St. Peter Girls Place 8th at State, Three Earn All-State Honors

A top-10 finish, three all-state honors and two school records broken made for a successful and memorable day for Cross Country at the IESA (Illinois Elementary School Association) State Championship Cross Country Meet in Normal on Saturday. 

The St. Peter Rocket girls started the day with seven personal bests and the most outstanding performance ever by a St. Peter girls team, good enough for eighth place in the 30-team field.  Led by an all-state 21st place finish by eighth-grade sensation Maria Tavierne in a 2 mile St. Peter record time of 12:19, the Rocket girls reached their goal of placing in the top 10.

Rounding out the St. Peter girls was seventh-grader Elizabeth Allon in 54th place with a time of 12:53, seventh-grader Katy Huber in 82nd with a time of 13:06, eighth-grader Shea Vero in 117th with a time of 13:24, seventh-grader MaryGrace Phelan in 122nd with a time of 13:27, seventh-grader Delaney Shanahan in 185th with a time of 13:54 and fifth-grader Megan Cahill in 219th with a time of 14:24.

Perennial St. Peter frontrunners Jonathon Young and Charlie Zimmer maintained their tradition of running in the lead pack of the boys race. Young shattered his own St. Peter School 2-mile record with an all-state seventh-place finish and a time of 10:55. Zimmer followed close behind in 22nd place and a time of 11:10.

2011 marked the fifth year the St. Peter Rockets have participated in the IESA State Cross Country Championship and the first time Rocket runners have finished all-state.

Rocket Cross Country will finish their season on Oct. 27 at the Tri-County Conference Championship Meet at Randall Oaks Park in West Dundee.