Ryon, Horak lead area runners at Fairfield Invite

FAIRFIELD -- The high school cross-country rankings that were released Tuesday brought different emotions from different individuals at the Fairfield Inviataional meet Thursday at Waterworks Park.

In Class 3A, the Mt. Pleasant girls entered for the first time this season at No. 13 and Abby Ryon was slotted at No. 10.

'We are excited about the rankings,” said Ryon, who finished second in the large school girls race. 'I like that we are getting recognition as a team. We love what we do and we are happy to be racing.”

Getting the recognition may put a target on their back.

'We welcome that, we like the competition,” Ryon said. 'It's not going to matter until the districts and then we have to prove ourselves.”

Pekin's Colten Glosser won the small school race. He is ranked seventh and his team is ranked seventh. Teammate Brady Millikin is ranked 15th and the Pekin girls team is ranked seventh.

'Rankings mean absolutely nothing,” Glosser said. 'We do think that we are ranked too low. We feel we should be a little higher and we will be, but rankings do not matter.”

Pekin had a plan for Thursday's race.

'Try and win but don't push anything because we have a big meet Saturday (in Forest Park, Mo.),” Glosser said. 'I thought we ran real well as a team. That's all we can ask for. Our times will get better, I am sure of that. Times are not that important this early in the year. The one time it is important is at state. That is the race that I have circled.”

Leah Bontrager of Hillcrest made state last year as a freshman and finished 11th Thursday. She was unhappy with how she ran.

'I had way too much left in me. I was sprinting really hard at the end and I knew after I passed the last tree that I didn't use enough during the race. My goal is to medal at more races than I did last year. I haven't got close to my best time from last year.”

Highland coach Allison Stroebel said some of the Huskies had their best times yet this season.

Madison Thomann made state last year for the Huskies and ran her best time so far this season, 22 minutes, 20 seconds to place fifth.

'I got a little bit hot in the trees. I try not to let that bother me. I just keep going and push through it. I have to keep working hard in practice if I want to go to state.”

Washington's Evan Horak was the highest finisher among Southeast Conference schools and teammate Lance Sobaski was second.

'I finished strong,” Horak said. 'I had an Osky kid on my heels at 800 to go but I peeled off from him. I think I got eighth. I think Fairfield beat us as a team, but we will work on that. They were running on their home course, so they had an advantage.”

Ryon had to fight nerves before she ran. 'I have been struggling with performance anxiety before the race but before this race I was able to keep that under control. I feel like that is a win. When you're racing with friends, it is competitive and it is really like that with my teammates. It is a healthy competition within the team here.”

Results were not made available for press time.