TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Youth is being served in Little Illini Conference cross country circles. It certainly showed itself at last year’s LIC championship meet held at the LaVerne Gibson Course on Oct. 15, 2024. Olney won both the boys and girls championships. While the boys race was never in doubt, the Tigers had to use their better team depth to edge past Marshall in the girls race. Here’s how it went:
Boys Race
A veritable Kiddie Corps prevailed for Olney, in perhaps the youngest show of force in league history. The Tiger lineup consisted of four freshman and one sophomore. One of the yearlings, Quaid Berger, won the championship covering the three-mile layout in a time of 15:26.28, some 48 seconds faster than runnerup sophomore Harrison Hays of Paris, who had a time of 16:14. Then, after Robinson sophomore Wyatt Harrington claimed third, came two more Olney freshman — Judah Dicks and Tristin Butler — to round out the top five.
In fact, only one senior — Jackson Sornberger of Newton — cracked the Top 10, finishing in eighth.
Olney’s other two runners finished 11th and 15th, respectively, giving the Tigers an easy route to the team crown, with a final total of 36 points. Newton took second place with 63 points, followed by Paris with 85. Marshall took fourth place (96 points), with Robinson (107) and Casey-Westfield (133) rounding out the six-team field.
Girls Race
The first two runners to cross the finish line were from Marshall, but Olney pulled the team title out with better finishes down the line. Junior Molly Farrell won a close race in a time of 18:52.35, a little more than 10 seconds ahead of her Marshall teammate, sophomore Madeline Fox, who crossed the line at 19:02.
Olney runners then took five of the next 13 spots, while Marshall claimed just one, as the Tigers came from behind for the win. The girls race wasn’t as young an affair as the boys, yet there were only three senior finishers among the first 15.
The Tigers wound up with 38 points to win the team title, edging past Marshall’s 45 points. Robinson was third (62), followed by Newton (82) and Mt. Carmel (132).
