Marion swept the boys and girls team titles at the Benton Cross Country Quads Monday afternoon, but host Benton swept the individual titles.
Marion won the girls team title handily with 25 points, easily outdistancing Herrin, which was second at 66. The Wildcat boys tied for the boys team title with 38 points, but edged Herrin for the outright title with a better sixth-man finish.
Benton was fifth as a team in the girls race and third in the boys race.
Kaitlyn Schutt and Dylan Hartley continued their good early-season running, taking the individual wins in the race.
Schutt ran a 20:21 to top Herrin’s Haley Elders, who ran second at 20:46.
Marion had the next three runners, with Nadi Abo-doulah (22:29), Emily Dickman (22:32) and Mary Kate Markley (22:33) rounding out the Top 5.
“Kaitlyn ran well,” Benton coach Rod Shurtz said. “And Dylan and Justin ran well for the boys. It’s really nice to have three of the better runners in the south running for us, but our focus now is to get our team placing and running better.
“Our teams will only be as good as our three, four, five, six and seven runners.”
Hartley ran a 16:46 to win the boys race, Massey taking second at 17:30. Herrin’s Nathan Lukens was third (18:13), followed by Taylor of Marion (18:25) and Ethan Pullum of Herrin (19:19) rounding out the Top 5.
Chelsea Tabor and Jennifer Adams had Top 20 finishes for the girls, Tabor taking 12th in 25-flat and Adams running 28:35, good for 19th place. Taylor Hathcoat (24, 31:29) and Bailey Wynn (32, 35:02) fisnihed out the team scoring for Benton.
“Tabor is a good worker and she is just going to get better and better,” said Shurtz. “And I was impressed with Bailey Wynn. She knocked over three minutes off her time from Saturday. And Taylor Hathcoat ran her first race for us and finished well. I am proud of her.”
Tyler Thompson just missed a Top 20 finish on the boys side, taking 21st in 21:03. Ethan Richardson (24, 21:26), Nick Price (27, 21:56) and Daniel Krug (47, 25:22) finished out the Benton runners.
“Ethan Richardson has made strides and is getting better and we always like the effort from Nick Price,” Shurtz said.
Benton will run at Murphysboro Wednesday.
