Carterville, IL — The Lions of Carterville began their 2026 season with a dominant performance at their home invite, also known as the Beat the Heat 3-miler. Running on the hillier Cannon Park course for the first time, the lions not only beat the heat, but soundly beat the competition, with team victories for both the boys' and girls' squads. In the girl's race, Lane Sambursky sped to a runaway victory in 19:47, followed by Lyla Seaman, Claire Samples, Landry Crain, Liesel Balmforth, Alissa Ruiz, and Rose Balmforth, who finished 3rd, 6th, 9th, 11th, 12th, and 17th respectively. Masi Harris, competing in her first-ever cross country race, and Mackenzie Reames capped off the dominant performance. Temperatures rose for the boys' race, who rolled to an equally dominant showing with first-place team honors. Alex DeRuntz opened his sophomore season with a first-place finish in 16:14. The lions then proceeded to take 7 of the next 11 places, with Carterville's 2nd - 6th runners separated by a mere 13 seconds. This extraordinary display of pack running continued throughout the race, with one Carterville jersey after another in an excellent top-to-bottom team performance. Full results can be found at: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/279599/info The lions will return to action Saturday, September 5th at the prestigious Memphis Twilight XC Class in Memphis, TN.