High school cross country squads ran at regionals this past Saturday, with four local teams and several individuals qualifying for the sectional round. 

The Columbia High School girls team placed first overall at the Class 1A Chester Regional. Leading the way for the Eagles were Kaylee Grandt in seventh, Carly Chambers in 13th and Cecilia Muehl in 16th place. 

The three-mile finish time for Grandt was 20:53.84 – nine seconds behind sixth place regional runner Lilly Tucker of New Athens. 

New Athens sophomore Brooke Deterding placed second overall at 19:36.43.

The CHS boys placed fifth to also advance to the Wesclin Sectional taking place this Saturday, led by Hubert Weary’s 13th place finish. His finish time was 17:39.24.

The New Athens boys were led by Cole Dachsteiner in fifth place at 16:29.36, followed by Marley Hall in 12th place at 17:33.70.

Gibault’s Nick Holdener placed 17th at this regional to also qualify for sectionals. 

At the Class 1A Wesclin Regional, Tania Rivas (26th place) and McCulloch Miller (44th place) qualified for sectionals for the Dupo girls, and Keith West (22nd place) qualified for the Dupo boys. 

At the Class 2A Carterville Regional, the Waterloo High School girls squad placed third and the WHS boys placed fifth, both qualifying for this weekend’s sectional at Mattoon.

The WHS girls were led by Calla Espenschied (sixth place), Emily Vogt (eighth place) and Charley Funk (21st place). Espenschied’s regional finish time was 19:10.42.

The WHS boys were led by Luke Smith (second place) and Tyler DeVilder (ninth place). Smith finished the regional with a time of 15:11.08. The winner, Marion’s Gabriel Greer, ran a time of 14:33.55.