Cross Country Knights Win Season Opener

Knights Boys Cross Country Takes First in Big Season Opener!!! The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond boys cross country team opened their season at a new event for them on Saturday, August 28. The Light It Up XC Invitational is hosted by Clinton High School and is held in the evening under the lights. The boys Varsity team won the race with 44 points followed by Decatur St. Teresa with 61 and Normal University High with 68. You can read all the results and the efforts of the girls also elsewhere in the paper in Coach Dorjahn’s article. Pictured here is the boys’ team with their new team “Spirit Stick”. From left to right: Jesus Corona, Connor Edmonds, Jacob Adcock, Logan Beckmier, Jace Green, Lyle Adcock, Jacob Duzan, Coach Lyle Dorjahn, and Caden Binder. The running Knights were scheduled to run in a meet at Shelbyville on Monday, August 30 and will be in the Charleston XC Invitational next Saturday, September 4.

The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond Knights Cross Country team traveled to Clinton Saturday evening for the Light It Up Invitational. This season opener came after cancelation of their traditional season kickoff at Sullivan because of inclement weather.

This event hosted on the campus of Clinton HS is in it’s 2nd year and featured Class 1A powers Decatur St. Teresa, Normal University High, and the ALAH squad. Run under the lights, this meet featured a carnival like atmosphere with hundreds of spectators lining the course cheering on their favorites from 18 schools. In addition, Matt Piesinski, the voice of the IHSA state cross country and track meets, provided his professional commentary throughout the evening.

Running the meets 2nd race, the state’s 2nd ranked Knights got off strong with their lead pack of Logan Beckmier, Jace Green, Lyle Adcock, and Jacob Adcock staying at the head of the field with runners from U-High, St.T, and Maroa Forsyth. Jesus Corona, Jacob Duzan, and Connor Edmonds stayed close in a 2nd pack 10 seconds behind the leaders at 1 mile.

The lead pack began to assert themselves in the 2nd mile with Beckmier trading the lead with the runners from U- High and Green and Adcock’s continuing the chase.

In mile 3 the pair from Normal opened a gap on Beckmier that they carried to the finish in 16:11.28. The Knight’s top 4 dominated the top 10 finishers though with Beckmier(16:27.96) in 3rd, Green (16:36.87) in 4th, Lyle Adcock (16:49.01) in 6th, and Jacob Adcock (16:55.53) in 7th.

All that remained to be seen was if the Knight’s #5 runner could out leg enough U-High Pioneers to secure the win for our locals. Jesus Corona came through to finish 26th in a personal best of 18:16.79 to give our harriers 44 points. St.Teresa (#18 ranked)exhibited excellent pack running to finish 2nd with 61 points and 10th ranked U-High scores 68 to finish 3rd.

In the first race of the evening, the Knights had 7 rookies step to the line in the 1st three miler of their young careers, running the “Open” race. Run as a co-ed event 63 boys started. Newcomer Steven Edwards started strong and finished 13th in 20:00.16. Freshman Caden Binder goes 22nd in 21:26.62 with Sophomore Nathan Cogdill trotting across 38th in 22:52.80.

Four Freshman Fillies made their debut in a Knight uniform competing with 56 other distaff starters. First to the Finish for our ladies was Maddie Kingery (24:17) in 19th. Kayla Johnson (24.17.41) finishes right behind in 20th. Lindsay Rohacs (25:00.76) goes 24th with Kori Klay (25:19.26) across in 27th. These 4 have a bright future helping establish the Lady Knight Cross Country culture.

Junior leader Emma Edwards ran the ladies varsity division finishing 52nd in 24:42.29 in spite of a recurring knee issue.

Next up is a quadranglular event at Shelbyville (8/30) @ 4:30 and a first ever trip to the Charleston Trojan Invite at the EIU course to take on a mostly 2A field @ 9:00am Saturday 9/4. Please consider making the short trip south to cheer on your #2 state ranked Knights!