Cross country: Mendota’s Anthony Kelson repeats at Princeton’s Gary Coates Invite

PRINCETON – Looking at the list of competitors for the Gary Coates Invitational, Mendota senior Anthony Kelson wasn’t sure he’d be able to pull off the repeat.

Despite a strong field, Kelson kicked into high gear and pulled away from the pack, finishing the course at Zearing Park in 16:37.2 to win the invite for the second year in a row.

“It’s good,” Kelson said. “It’s exhausting. I’m going to be honest, I thought I was going to be like second or third place. I saw somebody with like a 15-minute time, so I was prepared to just work on my best race. But it worked out.”

Kelson was running in third place early but quickly moved to the front and put distance between himself and his nearest competitors.

“(I started to pull away) when I decided that I wanted to prioritize my current pace over those around me,” Kelson said. “I’ve found in recent races I’ve been starting off a little too fast, so I’d gas out a little bit more and not get as good of a time as I wanted. This time, I wanted to work a little bit more on pacing myself. I figured the people in front are probably going to have a really good pace to match, but they ended up being a little bit slower than I anticipated, which is entirely fine, so I figured I’d set my own pace, watch my own watch and get going.”

Fieldcrest senior Caleb Krischel placed second in 17:13.17 followed by La Salle-Peru senior Griffin Hammers in 17:27.4.

“It means a lot to me because it opens the door for more opportunities and lets me know where I’m at,” Krischel said. “I think I ran very smart. I got out hard and kind of settled. I did have to run alone for the second half of the race, but that was no problem for me.”

Hammers said he was hoping to place second, but third feels good. He led the Cavaliers to the team title with 38 points to top Mercer County (51). Amboy co-op (85) placed third and Mendota (137) was sixth.

“I think I ran pretty good,” Hammers said. “I think I got out too hard the first mile and I settled in too late and then with a mile and a half to go, I feel like I died. Other than that, I feel like I closed pretty well.

“(My time) was alright. Last time I ran 16:55, but I just ran this race a little different.”

The host Tigers had sophomore Tyler VandeVenter placed fifth in 17:34.93 and junior Augustus Swanson take sixth in 17:40.26.

“It feels really good,” VandeVenter said. “I was hoping for top 20. My friend, Augustus, he was running fourth. The last meet at Oregon I came behind him by two seconds. I thought if I stayed with him, I’d do pretty well. He got in front of me, but at the end I was able to pass him.”

L-P’s Adam Kasperski (17:41.83) placed seventh and teammate Anthony Padilla (18:08.67) was 10th, Henry Nichols paced the Clippers by finishing ninth in 18:00.25.

In the girls’ race, Lowpoint-Wasburn/Roanoke-Benson junior Elly Heineke repeated as champion in 19:45.93 with teammate Kyndre Delagrange right behind her in 20:17.07.

Princeton sophomore Ruby Acker was the top area finisher, taking fourth in 21:14.

“It feels great,” Acker said. “It was definitely an improvement from last year, which feels awesome. One of the girls on our team who I usually run with wasn’t here, so I was trying to do it for her. And my junior high cross country coach was here as well, so I was trying to do it for him as well as my family and parents.”

Acker said it was a bit different racing without teammate Payton Frueh, who missed the invite due to a pig show.

“She usually is right with me so we try to push each other throughout the race,” Acker said. “When she’s here, we’re racing each other but also helping each other go. If one of us falls behind, we tell each other, ‘You got it.’ So it’s great having her here.”

Acker said her time was a little slower than she was hoping to run, but with the heat and sun, she was “still happy with it.” The sophomore improved eight places over last year’s 12th.

“I think definitely my teammates’ encouragement, my coach’s encouragement and doing some more mileage in practice and I trained in the offseason more, so I think that helped a lot,” Acker said about her jump in place this season.

Princeton’s Alexandra Waca placed seventh in 22:53.9 to help the Tigresses finish second as a team with 80 points. Mercer County won with 67. Fieldcrest (117) placed fifth, Amboy co-op (139) was seventh and L-P (156) was eighth.

The Knights had two runners in the top 10 with Macy Gochanour (23:05.84) in eighth and Hannah Schumacher (23:12.08) in 10th.

L-P’s top finisher was Gracie Politsch (23:29.71) in 13th.