St. Peter Sends Three 8th Graders To State Meet

It was a morning to remember for three St. Peter 8th graders at Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda. They knew that finishing in the top ten of their IESA Sectional on Saturday would guarantee them a trip to state and all three student-athletes found their place early in the race and never let go.

In the girls two mile race, Megan Cahill ran through the one mile mark in tenth place and held her position to the end, finishing with a time of 13:22. When asked about the race, Cahill replied “the course was much harder than it looked during the course walk, especially the trail back in the woods with it’s ups and downs and uneven terrain”. She powered through the rough spots and will be competing at the state meet for the third time in her St. Peter career.

Will Klaus and Joe Mullaghy continued to work together as they have all season to secure their spot in the top ten of the boys two mile race. With Mullaghy setting the pace at the one mile mark, the boys were holding ninth and tenth place. Then with 200 meters to go and the final turn to the finish coming up, Klaus made another classic move. He not only passed teammate Joe Mullaghy but another competitor as well, finishing in seventh place with a time of 11:56. Mullaghy maintained his ninth place position with a time of 12:01. All three St. Peter runners ran personal best times in their quest for a state qualifying race.

In the team competition, all seven St. Peter girls, including Cahill ran personal best times. For the young and inexperienced team consisting of four 5th graders, one 6th grader, one seventh grader along with veteran Megan Cahill finishing in eighth place was a victory. After running faster than they have before the future looks bright for the St. Peter girls. They are all looking forward to moving up in the standings and making a return to the state meet in 2015 or beyond.

The boys team competition was a close match between second through fourth place. St. Theresa of Palatine won easily with 75 points. Only 13 points separated second place Fox River Grove (107 points) from the St. Peter boys who finished fourth with 120 points. The third place team Raymond St. James grabbed the last qualifying spot with 110 points. Fourth place was heartbreaking but like the girls before them, all seven of the St. Peter boys ran personal best times and gave their best effort. Will Klaus and Joe Mullaghy will be tough shoes to fill in 2015, but with the rest of the team expected to return, the boys team will be hungry for a top three sectional finish and a return to the state meet where they last competed in 2012.

The IESA Class A State Championship Cross Country meet will be held on Saturday, October 18 at Maxwell Park in Normal. All three of St. Peter’s competitors will be in contention for a top 25 medal. After four years of running cross country for St. Peter, this will be the Cahill’s, Klaus’ and Mullaghy’s final meet wearing the signature St. Peter Rocket red uniforms.