Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio senior Brock Loftus nearly earned all-state status Saturday as he helped the Clippers to a 22nd-place finish at the IHSA Class 1A State Cross Country Meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
Loftus ran a 15:36 and placed 26th individually, just two seconds away from earning an all-state medal by finishing in the top 25.
Teammates Kyler McNinch was 82nd (16:24) and Ian Eller placed 90th (16:25).
Bureau Valley junior Elijah House finished 156th among the 250 runners with a time of 16:57.93.
In the 1A girl’s race, Princeton junior Lexi Bohms placed 72nd among the 256 finishers, running a 19:15.
Bohms’ finish was the ninth best ever for a Princeton girl at the state meet and her time ranks 14th in school history for female cross country runners.
“At last week’s Oregon Sectional, Lexi picked it up a notch to qualify for state,” Princeton coach Pat Hodge said. “Today, she picked it up even another notch or two to have her best race ever up to this point. She took a good 30 seconds or more off of her previous personal best. It was just very exciting to see her get up into the thick of things and keep it going. The first and second halves of her race were within 15 seconds of each other, which was excellent. I was very proud of her race. She really ended the season with a string of excellent races at regional, sectionial and state. She just kept getting better and better. It was a thrilling way to end the season.”