Comets take BV Invite with a 1-2 punch

WALNUT – According to preview information, the 2009 Bureau Valley Cross Country Invitational held Saturday featured five of the top 12 boys’ and three of the top 10 girls’ teams in the state, according to recent polls.

Sterling Newman supported its No. 1 state ranking by placing three runners in the top 11 as it defeated second-place and current number-three ranked, Carlinville, 76-100. Leading the pack for the Comets were Dylan Reyes and Jake Trancoso, who finished first and second within one second of each other. Hall’s Scott Janusick (16:02) and T.J. Mosbach (16:13) finished third and fifth, respectively.

Derrick Johnson finished sixth to lead Bureau Valley. Cody Taylor (18th), Ryan Johnson (24th) and Trent Johnson (29th) finished in the top 30, and No. 5 runner Jeremy Culver finished 73rd to give the Storm third place over fourth-place Hall.

“We’re happy,” BV coach Dale Donner said of his team’s performance. “If we’re in the top five, I’m fired-up. These are some tremendous teams. You’ve got some of the top teams in the state. Newman’s proven to me that they are maybe the best team in the state. And Carlinville is a real strong team. We’re really pleased that they came up here to run. This is a really strong field. If we can get Nate (DeVenney) healthy, we’re going to be right there with those teams.”

Nate DeVenney, who is currently nursing an injury, sat the meet out.

“We got all four of those guys trophying,” Donner said. “If Nate were running, we’d have five of them trophying. I am very pleased with today. I thought that Jeremy Culver really came into his own. This is only the second race that he has ran. He really stepped it up today.”

Also scoring points in Hall’s fourth-place finish were Austin Pelszynski (49th), Brandon Allen (52nd) and Brett Herrmann (65th).

Princeton (22nd) and St. Bede (25th) also fielded teams in Saturday’s event. Zach Kieffer (96th) was Princeton’s top finisher, and Matthew Bualandri (141st) led the Bruins.

In the girls’ race, No. 4-ranked Eureka out-paced defending champion, No. 8 Elmwood Brimfield 91-114. No. 3 Decatur St. Teresa finished just four points back of Elmwood-Brimfield for third place.