O’Fallon girls cross country team has strong showing at Southwestern Conference meet

On Saturday, O’Fallon cross country teams competed in a conference championship meet that only a couple months ago most thought would never happen.

The girls team finished second overall in the Southwestern Conference to a strong Edwardsville team. The girls individual champion was O’Fallon’s Peyton Schieppe, who has been running strong all season. She did so again when it mattered most, finishing with a time of 17:53 on a challenging course. Julia Monson also earned first team all-conference by finishing in sixth place overall.

Several girls also earned second team all-conference honors — Ella Peterson (eighth place), Hanna Zura (11th place), Maddy Vorce (12th place), and Sophie Moffett (14th place). Catherine Gould finished in 15th place, earning third team all-conference honors.

Additionally, the O’Fallon girls finished the day by placing second in the junior varsity race. In what has been a unique season, the O’Fallon girls rose to the challenge, and everyone is looking forward to regionals.

OTHS boys perform well at league meet

The O’Fallon boys cross country team competed in the Southwestern Conference championship meet Saturday. While the team is young, they have continued to improve all season and the conference meet was no different.

The team was led by freshman Dylan Ybarra, who placed sixth overall earning first team all-conference. Ybarra was followed by senior Nick Edwards, who finished eighth, earning second team all-conference. Sophomore Ethan Nieroda and freshman Eli Greenstreet finished 11th and 12th, respectively, while also earning second team all-conference.

Peyton Mueller finished 18th and Blake Westrater finished 20th, with both boys earning third team all-Conference honors. The O’Fallon team won the JV race with senior Nico Parker running a strong race and finishing first overall followed by teammates Nick Novy, Aiden Arney, Ryan Garrett and Alex Tillock.

The team looks to be coming together at the right time with regionals later this month.