Cross country boys and girls high school teams have passed the halfway mark of the season and there have been some rather impressive performances.

Waterloo
For Waterloo, the Bulldogs boys and girls are coming off a stretch of recent success.

At the Peoria meet on Sept. 12, Jenna Schwartz broke the school record for three miles with a time of 18 minutes and 27.1 seconds. She finished in 17th place at the race and averaged a 6:09 mile.

In the same event, Whitney Liefer finished in 50th with a time of 18:57. Overall, Liefer is No. 4 all-time on the Waterloo girls list. Ella King finished 81st with a time of 19:22.5. King is now No. 8 on Waterloo’s list. There were 655 runners in that race.

In the boys race, Jake Schwartz led the team with a 59th place finish out of 919 runners. He finished in 16:05.8 and is now No. 8 on Waterloo’s boys all-time list. Adam Robson took 148th with a time of 16:54.

Waterloo’s top-three was rounded out by David Lunk, who finished in 17:05.2.

Jenna Schwartz also had a great finish at the Edwardsville meet on Sept. 19. She placed second out of 169 runners with a time of 19:25. King took seventh and Liefer finished in 24th.

In the boys race, Jake Schwartz finished in eighth place at 16:55.71. Noah Hays placed 63rd and Blake Rusteberg placed 74th.

This past weekend at Freeburg, there were a number of great performances. For the girls, Jenna Schwartz took second, Liefer finished fifth and Libby Price took 23rd. The boys had four runners medal. Jake Schwartz finished in second, Lunk took seventh, Robson finished eighth and Hays ran for 22nd.

The teams will compete at Triad today.

Columbia
For the Eagles, the season is also going well. At the New Athens Invitational on Aug. 25, Kristian Avise-Rouse finished in second place. Also medaling were Josh Thompson, Gavin Phillips, Josh Foster and Jake Noll. Kyanne Williams medaled for the girls.

At the Metro-East Lutheran Invite on Aug. 29, Avise-Rouse, Williams, Phillips and Noll all medaled.

This past Saturday at Freeburg, Avise-Rouse took fifth and Phillips finished in the top 20 of the varsity division. Ryan Groszek finished in the top 20 of the junior varsity division.

The teams compete at Chester on Thursday.

Gibault
The Hawks have a small team but a steady stream of talent.

For the boys, freshman Elgin Scherff is closing in on finishing under 18 minutes in the three-mile races, coach Russ Hart said.

For the girls, Hannah Dengler has been recovering from earlier injuries and now competes as the top runner for the girls along with freshman Nola Baxmeyer.

Hart said he thinks the boys team has a chance to make sectionals this season. Junior Trevor Davis hasn’t been able to train because he is on the soccer team. But he will end up in the team’s top five runners.

The teams compete at New Athens on Oct. 5.

Valmeyer
The Pirates are improving each week but are having a tough time competing against bigger schools. Coach Amber Stewart said every runner had their best times at the Belleville West Invitational on Sept. 12, but the team came in last overall.

For the boys, Jake Krekel is having a great season. His best finish so far was in 18:05, which eclipses his best mark from last year by 30 seconds.

Stewart added that the kids are all running better times at this point in the season compared to last year and are looking for success at regionals.
The teams compete at Southwestern Piasa on Saturday.

Les Coureurs des Bois
Columbia, Dupo, Gibault and Valmeyer will all be competing at the fifth annual “Les Coureurs des Bois” at the grounds of Fort de Chartres on Oct. 13. The race runs through the grounds of the fort, making for a scenic event.

The race will start at 3:45 p.m. with a flag ceremony by costumed members of the Les Coureurs des Bois organization and is hosted by Red Bud High School.