The Republic-Times Athlete of the Week is Immaculate Conception School cross country runner Kelton Hines. The seventh grader won the recent ICS meet in Columbia on the 3K course with a time of 10:20 – the fastest time over two days of meets that included 27 schools. On Saturday, Hines placed first in the two-mile Mascoutah Kickoff race with a time of 11:03. There were 40 middle schools in attendance at this meet and 495 boys finished the race. Hines was listed at No. 24 on the top middle school boys to watch in the Illinois Running News preseason rankings – the only seventh grader on the list. He is currently up for boys middle school runner of the week in an online vote at illinoisrunningnews.com.