total of 9 state ranked teams were among the 30 schools represented at the start. This included the #1 ranked Spartans of St. Joseph- Ogden as well as Ryder James of PBL who owns the state’s fastest time of the year at 14:21.
As expected, the Mizzou bound James broke quickly to the lead and hit the mile mark just under 5 minutes. Not far behind were the Knight’s Logan Beckmier, Isaac Stanford of Flora, and Eli Mojonnier of BHRA. Trailing that group was a pack led by Jace Green, Jacob Adcock, and Lyle Adcock along with the top pair from SJO and St. Teresa.
The groupings held for most of the race with James running away with the win. The huge crowd of spectators were treated to a thrilling race for 2nd. Beckmier, Stanford and Mojonnier jockied for position over the final 100 yards with Beckmier coming from behind to secure 2nd place, out sprinting the state 800 meter champion from BHRA. These 3 runners finished within 1 second of one another.
Running what may have been his best career effort was Jacob Adcock finishing 7th to split SJO’s top pair. Lyle Adcock and Jace Green finish 11th and 16th to outleg the remaining SJO runners. Jacob Duzan provided another excellent effort to stay in the lead pack to finish 45th.
The combined efforts of the Knights totaled 75 points to outdistance the state meet favorites by 12 points. Jesus Corona runs 87th and Steven Edwards goes 112th to complete the ALAH effort. The race included 154 finishers representing approximately 30 schools.
Monticello (144), St. Teresa (152), Newton(160), and Shelbyville (200) were other state qualifying teams. Of local interest, Dylan Howell of Cerro Gordo was an individual state qualifier (14th) as were Josiah Horton (10th) and Jackson Barrett (17th) both of Tuscola.
Next up, the IHSA State Championship at Historic Detwiler Park north of Peoria. The Knight harriers will be among 8-10 squads expected to battle for the top three trophy spots. There will be 30 teams plus 35 individual qualifiers competing.
The boys 1A race goes off at 10am on Saturday November 6. Get on board and come to Peoria to cheer on this talented group of runners as they represent our school and communities at this state’s highest level of competition!
