Ahrens, Petsch notch top-10 runs for MAC

GREENVILLE, Ill. – The Mineral Area men finished third and women were fourth among a mixture of a dozen junior college, NAIA and NCAA Division III cross country programs on Friday.

Brad Ahrens placed fifth in a field of 102 runners, and Riley Petsch earned 10th out of 64 to pace the Cardinals in their respective distance races at the Greenville Invitational.

Heartland (Ill.) secured a sweep of the team and individual victories, featuring 1-2 results from Matt Padilla (25:54) and Ben Huey (26:24) in the men’s 8K with Nora Brady (19:09) and Addyson Clark (19:14) topping the women’s 5K event.

Ahrens (26:46) continued to show as the top MAC contender for a national medal from the national perspective following his runner-up effort last season.

Elijah Myers (27:48) finished 16th on Friday while Sam Knight (28:27), Nathan St. Clair (29:03) and Brayden Mullins (29:10) completed the men’s team score.

They were followed by teammates Levi Wiegand (29:14), Lucas Smith (29:44) and Hunter Tallent (29:59) in sub-30 minute times.

Petsch (20:23) highlighted the Mineral Area women’s contingent, and Abigail Dean (21:12) placed seven spots back in 17th.

Kiera Finn (22:08), Grace Bone (22:09) and Janson King (22:56) were the next three Cardinals to contribute team points.

Mineral Area has two weeks to prepare for the Region 16 meet, hosted this year by State Fair.