JOLIET – Official score was not kept Monday afternoon when Joliet Central visited Joliet West for a boys and girls cross country meet. The day was about the Joliet running community and getting as many people as possible to participate in some laps around the West campus.

First up was the high school girls, then the high school boys, both running three 1-mile laps. Then, local grade schools Troy, Gompers and St. Raymond’s took their turns with the 7th and 8th graders running two laps and the fifth and sixth-graders running one.

Joliet Central’s Madison King won the girls race convincingly, taking the lead spot early and never relinquishing it. Joliet West’s Ganellisa Oceguera took second. For Central, the next four finishers were Nereida Jiminez, Jessenia Chavez, Diana Mascote and Julissa Marin-Garibay. After Oceguera for West were Asia Kocheva and Kendall Santarelli.

King, just a sophomore, was happy with how she ran.

“I feel tired right now, but I felt good when I was running,” King said after the race. “Our first meet was last Saturday at Andrew, and I think we did pretty good. Personally, I didn’t get a PR [personal record] at Andrew, but I was able to get one today.

“I just went out there and ran as hard as I could. I was able to get in the lead right away, which is something that I like to do. This was a pretty neat meet, but I didn’t like just doing the loops. We were in the sun the whole time. There was no shade to run through. But I hope to keep getting personal best throughout the season and get my time down into the 18s.”

Joliet West’s Julian Esquivel won the boys race, taking over the Tigers’ top spot as their normal top runner Marcellus Mines was not in action Monday. Esquivel paced a top five for West that also included Alejandro Viera, Casey Koerner, Elijah Jones and Joey Grasser.

For Esquivel, a junior, the race was a bit of redemption.

“When I ran here my freshman year, I ran the wrong way,” he said. “I took a wrong turn. Then, last year, we didn’t have it because of weather, so to come out and win it this year is an honor. It was great to win, not just for myself but for my team.

“My goal today was to pace my teammates, but around mile 2, I felt really good so I wanted to see what I had left and I ran a decent time. It was nice to see us do well without Marcellus. We love to have him with us, but it’s nice to know we can do well if he’s not there, too. And I went the right way this year.”

West coach Adam Conard liked the way his team performed.

“I was pleased with the way we ran,” he said. “We wanted to run as a pack today, which we did for the first mile. Then our first two got a little antsy and started chasing the lead. But that pushed the 3, 4 and 5 guys to have better times and meet or exceed their PRs. We got better as a team today, and that’s the most important thing.”

West girls coach Renae Batsch-Haaker also liked what she saw out of her team.

“We did well,” Batsch-Haaker said. “For most of our girls this was their first race of the season. We were in an invitational at Yorkville over the weekend, but we were limited to nine girls. We have a young team with a lot of freshmen, so it was good to see them on the course and get a look at what they can do and how they react in a real race.

“It was nice to have this meet. We didn’t have it last year because of the weather, but to have everyone from Joliet cross country out here, including the middle schools, is great. It’s great for the young kids to see the high schoolers run, then to have the young kids run with the high schoolers cheering for them. It’s a whole community out here.”

Central coach Neal Brockett also was happy with his team’s showing.

“Madison King set a new PR by about 30 seconds,” he said. “She got off to a fast start in that first mile and was very aggressive. Considering we ran in an invitational two days ago, we ran well. Now we get ready for the Plainfield Central Invitational this weekend.”