By Michael Newman

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Peoria – It was part experience, part knowing the course, and part winning last year’s state title that put Eureka’s Emma Argo ahead of the rest of the field in Saturday’s 1A Girls race at Detweiller Park.

Argo pulled away from Staunton’s Lydia Roller in the final mile to win her second straight 1A State Cross Country individual title. Her was time was a personal best of 16:59.73. It was the first time that she has run under 17-minutes for a three-mile cross country race.

“I expected to be a pack that would go out fast and be with me,” Argo said. “The back triangle is my favorite part of the course. I love that part. It just gives me a chance to get ahead.”

The race played out to how Argo thought it would. Argo was relaxed as she passed through the mile in 5:36 along with Roller, Amelia McLain of Benton, Julia Wolke of Christian Liberty Academy, Karlie Hey of Sterling Newman, and Fran Hendriksen of St. Thomas More right in the front pack.

Leaving the triangle part of the course was when Argo had opened it up with Roller by her side. The Eureka senior went through two-miles in 11:22 with Roller starting to fall back two seconds behind.

“I wanted to make a move at two-miles,” Roller said.” I tried but Emma was too strong.”

Roller had a huge race finishing second (17:18) ahead of McLain who finished third (17:26).

“Coming to the finish was sweeter than last year,” Argo added. “I was able to soak it all in and enjoy it. Last year, I was caught in the moment. This year I enjoyed it. It was great.”

Katelyn Robbins of Liberty made an amazing run in the final mile moving from tenth to finish fourth (17:29 with Hey and Maya Stovall of Macomb finishing with the same time. Robbins has gone through injuries that have slowed her down. Her finish was definitely a showing of her character and her inner perseverance.

Eureka came into this meet as a team on the rise with some great team races in their regional and sectional meets. The Hornets’ effort culminated with a team state title scoring 84 points. Eureka was led by state meet performances from Argo, Alexi Fogo who finished 16^th, and the 24^th place finish from Tessa Wiegand. Lexi Grober (31^st) and Ellie Knapp (69^th) were the other Eureka finishers.

Rock Falls did not have their best race in last year’s meet as they finished seventh overall. One year later, the Rockets ran their best race of the season finishing second (123 points). It was fitting that Bailee Fortney was the team’s top runner. In last year’s race, Fortney suffered from severe dehydration during the race and finished 190^th. The 2018 race was quite a difference as Fortney ran almost four minutes faster than last year as she ran 17:44 to finish 12^th as an all-state runner.

Rock Falls placed five runners in the first 55 including having a 21 second split from their second through fifth runners with an overall split of 66 seconds. Erin Porter led the pack finishing 35^th followed by Alex Gomez (43^rd), Bryahna Ganther (48^th), and Tayler Lippens (55^th).

Tolono Unity finished a great season finishing third with 130 points placing five runners in the top 57 with a 48 second split on their top five.

Caroline Bachert earned all-state honors finishing 19^th to lead the Rockets. Jordan Harmon was next (29^th) followed by Kylie Decker (45^th), Audrey Hancock (53^rd), and Evelyn Atkins (57^th).