On Saturday, September 9th, the boys cross country team competed in the First To The Finish Invitational in Peoria, Illinois. The team finished 19th out of 60 teams and had a total of 543 points. This invitational was one of the largest races the team has run so far this season.

Antioch’s runners finished the race with sophomore Charlie Smith in first, junior Sebastian Scofield in second, junior Eric Hart in third, senior Alexander Besson in fourth, junior Mikey Volkmar in fifth, senior Joe Sculuca in sixth, senior Andrew Johnson in seventh, sophomore Josh Linck in eighth and freshman Owen Lane in ninth. Out of all 500 runners who finished in the race, Smith finished in 11th place with a time of 15:25 seconds. Scofield finished in 126th place with a time of 16:57.1 seconds and Hart finished in 131st place with a time of 16:57.9 seconds.

“It felt like a mosh pit making it hard to run because there were so many people in the race,” Hart said.

Antioch’s 19th place finish impressed many even though the race was more difficult because of the amount of people on such a small path. The overall dustiness of the course also played a factor in the difficulty of the race.

“It was a great race for this time of the season, but there is always room for improvement,” Besson said.

Antioch’s next boys cross country race is tonight at 4:45 p.m. The boys will be running at Fox River Park against rival Lakes Community High School.