Elite performances at St. Teresa Invite
ALAH Cross Country runners, Lyle Adcock, Layton Hall and Jace Green take off at the start of the St. Teresa Invitational meet held Saturday, September 19 at Hickory Point Golf Course in Decatur. Hall would take second in the race with Adcock finishing in tenth and Green would earn fifteenth place in the 3 mile varsity race that saw 75 runners in the field. 
Starting in the first flight of the St. T Invitational cross country race for the ladies were Sarah Rafferty, Emma Edwards and Mackenzie Brown. Unfortunately for the girls they were unable to score as a team but all gave a great effort with Edwards and Brown running their second career best times and Rafferty knocking off 40 seconds of her best time for a new personal record.
On Saturday, September 19, the state’s 6th ranked cross country team from ALAH traveled to Decatur to run the 1st and probably only St. Teresa Invitational.
The St. T administration stepped up and organized this event at beautiful Hickory Point Golf Club in response to the cancellation of many area meets due to restrictions mandated by the IHSA in conjunction with the Governor’s office.
Competing shorthanded again without their number 2, 7 and 8 runners, the Knight’s dug in, showed grit and determination, and produced a plethora of personal best to finish 2nd or 4th depending on the method of scoring. Cross country meets usually score the top 5 runners.
Using this method the Knights finish 2nd behind SJO. Meet management scored 7 flights against runners in each flight. This method placed ALAH 4th just 3 points from 2nd. Only running 6 athletes, the Knights took on a 10 point handicap by not having a 7th runner. These mates offered up a valiant effort indeed!
The morning dawned clear and cool with perfect conditions prevailing for distance running. The top flight toed the starting line at 8:00AM with a temperature in the high 40’s with no wind.
Leading the way again was Layton Hall with his 2nd best time of the year finishing 2nd overall in 15:16.7. Once again, Hall battled for 3 miles with his buddy and nemesis Ryder James. Lyle Adcock stepped up to the number 2 spot running a personal best of 16:38.5 finishing 10th overall. Jace Green offers his best effort of the season with a big PR of 16:56.7 while placing 15th overall. The 4th Knight through the shute was the ever improving Jacob Adcock. He runs an excellent PR of 17:17 while finishing 26th overall. Just behind in 29th was Jacob Duzan.
Jacob also files a huge PR by 25 seconds of 17:40.6. Rounding out the Knight’s scoring was Freshman Jesus Corona with his second best time of his rookie campaign of 18:57 while finishing 51st.
Regardless of the scoring method, SJO, with a full contingent of runners, wins the meet. ALAH, PBL, and Effingham St. Anthony fall in line next in the 12 team field.
The Lady Knights were hamstrung as well in the team race with only 4 girls loading the bus for the trip. But my what an effort they gave. Emma Edwards nails her 2nd best career effort and the 2nd best team effort of 2020 touring the links of Hickory Point in 21:54 to finish 33rd overall. Makenzie Brown offers her 2nd fastest career time of 22:33 to finish 39th. Sarah Rafferty busts a 40 second PR of 22:42 to finish 43rd. Mackenzi Bowles rounds out the ALAH lady harriers also running a personal best of 26:32 while coming off an injury.
The ladies again faced elite competition with the top placing teams coming from Mt.Zion, St.Thomas More, SJO, Clinton, Cumberland, PBL, St. Teresa, BHRA, and St. Anthony.
This Friday night, September 25th at 5:00pm, the ALAH Knights are hosting their annual Pumpkin Patch Run held at The Great Pumpkin Patch southwest of Arthur. They welcome teams from Iroquois West, Sullivan, Okaw Valley, Bement, and Cerro Gordo. This also serves as “Senior Night” for Knights stalwart Layton Hall as well as ladies Mackenzi Bowles and Makenzie Brown. The public is invited to take this opportunity to see these athletes perform as part of one of Illinois’ elite state ranked cross country programs.
