The Sparta boys cross country team won the Chester Regional held at the Randolph County Lake by 68 points. Their girl counterparts took second behind Freeburg, the top ranked team in the state.
Wade Reeves set the tone for the Bulldogs as he won the boys race with a time of 16:36. Sparta had three runners place in the top five as Jon Hill took third at 16:52 and Wesley Bradshaw claimed fifth at 17:33.
“This is a tough course,” sad Reeves, a junior at Sparta. It feels great to beat my time from last year by 30 seconds. We are a close-knit group, and all of us are good friends. We have been working hard all year and have been moving up in our state rankings. Hopefully we can get top five this year and next year maybe top three.”
The Sparta boys finished with 24 points—68 points lower than the next squad, Pinckneyville, who finished with 92 points.
“It is a lot of fun coaching this group,” said Sparta coach Mark North. “We have 10 to 11 guys who can run together, and it has been a pleasure watching them develop as runners. Today, our number four runner was sick, so our seventh runner stepped up and ran fifth for us. These guys are just a great bunch of kids.”
To round out Sparta’s scoring, Dustin Neff finished sixth overall at 17:41 and Clint Hawkins took ninth at 17:56. Chris Theobald and Adam White took 10th and 11th respectively for the Bulldogs.
“The boys executed the game plan exactly the way we wanted to do,” added North. “We have been consistent all year long, and today they all got off to a good start and also finished well.”
Freeburg took third with 98 points, followed by Marissa-Coulterville (108), and New Athens (134) to claim the final three team spots that advance to the sectionals. Chester took sixth with 147 points, followed by Nashville (155), Gibault (209), Steeleville (232) and Okawville (274).
The second place Panthers were led by AJ Ross (13th 18:16), Jacob Loos (16th 18:24), Zach Hall (18th 18:34), Luke Miller (21st 18:43), and Shay Kellerman (24th 18:50).
Marissa-Coulterville took fourth place at the regional and were led by freshman Chazz Phelps (seventh place 17:42), Joey Martin (15th 18:22), Elijah Burton (25th 18:52), Kevin Galle (30th 19:04) and Clint Runyon (31st 19:05).
The top five individuals who advanced to the sectionals who were not a part of an advancing team were Nashville’s  Keifer Heiman (second place 16:39) and Sam Norton (23rd 18:45), Gibault’s Chris Kuester (fourth 17:31), and Chester’s Brant McMillan (17th 18:27) and Devin Valleroy (22nd 18:43).

On the girls side, as expected, Freeburg and Sparta ran away with the  competition taking first and second respectively. Freeburg finished with 27 points, as all of their top five runners finished in the top 10 including a first and second place finish by Kristen Busch and Caitlin Busch.

The Lady Bulldogs finished with 43 points as senior Aleigh Eggemeyer led the way with a third place finish with a time of 19:38. Melyssa Bradshaw took fourth at 20:29, while Kristina Wilson (10th 21:34), Kortney Stefani (12th 22:17) and Jackie Robinson (14th 22:41) rounded out the team’s scoring. Freshman Alexis Kohrs took 18th for the Lady Bulldogs at 23:17.
“This regional was extremely tough on the girls side,” said North. “You had the top two teams in the state in one regional. But the bottom line is that you have to run, and run well. You have to tip your hat to Freeburg, because they are an excellent team. But our girls ran well also, and I feel good about our chances at sectionals.”
Behind Freeburg and Sparta, Nashville took third with 102 points followed by Pinckneyville (120) and Chester (122) to round out the top five teams that advance to sectionals. Okawville took sixth with 165 points followed by Marissa-Coulterville (185), Gibault (191), and New Athens (217).
The Pinckneyville squad was paced by Emily Miller (15th 22:45), Mo Ramsey (16th 22:51), Paige Brocaille (20th 23:25), Katrina Henson (33rd 24:51) and Sarah Loos (36th 25:04).
The Lady Jackets were led by Laura Liefer (13th 22:25), Taylor Yankey (22nd 23:28), Jillian Yankey (26th 23:28), Emily Reid (29th 23:45) and Hanna Knop (53rd 28:19).
Local individuals who qualified for sectionals included Marissa-Coulterville’s Paige Phelps (24th 23:32) and Joanna Schmidt (30th 23:48).
The Edwardsville Metro-East Lutheran Sectional will take place October 31.
“Edwardsville is a tough course, but the boys really run well up there,” said North. “They are chomping at the bit to compete, and I feel very good about our chances.”