St. Peter Girls Finish Third At Royal/Cadet Invitational

The 5/6th girls from St. Peter finally got the opportunity to compete in an all girls race and they made the most of it. Placing third in the 1.5 mile race with 113 points behind powerhouses Rotolo of Batavia and Wredling of St. Charles, the young team showed the Fox Valley that they are a group to be taken seriously. Not to be intimidated, the fledgling team from St. Peter challenged the field right from the starting gun. Halfway into the race fifth grader Caitlin Gallagher was running in the top ten with fifth grader Juliana Drew in close pursuit. The two team leaders and classmates hung on to finish in 23rd and 24th place with Drew edging out her teammate by less than one second. The St. Peter girls rounded out their scoring with fifth grader Grace Caskey, sixth grader Greta Prange and fifth grader Nora Brady. It was a close finish for third as All Saints Academy finished only one point behind the St. Peter Rockets with 114 points.

Eighth grader Aaron Beck led the 7/8th grade boys team with a personal best time of 13:14 in 35th place. Seventh grader William Huber also had the best two mile race in his young career with a time of 13:33 in 48th place. The St. Peter boys greatly improved over the first two meets of the season, finally beating conference rivals St. Patrick by finishing in fifth place with 162 points to St. Patrick’s sixth place finish with 172 points.

The St. Peter team competes next at the Troy Invitational at Troy Crossroads Elementary School in Shorewood, IL. The Troy Invitational is one of the largest middle school cross country meets in the United States boasting over 50 teams and over 2500 competitors. The 7/8th grade boys will get to test their new confidence against some of the best teams in the state. The girls team will combine their 5-8th graders, giving them the opportunity to race together as a team for the first time this season and gaining valuable experience in a hostile racing environment against over 400 competitors.

Next week the Rockets wrap up their busy regular season conference schedule travelling to Hampshire on Monday and Sycamore on Wednesday.