Boys And Girls Cross Country Begins Season At New Athens
The Nashville Girls Cross Country team won the New Athens Invitational by four points over Okawville. Back Row: Destyn Hausner-Mills, Sabrina Kollbaum, Jaylyn Bower, Kylie Kozuszek, Jadah Heidel, and Brittnie Bartling. Front Row: Micah Arnold, Grace Masschhoff, Havalen Pierce, and Kiley Heidel.
By Brent Huelsmann
The Nashville boys and girls cross country teams got their seasons underway with the New Athens Invitational. The girls team came away with first place overall, while the boys team tied for third place, but lost the tie-breaker to Wesclin.
The Hornettes finished with 70 points, just ahead of second place Okawville who finished with 74 points. New Athens finished third with a score of 99. The top Hornettes runner was Jaylyn Bower who finished fifth overall with a time of 22:19. Two more Hornettes joined Bower in the top ten as Sabrina Kollbaum finished in eighth place, and Grace Maschhoff finished in tenth place. Destyn Hausner-Mills finished 18th for the Hornettes. The fifth runner across the line for the Hornettes was Brittnie Bartling who finished in 29th place overall. Kiley Heidel was right behind Bartling, as Heidel came home in 30th place. Kylie Kozuszek finished in 47th place overall, followed by Micah Arnold in 99th place. Jadah Heidel did not complete the race.
In the boys race, the Hornets finished tied for third, but fell to fourth due to a tiebreaker with Wesclin. Father McGivney took home first place with a score of 51, over fifty points ahead of second place Columbia, who finished with a score of 115.
Both Nashville and Wesclin finished with 137 points, but Wesclin’s sixth runner came in before Nashville’s sixth runner to win the tiebreaker. The top finisher for Nashville was Brandon Schnitker who finished third overall with a time of 17:12. The second runner across the line for the Hornets was Caleb Zgonina who finished in 18th place, followed by teammate Gavin Love in 19th place. Landon Davis finished 38th overall in the race. Evan Anderson was fifth for the Hornets in 59th place. Derek Baugh finished in 126th, Zach Langa in 127, and Gabriel Fieber in 196th place to round out the runners for Nashville.
The Okawville girls placed second in the event led by Abby Riechman who finished as the top overall finisher in the girls race.
The Okawville boys finished seventh as a team and were led by Tyler Roesener in 20th place.
Both the Hornets and Hornettes are back in action, Saturday August 26 with the First to the Finish Kickoff Meet at SIU-Edwardsville.
