The Alton boys’ and girls’ cross country teams will not make a trip to Peoria this year.
The Redbirds’ season ended on Oct. 29 after the boys placed 15th with 364 points and the girls finished 17th with 511 points in the Class 3A Edwardsville Sectional at SIUE. The top five teams in sectionals advanced to the state meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria on Saturday.
“It’s a little sad,” Alton senior Evan Rathgeb said.
Even though they’re not going to state, the Alton boys’ and girls’ teams finished with strong seasons. The boys won the Alton Invitational and placed third in the Southwestern Conference meet and the Class 3A Quincy Regional. The girls had fourth-place finishes at the Belleville West and Alton meets, finished sixth in the conference meet and fifth in regionals.
“Both teams did great,” Alton coach Vernon Curvey said. “They peaked at the right time.”
Five seniors — Rathgeb, Arie Macias, Sam Gentelin, Tayton Kuebli and Abbi Day — ran their final cross country race on Saturday. Rathgeb, Macias, Gentelin competed at sectionals for the third time and Kuebli and Day made their second sectional appearances.
“I’m kind of sad about it because it’s my last race ever,” Kuebli said.
Last fall, the Redbirds came up five points short of a sectional berth as they placed seventh in the Edwardsville Regional. Alton had four sectional qualifiers, including Macias and Gentelin.
Last week, AHS finished behind Edwardsville and O’Fallon to earn its first trip to sectionals as a team since 2011.
Curvey said he was disappointed the boys’ team is not going to Peoria. The last time an Alton boys’ cross country team qualified for state as a team was in 1980.
“We were hoping to get the boys through to the next level, but we didn’t quite make it,” he said.
Rathgeb was the Redbirds’ top finisher at sectionals, placing 40th with a time of 17 minutes, 10 seconds. He also was Alton’s No. 1 runner in the Granite City, Edwardsville and Alton meets this season.
Macias was Alton’s top finisher in the Southwestern Conference, Class 3A Quincy Regional and Peoria Invitational.
Junior Kelvin Cummings was the Redbirds’ No. 1 runner in the Madison County and Belleville West meets.
“The top three boys alternated being No. 1 all year,” Curvey said. “Arie was No. 1 four times, Evan was No. 1 for the fourth time (at sectionals) and Kelvin was the No. 1 twice. That’s what you want for a group.”
Freshman Cassius Havis and sophomores Zak Wilson and Ben Lewis round out the team.
Rathgeb said he was pleased with the way his team performed this season.
“It’s great to have a bunch of guys out here who are passionate about running,” he said. “We won our home meet, which was a pretty big deal, came in third in conference and third in regionals. It was huge to have all of the successes this season, even if it didn’t culminate in a trip to the state meet.”
Curvey said Rathgeb, Macias and Gentelin will be missed next year.
“It’s one of the more fun and best groups overall from top to bottom that I’ve been with,” the Alton coach said. “They’re going to be impossible to replace.”
Last year, Kuebli was the lone sectional qualifier for the Alton girls. She said she was thrilled she got to compete in sectionals with the whole team this year.
“It’s better than last year,” Kuebli said. “Last year, I went alone, so I was a little lonely.”
Kuebli, Day, freshmen Jessie Markel and Emma Voumard and sophomores Morgan Rauscher and Kellie Mans made up the Alton girls’ squad. Kuebli said she has high hopes for her team for next year.
“They’re definitely going to go far, especially with how they’ve been doing this year,” the AHS senior said. “They’ve done a lot better than I have, and it’s only their first year. So if they continue training this summer and winter, they’re going to go farther next year.”
A week ago, the Redbirds edged Collinsville by two points in the Class 3A Quincy Regional to qualify for sectionals as a team for the first time since 2013.
“The girls were set to peak at regionals and that worked out,” Curvey said. “The girls are young. We added a few youngsters and the girls will be a lot better next year.”
Markel was the Redbirds’ top finisher at sectionals, finishing 86th with a 22:38. She was the only Alton runner to finish in the top 100.
The freshman was also the top finisher for Alton in the Southwestern Conference and the Belleville West meets. Voumard was the Redbirds’ No. 1 runner in the Class 3A Quincy Regional, Edwardsville Invitational, Peoria Invitational and the Madison County meet.
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