Cross country: Rock Falls boys, girls each take third at home invite; Newman boys finish second

ROCK FALLS – In their first cross country meet of the 2022 season, several Sauk Valley area teams got off to fast starts, with three girls teams placing in the top five and four boys teams doing the same at the 14-team Rocket Run, held at Centennial Park in Rock Falls.

The Rockford Christian boys dominated the competition, with a first-place score of 23. Newman came in as the runner-up with 67 points, host Rock Falls came in third with 80, Erie-Prophetstown secured fourth with 81, and Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio rounded out the top five with 96. Eastland-Milledgeville took seventh with 196. The West Carroll, Oregon and Morrison boys also competed Tuesday with incomplete teams.

[ Photos from the 2022 Rocket Run ]

Amboy senior Kyler McNinch was the top local boy at the Rocket Run, running a 16:28 for third place. Rock Falls senior Jose Gomez was next among area kids, placing sixth with a 17:20. Newman junior Lucas Schaab came in seventh with a 17:24, Rock Falls sophomore Anthony Valdivia was eighth at 17:29, Erie-Prophetstown junior Charlie Link nabbed ninth with a 17:47, and Newman junior Lucas Simpson rounded out the top 10 with an 18:00.

“It felt amazing. I’ve been training all summer, and I’ve been looking forward to the first meet for a long time,” McNinch said. “I was happy. I think I was only a few seconds off my PR from last year, which was at state, so I’m looking forward to some good things this year.”

“It was rough, taking a break off over the summer just to train miles, getting back into racing, but it’s definitely an experience,” Gomez said. “It wasn’t very good at the start, I kind of died on the second mile, but I think I started to pick it up on the last mile. And I just tried to go all-out at the end.”

Freshman Connor Knop was the top West Carroll runner, recording an 18:05 for 11th place. Erie-Prophetstown junior Jacob Gibson finished 14th (18:23), Rock Falls sophomore Christian Cid was 15th (18:24), and Amboy sophomore Atticus Horner placed 16th (18:29). Newman senior Ken Boesen was 17th (18:30), and junior teammate Carver Grummert placed 18th (18:48), while Erie-Prophetstown junior Lucas Dreisbach took 19th (18:49). Sophomore Christopher Olisenga paced Oregon with a 20:04 for 30th place, and classmate Aidan Guida was 31st in 20:05. Morrison was led by sophomore Isaiah McDearmon in 41st place (21:02), while Eastland juniors JJ Prowant (45th, 21:46) and Chase Bremmer (46th, 21:47) also placed in the top 50.

On the girls side, Rockford Christian also topped the leaderboard with 51 points. Cambridge took second with 67, Rock Falls was third with 69, Oregon finished fourth with 82, Erie-Prophetstown nabbed fifth with 123, and Newman placed sixth with 133. The Eastland-Milledgeville, West Carroll, Morrison and Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio girls also competed with incomplete teams.

Oregon sophomore Ella Dannhorn was the top local girl, clocking a 20:00 for a third-place finish. Rock Falls secured sixth and seventh as junior Hana Ford crossed the finish line in 21:31 and freshman teammate Kat Scott crossed at 21:36. Rock Falls senior Brooke Howard also medaled for the host Rockets, taking ninth with a time of 22:37.

“It felt great. It’s a lot more competitive still. It just feels better to be back,” Dannhorn said. “[I felt] really good [about my race]. I went out really hard and just tried to stay with those two in the front.”

“I’ve been training all summer, and I think that definitely helped us all, so it felt good,” Howard said. “I was kind of shocked by [the medal finish]. I just went out, I trusted my training, and having my teammates around me also helped, so it felt good.”

Leading Newman in the season-opening meet was senior Claire Crisham, who ran a 22:50 for 11th place. Eastland freshman Leslie Mayne secured 14th with a time of 23:39, and Erie-Prophetstown junior Jillian Norman came in 15th with a 23:42.

Oregon senior Anna Hodson was 19th in 24:19, and Eastland senior Delaney Wilhelms rounded out the top 20 in 24:23. West Carroll senior Olivia Shelly took 22nd (24:33), Morrison freshman Emma Christin finished 23rd (24:54), Newman senior Gianna Widolff was 24th (24:59), and Oregon senior Katelyn Bowers took 25th (25:00).

Sophomore Natalie Pratt led Amboy in 38th place (26:25), just ahead of her freshman teammates Samantha Nauman (40th, 26:45) and Anna Carlson (41st, 26:48).