St. Peter Second In Conference Cross Country

St. Peter made a great effort all around last Thursday at the Tri County Conference Championship Meet at Leroy Oaks Forest Preserve in St. Charles. The meet was hosted by St. Patrick.

The 5/6th grade team had been edging ever closer to the coveted third place spot and nearly did it on Thursday. With co-ed scoring in place it was basically boys against the girls. The St. Peter girls were never intimidated by this challenge and Thursday was no different. Led by 5th grader Juliana Drew (2nd place all conference) the team kept things tight and in the end were only five points behind St. Patrick who placed 3rd with four boys scoring. Other all conference finishers for the Rockets included 5th graders Caitlin Gallagher (4th) and Grace Caskey (5th) as well as 6th grader Greta Prange (6th).

The St. Peter 7/8th grade team were looking to repeat as conference champions. St. Mary of Sycamore put in a spoiler by racing a talented 5th grader in the 2 mile race. St. Peter was prepared for this strategy but couldn’t quite overcome the tactical move and placed 2nd by eight points in spite of season best efforts by nearly all of their runners. Of course with the Ruetten brothers (of St. Mary) placing 1st and 2nd, it was going to be a huge challenge for the Rocket runners to overcome. All conference for St. Peter were 8th grader Aaron Beck (3rd), 7th graders Ben Robertson (5th) and William Huber (9th) as well as 7th grade girls Kaitlin Zucco (4th) and Mary Tork (5th). The two teams will meet again Saturday at IESA Sectionals.

After a tough meet on tired legs Saturday morning at the 30 team Fred Martin Invitational in Arlington Heights, the team has their sights set on next Saturday’s IESA Sectional. The meet will be held at Westmont High School on October 10. The girls team is every bit as young as last year but looks to improve on their 2014 8th place finish. The boys team faces a tough challenge as they are competing against defending Class 1A IESA State Champions Notre Dame of Clarendon Hills as well as St. Francis LaGrange who placed 7th at last year’s IESA State Meet. Other formidable teams include Harvest Christian of Elgin and Downers Grove St. Mary as well as our own Sycamore St, Mary. The boys are looking forward to the challenge, especially competing again against conference rival Sycamore St. Mary.

Should either the girls or boys team finish in the top three at sectionals and advance to the IESA State Meet, they will travel to Normal on Friday October 16 to compete in Saturday’s final against the 24 best Class 1A cross country teams in the State of Illinois.