The St. Peter 5^th and 6^th grade team knew that St. Mary Sycamore would be a challenge going into their second conference meet of the season last Thursday at Leroy Oaks Forest Preserve in St. Charles. Led by 6^th grader Will Klaus who finished 2^nd in the 1.6 mile boys race and 5^th grader Erika Martin who won the girls 1.6 mile race, the 5/6^th Rocket Runners beat the St. Mary Sycamore team by a score of 22-33. David Peterson finished 4^th, beating St. Mary’s 3^rd runner while Megan Cahill placed 2^nd, 15 seconds behind Martin in the girls race.

The 7/8^th grade 2 mile race wasn’t quite as close, with the St. Peter runners beating 2^nd place St. Patrick of St. Charles by a score of 16-66. Once again, perennial conference winner and IESA All State runner Charlie Zimmer won the boys race in a time of 11:34, almost 90 seconds ahead of 2^nd place. 8^th grader Henry Feldhaus had a strong finish placing 3^rd in a personal best time of 13:16. In the girls 2 mile race, Elizabeth Allon and Katy Huber worked together to finish 1^st and 2^nd, both in 13:01. Following Allon and Huber, the St. Peter girls took 3^rd – 9^th place, completely dominating the girls race.

Next week the St. Peter runners travel to Randall Oaks Forest Preserve in West Dundee on Wednesday for another conference challenge and then on to the 33 team Fred Martin Invitational in Arlington Heights on Saturday where they will challenge the field for a trophy at a major invitational.