Highland girls win quad meet at Civic Memorial, capture Freeburg Invitational

In just the third ever cross country race held at Bethalto Sports Complex, the Highland boys and girls cross country teams found success there.

Highland’s girls won their division with relative ease while the Bulldogs boys turned in a solid third place finish on Tuesday afternoon in Bethalto.

“The Bethalto Sports Complex was hosting its third race ever and the new course presented itself as quite the character,” Highland coach Doug Bradley said. “It had an 180 degree hairpin around a bench, a terraced hill of some consequence, lots of concrete, and a long wooden bridge.”

The Lady Bulldogs harriers excelled thanks to four top-10 finishers, as they won the quad meet with 29 first place points over host Civic Memorial, Triad, and Jerseyville.

Triad finished second with 38 points, Civic Memorial was third with 60 points, and Jerseyville finished in fourth place.

Grace Meyer and Julia Loeh dominated the 3-mile course as they place second and third, respectively, with times of 19:36 and 19:31.

“Grace and Julia learned a lot during the race, I think,” Bradley said. “They are a formidable duo when both are healthy and the next step for them is to work together a little better at the front of a race to try to neutralize their opponents.”

Faith Brindley also ran well, as she finished fifth with a time of 20:40. Additionally, Jessica Borror had a great day as she gave the Lady Bulldogs their fourth top-10 finisher, placing sixth in a time of 20:46.

“Jessica Borror had another excellent race as she continues to battle back from injury,” Bradley said. “She’s a three-time state qualifier and as she gets more comfortable out there the prospects for team success increase greatly.”

Madalyn McCall finished 13th (21:31), Paige Schaible finished 16th (22:07), Maddie Dortch finished 26th (23:59), Maggie Von Hatten finished 27th (24:23), Chloe Marti finished 28th (24:46) and Riley Frey rounded out the girls finishers in 38th place (29:57).

“The girls are still missing two important cogs to their machine and are hoping to get them back in the lineup this weekend at the Freeburg Invitational in Smithton Park,” Bradley said.

Highland boys finish a solid 3rd

In the boys division, the Bulldogs took third place with 67 points.

Easton Rosen carried Highland with a first place overall finish and time of 16:17.

“Easton Rosen was the star of the show as he ran away from Triad’s Drake Bleier at the first half mile and never looked back,” Bradley said.

“I had a great start,” Rosen said.

Ethan Smith finished 11th with a time of 16:17 followed by Cole Basden in 14th (17:35) and Josh Loeh in 20th (17:45).

Other key performers for Highland

Sophomores Ethan Smith and Cole Basden posted two big personal records.

“Both of them ran in the 17s for the first time in their career on a 3-mile course,” Bradley said. “Today was the day and now it’s time to be thinking about the 16s.”

“Josh Loeh struggled with some asthma issues during the race but still fought to keep his team in the hunt for a top three finish. Not far behind was sophomore Mason Steinbeck.”

Andrew Snyder placed 28th (19:45), Kole Fisk finished 31st (20:23), Vance Brindley took 32nd place (20:24), Braden Wakeley finished 35th (20:44), Justin Wakeley placed 40th (21:43) and Kaden Loyet finished in 41st place (21:44).

“The puzzle pieces for the boys are starting to fall in place.,” Bradley said. “The quarantines have really messed with our continuity and rhythms but we’re seeing guys starting to show what we’ve believed was there all along.”

Highland girls win Freeburg Invitational

The day was far from a work of art for the Highland cross country teams but there were positives by day’s end Saturday.

Highland’s girls harriers fought off a sluggish performance and managed to slip past MVC rival Macoutah to win the Freeburg Invitational at Smithton Park.

HHS won the race with a first place total of 35 points. Mascoutah was second with 38 points, host Freeburg was third (77 points), Althoff Catholic was fourth (93 points), and Steeleville placed fifth with 139 points.

Sophomore Olivia Heinzmann led the way for the Lady Bulldogs with a first place time of 19:50 and, after being passed late by Eris Nelson of Althoff, Heinzmann regrouped and pulled out her first career race championship.

“Amazingly, as she was running uphill, Liv hit the brakes and swung clear and around the back of Nelson and made a powerful move on Nelson’s right side and ran away from her for a 0:04 victory,” Bradley said. “It was Liv’s first ever race championship and it was a thing of beauty.”

“Today I was feeling confident and determined,” Heinzmann said.

Other key performers for Highland girls

Meyer finished fifth with a time of 20:11 while Loeh took sixth place with a time of 20:16.

Brindley secured ninth place with a time of 20:26 and Borror ran a 21:06 for 14th place to round out the finishers for HHS.

Freshman Tarryn Keeney also achieved a first as she won the JV race, clocking the course in 21:24.

“Freshman Tarryn Keeney took control of the junior varsity race as soon as the pistol fired,” Bradley said. “She led wire-to-wire to finish with the fifth-best time for the Lady Bulldogs on the day.”

Bradley said he felt the girls didn’t quite have their best effort, but that it was enough to prevail.

“It’s easy to get complacent and go through the motions but when Mascoutah came on hard in the final mile the girls fought to hold on to their places and it was just enough to get the victory,” Bradley said.

Highland boys battle, take 4th

Things were decidedly tougher for the Bulldogs boys harriers as Highland finished fourth with 96 points just ahead of fifth place Althoff (115 points) and sixth place Steeleville (131 points).

Mascoutah won the boy division with 28 points, Freeburg finished second with 74 points, and Wesclin placed third with 85 points.

Rosen and Josh Loeh led the Bulldogs, placing 12th and 16th with times of 17:19 and 17:36, respectively.

“My legs and confidence were shot,” Rosen said. “The sharp turns and hills took a toll.”

Loeh’s day was a good confidence booster.

“It was a better day for Josh Loeh,” Bradley said. “He had really been fighting with the third mile in his last few races, but he had the fastest third mile on the whole team today. His 16th place finish is a good foundation for him to start building on as we head to October racing. “

Freshman Dallas Mancinas also ran well as he recorded a personal record of 17:58 to finish 20th overall.

“”He is back from a quarantine and that should be a big boost for the team,” Bradley said.

Mason Steinbeck (23rd, 18:13), Cole Basden (25, 18:24), Ethan Smith (27th, 18:30), and Andrew Snyder (39th, 20:01) comprised the remaining top finishers for the Bulldogs.

Highland gearing up for postseason

Highland, like many other cross teams in southwest Illinois, was thrilled to learn there would be a sectional meet in addition to the regional meet that was originally scheduled to end the season Oct 24.

Sectional meets will be held a week late on Oct. 31.

“This team, and especially the seniors that are leading it, have put so much time and effort into this season. The coronavirus has stayed one step ahead of them stealing opportunity after opportunity for them to have a normal season,” Bradley said. “What the IHSA did has given them a little bit of their normal back and we hope to take full advantage.”

Highland’s cross country teams will resume action at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, with a trip to the Triad Invitational.

This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 9:40 AM.