Dedication, countless hours of work pays
Lincoln-Way East’s Gardner, Providence’s Bell earn all-state honors
Lincoln-Way East’s Gardner, Providence’s Bell earn all-state honors.
PEORIA — Lincoln-Way East junior Brett Gardner accomplished one of his major missions as a cross country runner Saturday. And now he’ll focus on an even bigger achievement.
Gardner earned all-state honors by placing 14th at Saturday’s Class 3A state meet at Detweiller Park. He finished in 14 minutes, 42.34 seconds, just under 31 seconds behind champion Josh Methner of Hersey.
“I was really excited with how I did,” Gardner said. “All-state has been the goal for the last couple years. Seeing all the hard work result in what I wanted feels great.
“I was able to show that I belong up there with the top guys in the state.”
Gardner moved up past a strong group of runners in the large lead pack.
“I didn’t get out too fast, so I was probably in the back third of the pack,” he said. “I got inside and was able to make a strong move near the end of the first mile, up to probably 30th or so.
“I slowly worked my way up the rest of the way.”
Gardner has lofty goals for next season. “The plan has been to keep improving every year and be fighting for that top spot as a senior,” he said. “I know I may not be the expected winner next year, but I want to have a chance to pull off the upset.”
Providence senior Kyle Bell also kept his eyes on the prize.
“It was (tough),” Bell said of the final 200 yards of the 2A state meet.
Bell achieved a first in program history by placing 19th overall in 15:13.35.
“It feels great to be the first one ever (for Providence),” Bell said of his all-state accomplishment. “I knew I had a chance. I was just focusing on where I was. I had to push myself, and that’s what happened.”
Bell was the lone runner to crack the top 100 for the Celtics, who finished 20th in the 25-team field with 487 points.
Lockport qualified both of its programs in deep 3A fields.
In the boys race, Marc Schelli was 47th to pace the Porters, who had 463 points to finish 24th.
“We had six PRs ranging all the way from 24 seconds to two seconds,” Lockport coach Tom Razo said. “When a kid tells you he had a lifetime best, you can’t complain.”
In the girls race, Kate Wojcikiewicz and Josephine Bober were the leaders for Lockport, which ended up 22nd with 489 points. The Sandburg boys felt collective disappointment after scoring 379 points to finish 16th.
Twin brothers Will Giblin and Ben Giblin were the respective leaders for the Eagles, placing 69th and 79th.
“I wanted to be all-state, which obviously didn’t happen,” Ben Giblin said. “We had high hopes (as a team). The last half (of the race), I just fell apart.”
In the 1A meet, Beecher’s girls had all-staters in Tori Fasano and Hailey Janssen. Fasano and Janssen finished two spots apart in 20th and 22nd.
Argo junior Abby Lopez narrowly missed the same distinction in 3A, placing 27th.