Carbondale, IL — Surging over the grassy hills on the campus of Southern Illinois University, the Carterville Cross-Country teams outdid themselves at this year’s IHSA 2A (#1) Sectional Championships. In the opening 3.05 mile race, the girl’s team qualified for a berth to the IHSA State Championships next weekend on Peoria’s famed Detweiler Park Course with a 4th place team finish. The lady lions proved the pollsters wrong, defeating highly-ranked foes Mt. Zion, Sacred Heart Griffin, Highland, and Rochester on the strength of top-30 finishes by the tough and and dependable senior Lyla Seaman (20th, 19:23), and daring front-runner Lane Sambursky (28th, 19:45). The rest of the squad followed in short order, with strong final miles from sophomore Claire Samples (36th, 19:55) and senior Landry Crain (51st, 20:36), a gutsy effort by senior Liesel Balmforth (76th, 21:38) and an outstanding bounce-back race from sophomore Rose Balmforth (96th, 23:56). The team looks to build on their outstanding performance with their best outing yet in their final race this coming Saturday, as they compete as a team at the state championships for the third straight year, and the fourth time in the last five years. The boy’s race proved even more historic. Against a field arguably fast enough to rival the state championships of many surrounding states despite the hilly terrain, the lions produced their best sectional finish since joining class 2A, and equaled the program’s highest sectional place in any classification since 2014 by finishing 13th. The team was led by a fast start from Alex DeRuntz, who boldly went with the top chase pack and hung on for a top-30 finish (16:23) and an individual qualification for the state meet, the program’s first since 2017. As a sophomore, DeRuntz also equaled the youngest state qualifier in boy’s program history, and is the school’s first male state qualifier of any age in class 2A. Despite Alex’s historic performance, his teammates finished closer to him than any race this season, with junior Nick Wilhelm (46th, 16:44) riding a strong opening mile to his best race of a breakout season, and reliable freshman Ethan Swartz (60th, 16:58) moving up throughout the race to a top-five freshman finish. Junior Jack Robertson returned from injury, giving his absolute all as the team’s fourth finisher (75th, 17:19), and junior Jake Wilhelm stepped up in the final mile as the team’s fifth and final scoring runner (17:25, 81st). Seniors Reece Scott (17:27, 84th) and Mason Webb (17:53, 108th) finished their final high school races with gritty performances despite battling medical issues throughout the season. Both seniors capped off stellar four-year careers, bringing Carterville cross-country to new heights, and will graduate with personal bests that sit at 10th (Webb) and 11th (Scott) on CHS’ all-time performance list. The future also looks bright for the lions, as all five scoring runners return next season, and will be joined in 2027 by SIJHSAA (junior high) state cross-country champion Liam Adams, as well as SIJHSAA all-state runner Luke Webb, and a host of promising junior varsity runners. Congratulations to the boy’s cross-country team for outperforming all 2026 expectations, and we eagerly anticipate an even better campaign next year! Full sectional results can be found at: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/285998/info The girl’s team will be back for one final race at the IHSA State Cross-Country Championships this coming Saturday, November 7th, at Detweiler Park in Peoria, IL. Good luck ladies, and Go Lions!