Published: October 06, 2008 09:38 am      

Richardson 5th at Peoria Invitational

PEORIA — Margo Richardson finished fifth while Stephanie Modert ran 39th for the Lady Rams on Saturday as Mt. Vernon finished 16th out of 42 teams at the Peoria Invitational.

Richardson, who finished third at the state cross country meet last year, ran the Detweiller Park course in 17 minutes, 27 seconds. She trimmed 17 seconds off her state meet run of 17:44.

“Margo was with the top three girls throughout the race until the last 300,” said Lady Rams coach Connie Harre-Blair. “Her pace was 5:49 per mile.”

Modert, in what Harre-Blair called her “strongest race of the season,” completed the course in 18:42.

“Last year, she did not get to race this course because of a stress fracture,” said Harre-Blair.

Keatyn Kujawa finished 111th in 19:48, while Toni Huff was 139th out of 290 runners in 20:05.

“Toni had her best time of her career,” said Harre-Blair. “She got her fastest mile and ran her second mile harder than she has in previous races. It should be a good confidence builder for her.”

Davianne Kirk ran 144th at 20:12 for Mt. Vernon, while Jenna Wilemon (21:54) was 225th and Jessica Cooper (22:08) finished 232nd.

The meet was comprised of 28 Class 3A teams, 13 Class 2A teams and one Class 1A team. Four Class 3A teams finished ahead of the Lady Rams: East Peoria (fourth), Dixon (fifth), Peoria Notre Dame (sixth) and Metamora (10th).

“This is a great meet to be in with the high level of competition, the number of teams competing and the fact that it is held at the state course,” said Harre-Blair. The girls competed well.”

Harre-Blair noted that Kujawa and Kirk each had their best two-mile times and also had personal records in their races, while freshmen Wilemon and Cooper ran their best miles and experienced a state meet-like level of competition for the first time.

The Lady Rams run at the Harrisburg Invitational on Wednesday and the Centralia Invitational on Saturday.