The future of cross country certainly looks bright in Monroe County, as evidenced by strong showings at Saturday’s Southern Illinois Jr. High School Athletic Association state meet in DuQuoin. 

The SIJHSAA Class S meet marked the pinnacle moment in the season for Immaculate Conception School seventh grader Kelton Hines. 

“To say that Kelton had a great cross country season would be an understatement,” ICS cross country coach Michael Braun said. “Few cross country runners can say that they won every race that they entered, and Kelton is one of those runners.”

Hines finished his season Saturday with a first place run at the Class S meet. He set a new Class S course record, completing the 1.86-mile course at 9:51.70. 

“His time would have also been fast enough to win the large school division that raced later in the day,” Braun said.

Hines began running cross country as an ICS fifth grader.

“His talent quickly became apparent in his first race when he finished second in the open race, which is for runners from a school that are not yet fast enough to be one of the school’s seven fastest runners that participate with varsity,” Braun said. 

That turned out to be the only open race Hines has run since. Later that season, Hines had the benefit of running with an ICS team that won the SIJHSAA state championship.

“Kelton was the last piece of the puzzle that made that team a state contender,” Braun said.

Now a seventh grader, Braun said Hines is a leader on and off the course and maintains the ICS cross country culture of gratitude.  

“Kelton does his best to find the race director at every event to thank them for their efforts in putting on the race,” the coach said. “Kelton and his family are usually the first to arrive and last to leave any meets Immaculate Conception hosts.”

Hines’ 2025 season started with a win at the ICS Invitational, where he posted the fastest time over two days of racing. The next meet was the Mascoutah Kickoff with nearly 500 runners. Hines won that race after separating himself from a small group of leaders that included a few highly-ranked runners.

Hines then won the Maryville Christian Invitational, which is a two-mile race. Next was a smaller race hosted by St. James at Foley Park near Millstadt. Hines once again ran away with this one.

Hines then went on to place first in the Belleville Diocesan Championship race at Gibault Catholic High School, the DuQuoin Classic, and then the SIJHSAA regional meet held at ICS.

“Kelton won (that) race alone off the front, setting a blistering pace from the start which no one could follow,” Braun said. 

This helped ICS win the regional over Steeleville by a single point.  

At the state meet, it was no secret Hines was the one to beat. 

“Kelton raced patiently and put in a surge when the course exited a wooded section before heading back into the woods,” Braun recapped. “When the race came back out of the woods, Kelton had a lead that would only grow on his way to the finish line.” 

His time just missed the overall course record by two-tenths of a second. Hines finished 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Waylan Buehne of Aviston, an eighth grader.

“Just missing the course overall record leaves Kelton something to go after next year,” Braun said.

Other notable showings in the Class S boys race included ICS sixth grader Johnny Sternau in 45th place, Ss. Peter & Paul School seventh grader Nick Wilson in 46th place, and ICS fifth grader Jax Papenberg in 49th place.

In the Class S girls race, ICS eighth grader Maria Holdener placed seventh with a time of 12:05.70, ICS fifth grader Isla Braun placed 33rd, SPPCS eighth grader Elizabeth Moll placed 39th, and ICS sixth grader Madeline Dickman placed 46th.

The SIJHSAA Class L state meet on Saturday also saw some local success.

The Waterloo Jr. High School boys cross country squad placed second overall, just behind Maryville Christian.

Leading the way for the young Bulldogs were eight graders Mason Wilhelm and Jonny Stuart. Wilhelm placed seventh with a 1.86-mile finish time of 10:46.40, followed by Stuart in eighth place at 10:49.50.

Other top runners for the WJHS boys were eighth grader Carter Stephens at 19th, seventh grader Elijah Boyette in 20th, eighth grader Will Pashia in 25th place, seventh grader Canyon Brewer in 54th and seventh grader Noah Huffman at 67th.

The WJHS girls placed sixth as a team at state even after losing two top runners to injury, led by seventh grader Natalie Rose in 11th place with a time of 11:58.70. WJHS seventh grader Samantha Ebeler placed 22nd at state with a time of 12:26.10.