Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009

Busch twins lead Midgets to title

Kristen and Caitlin finish one-two

EDWARDSVILLE -- Competing for the first time in the 2009 season -- and on one of her least favorite courses -- didn't faze Freeburg sophomore Kristen Busch on Saturday at the Metro-East Lutheran Cross Country Invitational.

Not one bit.

With a look of confidence and running with same effortless style which earned her all-state recognition a year ago, Busch rolled to a 50-second win over twin sister Caitlin Busch to lead the Midgets to an easy win in the girls competition at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Fourth at the Class 1A state cross country meet a year ago, Busch covered the 5-kilometer course in 18 minutes, 57 seconds as she romped to the victory.

"I'm happy with my time. I wanted to break 19 minutes today and I did," Busch said. "But I really don't like this course very well. It's a good course, but too hilly. I like courses which are a little more flat."

Caitlin Busch was second in 19:47, a minute and 10 seconds faster than third place Aleigh Eggeyemer, a senior from Sparta.

Freeburg, which finished with 41 points, also got a fifth-place finish from senior Courtney Heidorn and solid efforts from Paige Stateler (15th) and Kirsten Thouvenot (18th).

Midgets coach Carl Florczyk simply shook his head when asked about the Busch twins.

"They are better than they were last year if that's possible. The amount of work they put in over the summer is amazing. They ran over 250 miles and they're a lot stronger," Florczyk said. "But we're not just the Busch sisters. We have girls like Courtney (Heidorn) and Kirsten (Thouvenot), who were key members last year and have worked very hard, and we have a very good freshman in Paige (Stateler). Of our top eight runners, we've just got one senior.

"We're looking to have a lot of fun the next couple of years. I'm a very lucky coach. These are great kids to be around every day."

Petersburg-Porta was second with 75 points, followed by Sparta (119), Altamont (138) and Columbia (176).

Columbia was led by a sixth-place finish from Taylor Byrd.

In the boys race, Sparta's Wade Reeves covered the 5K course in 17:20 to place second and lead the Bulldogs to the team title.

(St. Louis) Lutheran North's Adam Prahlow took top honors finishing in 17:00.

But the team race belonged to Sparta, which also got a sixth place from Jon Hill and ended with a five-runner total of 50 points, 51 fewer than Freeburg.

Marissa (134), Lutheran North (142) and Columbia (152) completed the top five.

Freeburg's David Renner placed third in 17:26, while Trevor Wood and Drew Spargo, both of Columbia, placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

Gibault's Chris Kuester was seventh in 18:03.