By Jack Ankony, executive sports editor 
 
The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams played host to the Hersey Huskies on Sept. 19 for their annual Kram the Course event. With a good showing from Prospect fans, the girls’ team was able to win 18-37. On the boys’ side, the Knights fell 23-38.
In cross country, the finishes of the top five runners from each school is added up and the lowest score wins.
Girls’ cross country coach Pete Wintermute says that the Knights have been trying to run a closer split in recent meets and achieved that against Hersey.
“This is one of those big team meets,” Wintermute said. “We knew today that we needed to come out and run our best race today. The girls stepped up and they did a great job of working together and running the middle part of the race. That was a difference maker.”
Wintermute believes the team could use this meet to build of off for the rest of the season.
“I think they made quite a statement going one through four against a very good Hersey program,” Wintermute said. “But this was one small step in a bunch of big meets we have coming up here.”
 
Girls results:
1 Senior Mikayla Olsen 19:01
2 Freshman Reese Lettow 19:15
3 Senior Kaitlyn Rouse 19:23
4 Junior Julia O’Grady 19:27
8 Sophomore Emily Hubbard 19:38
11 Junior Marissa Valentini 19:49
13 Senior Sydney Kitzmiller 20:00
14 Sophomore Gabriella Piagari 20:08
16 Sophomore Lia Skoufos 20:31
17 Junior Cori Drew 20:35
18 Freshman Annika Erickson 21:16
19 Senior Faith Dircks 22:20
 
Going up against a Hersey team that is ranked top five in the state, the boys’ cross country team was unable to come out victorious. A strong showing from senior Jack Terry and junior Andy Reimann kept the Knights close, but Hersey’s top seven runners were too strong, according to boys’ head coach Mike Stokes.
“It was not our best day… ” Stokes said. “But you [have] got to have everyone on a day, and they did. They had seven really good guys.”
Stokes thinks that Hersey’s success from this meet stemmed from a strong race in Peoria early in the season.
“I think [Hersey] came in with a lot of confidence,” Stokes said. “We were hoping to be a little hotter for them today, but you know they are just really good. They are good and they are young and our seniors [have] got to get better.”
 
Boys results:
2 Senior Jack Terry 15:33
3 Junior Andy Reimann 15:35
11 Senior Nate Cozine 16:10
12 Sophomore Erik Snell 16:29
15 Sophomore Elijah Walter 16:45
16 Senior Jack Hempleman 16:51
17 Senior Noah Helstrom 16:56
18 Senior Casey Daleiden 17:03
21 Junior Kendall Morrow 17:37
22 Senior Patrick Mertes 17:39
24 Senior Chris Chartouni 18:40
26 Senior George Campe 19:06
27 Junior Patrick Heil 19:22
28 Senior Ryan Koury 20:07
31 Senior Drew Kay 22:52