Benton, IL — The Lion’s overall fitness and team depth were on full display at the Benton Invitational in Benton, IL this Saturday. The varsity girls set the tone, with Lane Sambursky taking her second individual title of the season, quickly followed by the pack running of Claire Samples, Liesel Balmforth, Landry Crain, and Rose Balmforth. Following a conservative race plan, the Lady Lions cruised to a comfortable team runner-up finish amid the beautiful weather and fall scenery at Benton Community Park. In the following race, the varsity boys showed off their incredible team depth. Even while resting top runners Alex DeRuntz, Ethan Swartz, and Jack Robertson, and moving scoring runners Mason Webb and Nick Wilhelm to the open race, the lions still placed second out of ten teams, including victories over River-to-River conference rivals Anna-Jonesboro, Benton, Nashville, and West Frankfort. Jake Wilhelm and Nicolas Hyson paced the team with top ten and top twenty finishes respectively, and were followed by PR races from Vincent Lin, Preston Davis, Mitchell Carsrud, Owen Mason, and Ethan Shelby. Preston Davis and Owen Mason had particularly breakout races, beating their lifetime bests by considerable margins, even when accounting for the shortened course. The meet finished with the open (JV) race, with Mason Webb and Nick Wilhelm cruising to a comfortable 1-2 finish, quickly followed by Reece Scott in the bronze-medal position in his return from injury. These top three were backed up by Ashby Stottler, Ivan Stojanovski, Grayson Slack, and Adam Williams, winning the team title with a perfect score of 15 points. Stottler, Slack, and Williams all set massive personal bests even when extrapolating for differences in course length. Full results can be found at: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/285985/info Carterville XC will be begin their postseason campaign this coming Thursday, October 15th, at the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Championships hosted by West Frankfort. We anticipate a great final month of the season, and Go Lions!