QUINCY, Ill. • As Sydney Neal approached the finish line at the Class 3A cross country sectional at Westview Golf Course on Saturday, she expected to read a time of about 18 minutes 35 seconds on the electronic clock. Maybe 18:30.
When the O'Fallon sophomore saw a time of just over 18 minutes, she couldn't help but be pleased.
"I'm pretty happy," Neal said. "Anything under 18:40 or 18:30 would've been good. That was a hard course."
Neal finished the 3-mile course in a personal-best of 18:07 to win the girls race, which included 158 runners. Moline's Haley Verbeke was second, 14 seconds back.
It was another big step forward for Neal, who, O'Fallon coach Neal James said, was the 18th-best runner on the team last year as a freshman.
"She just keeps getting better every week out," said James, whose team also received a third-place finish from Kaylee Schmitz (18:32), fifth from Samantha Lapp (18:48) and 10th from Tami Cardenas (19:01).
That was plenty to secure the team title for O'Fallon, which posted 32 points in the 21-team field. Next up is the state meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria, which will mark the 11th time in the past 13 seasons O'Fallon has qualified for a state as a team.
"I think our team can get top 10, which is what we're aiming for," Neal said. "I think we can do it. We have a really solid team."
While Neal surprised herself with her time, no one was caught off guard by the results in the boys race. Edwardsville's Garrett Sweatt won in 14:52.
It was Sweatt's ninth victory in 10 races this season. The only event Sweatt didn't win, he finished second to Decatur MacArthur's Michael Clevenger, the reigning Class 2A state champion.
Sweatt, who also won a sectional championship in 2009 and finished second in 2008 and 2010, is turning his attention toward winning state.
"I've got nine out of 10 (victories), and hopefully it will be 10 out of 11 after next week," he said.
O'Fallon teammates Alex Riba (15:00) and Patrick Perrier (15:03) were second and third, helping the Panthers post 31 points and beat 20 other teams.
"I understand that Garrett is an amazing runner and I would have to be really on to beat him, so I was kind of expecting second," Riba said. "I'm very pleased. Patrick pushed me really well, and I appreciate him doing that."
O'Fallon also got top-12 finishes from Jacob Becker (6th, 15:26), Nicholai Sarpy (8, 15:27) and Dorrian Gordon (12, 15:51). The Panthers will be headed to state as a team for the ninth consecutive season and looking to improve on last year's program-best fifth-place showing.
"Almost a year ago, these guys said they wanted to win conference, regionals, sectionals and get a trophy at state (by finishing in the top three)," O'Fallon coach Jon Burnett said. "We've got three of those down.
"We've got one to go."
O'Fallon will have company at state. Edwardsville qualified as a team by placing third with 80 points. The Tigers' Chad Maxwell was 10th in 15:44.
On the girls side, Edwardsville's Allie Sweatt was fourth in 18:40 and will be among those headed to state. She finished 17 seconds ahead of Collinsville's state-bound Jackie Mink, who placed seventh.
"This course is hard, and to get fourth here is just incredible, because I didn't even make it to state last year," Allie Sweatt said.
