By placing third out of 21 teams on Saturday, the Gillespie High School girls cross country team advanced to sectionals being held this upcoming Saturday. The top seven teams from regionals advance to sectionals.
Gillespie scored 142 points behind Glen Carbon 53 points and Freeburg 74 points. Behind Gillespie, Litchfield scored 142 points, Columbia 148 points, Belleville 152 points and Roxana 154 points.
The girls again performed well at the meet hosted by Althoff Catholic High School. The girls’ places in the meet are as follows:
- Erika Gill 12th 21:11
- Brynn Baker 14th 21:12
- Mia Brawner 28th 22:49
- Katie Polo 45th 24:14
- Lily Brown 49th 24:58
- Autumn Smith 87th 29:39.
In the boys meet, the conference schools of Litchfield and Carlinville advanced to Sectionals placing 3rd and 5th. Gillespie’s four boy runners performed well in a field of 97 runners. Their place and times are as follows:
- Leo Page, 63rd 20:10
- Levi Hatlee, 68th, 20:38
- Ian Davis 76th 21:41
- Luke Hatlee 82nd, 22:38.
Another major accomplishment from the combined boy and girls team was their academic achievement at Gillespie High School. The grade point average of the 11 member team at the end of the first quarter was 3.9 on a 4.0 scale.