Busch sisters finish second, fourth at state
PEORIA, ILL. — Freeburg runner Kristen Busch didn’t win the girls Illinois Class 1A state cross country meet Saturday morning at Detweiller Park.
But the sophomore did finish second behind winner Kelly Curran of Bloomington Central Catholic, who defended her state crown by outkicking Busch in the last 200 yards to stop the timer in 17 minutes, 46 seconds. Busch had a time of 17:49.
Tessa Hoefle of Winnebago was third (18:02) and Busch’s twin sister Caitlin finished fourth (18:07).
“I didn’t think she had that much left,” Kristen Busch said of Curran’s finish. “I didn’t expect that to happen. It caught me off-guard. It kind of surprised me how hard she was going.”
Busch led for most of the race around the 3-mile Detweiller course that is flat until the end when the competitors must climb a gradual incline. It was at the bottom of the incline when Curran began her sprint and got past Busch.
Meanwhile, Caitlin Busch, who is Kristen’s older sister by 20 minutes, watched the race unfold as she stayed consistently in the top seven and wound up fourth. In last year’s state meet, Kristen was fourth and Caitlin was seventh.
“There were a lot of people in the front and it eventually separated,” Caitlin Busch said. “I was where I wanted to be. I wanted to get in the top five, possibly the top three. But I’m good with four.”
Despite the 2-4 finish by the Busches, Freeburg wasn’t able to claim a top-three finish and a trophy. The Midgets were fifth with 141 points, behind state champion Winnebago (123), Decatur St. Teresa (127), Elmwood (129) and Eureka (135).
Also running for Freeburg were Olivia Von Bokel (19:47, 55th), Courtney Heidorn (20:07, 73rd), Kirsten Thouvenot (20:13, 78th), Sarah Mueller (21:04, 117th), Paige Stateler (22:02, 142nd).
In the girls Class 2A finals, Ellen Toennies of Mater Dei ended 16th overall (18:30), Ally Smith of Mascoutah (18:36) was 22nd, Aubree Schreder of Waterloo (19:05) was 32nd and teammate Alyssa Edwards (19:18) was 43rd.
In the Class 3A meet, O’Fallon was 19th in the team points (485) as Palatine was the winner (99). O’Fallon’s best finisher was Sarah Johnson (52nd in 18:41).
In the Class 1A boys meet, Freeburg was 20th in the team event (534) and David Renner ended 51st (16:48). Individually, Drew Spargo of Columbia wound up 22nd (15:47) and Chris Kuester of Gibault was 48th (16:23).
In the 2A boys meet, Brett Conway of Triad ended in 61st (16:09) and Landon Goldstein of Highland (16:13) was 69th.
In the 3A boys meet, O’Fallon was 18th in the team standings with 407 points and Edwardsville wound up 26th (544). Neuqua Valley won the team title with 99 points.
O’Fallon’s top runner was Michael Scolarici, who wound up sixth (14:46), while Garrett Sweatt was eighth for Edwardsville (14:49).
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