Knights Freshman Beau Green Qualifies for IHSA State Cross Country Championship

Knights’ freshman Beau Green (185) races with a CHBC runner in the IHSA Class 1A Sectional cross country meet on November 1. The meet was held on Lake Land College’s cross country course. Beau was the first freshman to cross the finish line in the race. His eleventh place finish at 15:53.8 qualified him for the IHSA State XC Championship on November 8. That meet is held at Detweiler Park in Peoria. Race time for the boys is 10 a.m.

By Sally McCarthy

The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond Knights cross country team ran in the Class 1A IHSA Sectional cross country meet held at Lake Land College on Saturday, November 1. The meet was hosted by Cumberland High School.

ALAH freshman Beau Green was the lone Knight runner in the boy’s race. Beau finished in eleventh place with a time of 15:53.8 and was the first freshman to cross the finish line. That placing allowed him to advance to the IHSA State Cross Country meet on Saturday, November 8.

That meet is held at Detweiler Park in Peoria.

For the girls, the Knights were hoping to be the first ALAH girls to advance as a team to the State meet. But they came up short finishing in ninth place with 230 points. They were ninth out of nineteen teams that scored, which was a great accomplishment since this sectional features some of the best girls cross country teams in the state. The Regional champions, Shelbyville repeated as champions winning the Sectional title with 91 points.

Ruby Burton, senior lead runner for the Knights, led the way once again in her final high school meet finishing twenty-fourth with a time of 19:26.1. She just missed qualifying for the state meet and finished her four year cross country career posting her all time PR of 18:44.6 at last week’s IHSA Regional race. Ruby’s fellow senior and running teammate, Kimberly Krutsinger was thirty-second at the Sectional with a time of 19:49.0. Her best time of her four years of running for the Knights was set at the 2025 Spartan Classic where she ran 18:49.2. Both athletes will be greatly missed next year as they were instrumental in building the ALAH girls’ cross country program. All Knights’ cross country fans wish Ruby and Kimberly the best of luck in their futures!

The other scorers for the Knights were sophomore Sophia Johnson, 65, 21:23.1; freshman Gwen Herring, 69, 21:26.5; and Embrey Reardon, 78, 21:57.9. Sophomore Ella Oye ran 27:10.0 and junior Esmeralda Diaz finished with a time of 30:12.5.

The five underclassmen plus sophomore Keely Simpson will be back next year with lots of experience on several different courses. Hopefully the girls’ team will add some more runners and look to continue the Knights’ streak of three consecutive Lincoln Prairie Conference championships.

For the boys, senior Tristan Keagle will graduate but Beau Green and his freshman teammate Colton Snyder, who was injured for the last part of this season, will be two strong runners to again hopefully recruit some new athletes and be able to run as a team and build the boys’ program back up again.

Good luck at State Beau and congratulations to all the Knights cross country runners for their hard work and success during the 2025 season!!