The Knights Cross Country Team capped off their season on November 2nd at the Sectional meet in Metamora. The team ran strong a week earlier at the Regional meet on October 26th, and although the Knights teams did not advance together, they sent two boys and two girls as individuals. All four runners set personal bests at the Metamora course.
Every year, the State Cross Country Finals are held at Detweiller Park. This park has been the location of the race from 1970 to the present. Even though Richwoods did not send a runner to state this year, they have lots of memories and experiences racing at Detweiller. The course distance is three miles, and it is situated in a big open field. The course is very spacious except for the notorious “Horseshoe turn,” that runners struggle on every year. Due to its size and the angle of the turn, runners tend to get bunched up. Cross Country is a well-known and popular sport in Illinois, and Detweiller has become an icon of past greatness for Knights and runners all over the country. Every year this park hosts a popular race called Detweiller at Dark, which is an awe-inspiring event with tons of runners, that takes place before the start of the season. This year over 2,000 runners participated, including Richwoods team members.
An interesting fact that most don’t know is that the founder of the Detweiller Course actually had his roots at Richwoods. Bob LaCroix coached at Peoria High and Peoria Richwoods for 38 years. He holds the record for dual-meet titles with stats of 485 wins and only 64 losses. The teams he coaches also won 20 conference titles, 22. Regional titles and 5 sectional titles. LaCroix petitioned to get the state course moved to Detweiller and also helped to add a girl’s race. It’s inspiring to think that the most iconic course in Illinois was founded by a Richwoods coach.
Detweiller is home to many runners’ personal bests, because of its flat and straight features. The three-mile course record of all time for the girls is 15:54 by Judy Pendergast in 2015, and for the boys Josh Methner ran a time of 13:49.86. This year Knights runners ran personal records, including Seniors Kaleb Garza and John Paul Tamer. Elliott Hicks and Mitchell Wenger also ran personal bests. Detweiller is a historic course for Illinois and will forever hold memories of the Knights running team.
