Wooldridge, Todd finish third and fourth at Carlinville Invite
BY AARON OTTIS
SPORTS EDITOR
CARLINVILLE – The Jersey Community High School varsity cross country team had two finishers in the top 10 and three within the top 15 at Loveless Park last Tuesday.

Senior Jeff Wooldridge paced the Panthers, taking third place with his finish of 16:23. Teammate Ryan Todd, who ran alongside Wooldridge for most of the race, finished fourth at 16:27.

Troy Pace, a sophomore, took 13th place overall with a time of 17:41.

“In these first two races, we are just trying to establish a time for three miles,” said boy’s head coach Harold Landon. “We had some goals of what we wanted to meet, and in general, I was happy with how the guys did. Wooldridge and Todd broke 16:30 at the first meet of the season, and Troy was in the 17-minute range. Everyone met their goals, so now we have to bring the times down.”

As a team, the Panthers were third with 67 points. Host Carlinville was first with 43 and Rochester was second with 54.

Other finishers for the boys included Dan Wendle in 32nd at 20:47, Eric Requadt in 38th at 21:56 and Zane Peters in 48th at 23:29.

The Jersey boy’s team trained hard over the summer, and has seen only limited speed work in practice during the school year. If Wooldridge, Todd and Pace’s early times are any indication, the trio will serve as a solid core for Landon to build upon this season.

“I’m not really worried about what places we finished. I just want to see the guys keep moving their times down, and the good places will come along,” Landon said.

On the girl’s side, Coach Larry Foster is working to get his team into shape. Foster said that his runners did not train much over the summer, and have to establish a base.
Foster has only seven runners, with four returning from last season. New additions include freshman Kathleen Wendle, who was the team’s top finisher at Loveless. Wendell placed 14th in 24:22. Katie Boucher was 15th in 24:23. Sara Allen finished in 21st place in 25:53.

Greta Meisner, the lone Jersey female representative at the IHSA Sectional last season, was 34th in 27:14. Meisner trained for most of the summer with the boy’s team, but health issues forced her to the sidelines during the last month.

Other Jersey finishers included Ann Bridgewater, 43rd in 28:08, and Veronica Coyte, 47th in 28:56.

“The majority of the girls didn’t do the work that they should have done over the summer, especially the upper classmen,” Foster said. “As a result, they aren’t in shape. We are working to establish some times.”

Foster said he was impressed with Wendle’s performances at Carlinville and Southwestern, a late addition to the schedule that had both teams racing on Monday.

“She did do some summer work, and it shows,” Foster said. “Her times are respectable right now. We have to get more out of our other girls and close the gap in time between our No. 1 and No. 5 runners. We need to come together as a group, and some of the girls need to get their heads straight.”

Jersey heads to SIU-E for the Edwardsville Fall Classic on Wednesday, and Landon will travel with a small team to the Peoria for the Woodruff Invitational on Saturday.