Darren Kinnard
Section618.com
MCLEANSBORO — Benton made it back to back cross country regional championship sweeps for the boys and girls as the Rangers and Rangerettes won the team titles at the Hamilton County 1A Regional Saturday.
The Rangerettes edged previously unbeaten Hamilton County to win the girls team title. Lady Foxes junior Maddie Karcher took home medalist honors with a time of 19:29. Benton’s Hailey Wallace, Mia Wills, and Peyton Tieffel finished 2-3-4 as the Rangerettes put five in the top 14.
Hamilton County, Nashville, West Frankfort and Fairfield also will advance as teams to next week’s Althoff 1A Sectional. Alexis Johnston (Webber), Mackenzie Willis (Carmi-White Co.), Carly Foster (Gallatin Co.), Hailei Yager (NCOE), and Aubrey Pullum (Harrisburg) will also advance as individuals.
Saturday’s regionals had a bit of a different format as the field was divided into flights with multiple races to keep the numbers per race down. The times were then combined for final results.
Due to the number of competitors, there were two girls races and three for the boys.
The Rangers dominated the boys side, led by senior Reece Johnson who earned medalist honors with a time of 15:37. That was 18 seconds ahead of Carmi-White County senior Ty Barbre and 25 seconds ahead of Benton teammate Gavin Genisio. The Rangers wound up with five in the top eight to cruise to the team title.
Nashville, Fairfield, West Frankfort and Hamilton County will also advance as teams to next week’s Althoff 1A Sectional. Barbre, Seth Hamerski (Webber), Tanner Spence (Carmi-White Co.), Will Thompson (NCOE), and Joe Melton (NCOE) will also advance as individuals.