QHS, QND send both boys and girls cross country teams to sectionals

QUINCY — Neither the Quincy High School boys nor the Quincy High School girls had any trouble Saturday morning of qualifying out of the Class 3A regional cross country meet held at Bob Mays Park.

Quincy had fourth-place finishers in each race. The QHS boys finished third as a team behind senior Eric McClelland. He cleared the 3-mile course in 16 minutes, 14.1 seconds to place fourth in the 71-runner field.

All five of the Blue Devils’ scorers finished in the top 30. Junior Thomas Hess finished 23rd, while senior Jude Mintle, freshman Gavin Slee and sophomore Cameron MacDonough came in 28th through 30th for QHS. 

The Blue Devils finished with 114 team points, finishing behind champion O’Fallon and second-place Edwardsville. O’Fallon took the top three places as junior Dylan Ybarra won the individual title in 15:49.8. 

On the girls’ side, junior Olivia Schuering was fourth in 18:58 to lead the Blue Devils to a fourth-place team finish. The QHS girls also placed all five of their scores in the top 30 of the 61-runner field. Sophomore Alexandria Meyers finished 10th, while junior Keeauna Scheufele (22nd), sophomore Amick McClelland (27th) and freshman Nataly Uppinghouse (29th) also factored into QHS’s team score of 89.

Edwardsville won the team title, while O’Fallon freshman Ellie Bush edged teammate Britney Brown by three-tenths of a second for the individual championship.

The QHS teams advance to next Saturday’s Normal Sectional.

In the Class 1A regional at Macomb’s Spring Lake Park, the Quincy Notre Dame boys placed second in the seven-team field behind an 11th-place finish by sophomore Logan Sutton. Classmate Joseph Warning was just two spots back. Sophomore Oliver Moore (19th), senior Tristan Pitts (22nd) and sophomore Nicholas Spears (35th) rounded out QND’s scoring.

West Hancock junior Parker Quinlan finished second overall, while Liberty freshman Lane Obert finished third. Elmwood, which had five of the top eight finishers, captured the team title.

The QND girls team also placed second as all five of their scorers finished within 90 seconds of each other. Junior Abigail Genenbacher led the Raiders with a sixth-place finish. Freshman Meghan Spears finished in 10th for QND, while sophomore Makayla Patton (13th), freshman Aidyn Koch (15th) and sophomore Natalie Farah rounded out QND’s scoring. 

Liberty junior Arianna Neisen was the top local finisher, placing fourth overall. South Fulton senior Meg Simmons won the individual title, while Elmwood captured the team championship.

The QND teams both advanced to next Saturday’s Class 1A sectional race in Elmwood.