He started the cross country season in quarantine and then finished second twice and third once, but Du Quoin junior Landen Swiney finally got his first win of season at the Sparta Invitational last Thursday.
Moreover, he led the Indians to its first win of the season as a team.
"I was pretty confident going into the meet," Swiney said. "It feels good to get that first win, but I wasn't too worried because I knew it would happen eventually.
"I didn't let it get to me that I wasn't winning meets," he added. "Every time I just thought about what I could do to get better and improve, and there is still a lot I can do. My goal is to get another 30 seconds off my best time before the postseason."
With a time of 16.02 Swiney bested second place finisher and teammate Jonathan Gomes by 1 minute and 14 seconds.
"The boys finally got a win and it was a pretty good win," said Du Quoin Coach Eric Kirkpatrick. "Landen won this meet last year, so I was happy to see him do it again. Gomes finishing second was also good to see."
The Indians easily outdistanced Herrin by 18 points (32-50), West Frankfort by 29 points and Sparta by 51. Du Quoin had finished second in their previous three meets.
Swiney and Gomes, a senior, took the lead from the get-go and never looked back. Sparta junior Lee Craig finished third (17:42) with West Frankfort freshman Jayvion Issacs not far behind in fourth (17:46) and Herrin junior Slayde Huntley fifth (17:52).
"I took the lead after the first half-mile and kind of kept it the whole time," Swiney said. "I ran a better time (15:52) the first time in Sparta with the difference being I was really running on my own this time. The last time I had Issac Teel (15:49) pushing me. Jon was my biggest competition and he came up big."
The Indians nailed down the victory with junior Nathan Smith finishing sixth (17:55) and sophomore Tavion Garrison 10th (18:58).
"Nathan is battling a back injury, so he was further back than normal," Kirkpatrick said. "Tavion is starting to group up a little more."
In addition senior David Gomes crossed the finish line in 13th place (19:03) and freshman Conor Gross 14th with his best time of the season at 19:16.
"The times are closing up a little bit, so it's definitely getting better with the 1-5 split," Kirkpatrick said. "If I can get all of the top five under 19 minutes then we would have a little something."
Senior Reese Tilley also race his best race finishing 16th with a time of 19:55. He bested his showing at the first Sparta Invitational in Week 3 of the season, by 1:20 and eight places.
"We've been talking about Tilley wanting to get up higher, so it was nice to see that time drop," Kirkpatrick said. "Gross picked the same day to have a breakout. He told us before the race he was going to have a good day, so we were happy to see him follow through on that."
Rounding out the Indians runners were junior Hunter Douglas in 22nd place (21:01) and sophomore Waylon Bell, also running his best race with a time of 24:15 to finish in 29th place -- lowering his season time by 1:53 and breaking the 30th place barrier for the first time.
Herrin junior Merrett Simpkins finished seventh (18:05), Herrin senior Lance Mattingly eighth (18:35) and West Frankfort freshman Heyeden Hughes ninth (18:45) to round out the Top 10 finishers.
After running at Carterville Monday afternoon the Indians take nine days off before returning Oct. 7 for the West Frankfort Invitational.
In other cross country news the IHSA has expanded the postseason by adding a sectional. Class 1A (Du Quoin's sectional) will be hosted by Belleville Althoff. Which school hosts the Indians' regional has yet to be determined.
