Leaders of the packs: QHS boys and girls teams sweep top spots at Tom Oakley Invitational

QUINCY — The Blue Devil brigade was out in full force at Saturday’s Tom Oakley Invitational.

The Quincy High School boys and girls cross country teams blazed a trail through Bob Mays Park to capture the top five positions and team titles in both races.

Quincy’s Eli Poe overcame a misstep with a mile left to win the boys race in 16 minutes, 40.02 seconds.

“I stepped kind of hard at the second mile by accident because I missed my step and I felt it in my knee,” Poe said. “I decided if I’m gonna get injured, I should probably get injured by running fast.”

It turns out the freshman was no worse for wear.

“Everybody goes through something,” Poe said. “You just have to go through it better than everyone else.”

Reed Steiner, Poe’s running partner until near the 2 ¼-mile mark, finished in the runner-up position nine seconds back of Poe.

“It’s really nice to know that we have the fitness to compete anywhere we go, and we both know that God gives us strength to be able to keep going even when we don’t want to,” Steiner said. “We just have to trust Him, but we also know we have to give it our best, and it’s nice to know that we have the ability to do that even in a difficult race.”

Cameron MacDonough (16:58.55), Owen Triplett (17:19.19) and Charles Ray (17:22.77) gave the Blue Devils a perfect 15 points. 

Pleasant Hill’s Lane Hubbard finished sixth. Other area runners in the top 10 were Liberty’s Lane Obert in eighth, Quincy’s Blaine Soltwedel in ninth and Quincy’s Justin Kappner in 10th.

Quincy Notre Dame finished second as a team with 94 points with Liberty in third with 101 points. Burlington finished fourth, Illini West fifth, West Hancock sixth and Hannibal Area Home Educators seventh.

In the girls race, QHS’s Peyton Kuhl pulled away from teammate Amick McClelland in the final mile to win in 19 minutes, 34.57 seconds. McClelland finished in 20:04.4 to secure second place, 1:35 ahead of Abigail MacDonough in third.

Kuhl said the big lead she and McClelland pulled out to in the first mile took some pressure off of them.

“You feel better in securing your position because you’re not afraid that somebody like 2 feet behind you can sprint and get ahead of you,” Kuhl said. “You just feel good to be in a safe spot.”

While Kuhl occasionally glanced back to see how far behind the competition was, McClelland said she almost never looked in the rearview mirror.

“I never really did,” McClelland said. “When I’m in the moment I don’t really think about who’s behind me. I just want to try to keep my eyes on the people in front of me or people I’m next to just so I’m not worrying about what other people are doing and focusing on my own race.”

Kuhl turned on the afterburners and pulled ahead of McClelland with a mile to go.

“Peyton and I really pushed each other right up until the 2-mile mark when we split off, but after that I just kept my eyes on her trying to stick with her and just trying to push until the very end,” McClelland said.

Amelia Knapp and Emily Arens rounded out the top five with times of 21:41.43 and 21:42.87, respectively. Liberty’s Briella Nelson (21:51.45) and Sophia Schell (22:05.52) finished sixth and seventh. Quincy Notre Dame’s Meghan Spears (22:24.66) was the Raiders’ top runner in eighth. Kelsey Freesmeyer (22:36.19) led Pittsfield in ninth, and Quincy’s Addison Baker rounded out the top 10 in 22 minutes, 47.34 seconds.

Liberty’s 58 points earned it second place, and QND was the only other school with enough runners to place as a team.