Strobel finishes 29th at state cross country meet; meets time and place goals

All Vandalia junior Ben Strobel wanted to do at this year's Illinois High School Association Class A state cross country meet was to finish with a faster time and a better place than he did as a sophomore.

Check and check.

Strobel finished the 5K race in 15:48 to finish 29th in the field of 208 runners on Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria, besting last season's finish by 49 places and 27 seconds.

"I wasn't as happy as I thought I was going to be," Strobel said. "I was hoping to do better."

He placed 78th as a sophomore, finishing the race in 16:15.

This season's champion was Jon Davis, a sophomore from Oakwood who completed the course in 14:47. Elmwood was the team champion.

The state meet marks the end of Strobel's second season as a cross country runner. This season, he placed 10th at the St. Teresa Sectional after taking third at the Robinson Regional. His times in those races were 15:46 and 15:55, respectively.

He was also named all-South Central Conference by placing second in the SCC Championships, and he said that the season was a success.

"I was happy with my overall season," Strobel said. "I just wish I could have had an even better performance."

At state, he said he wasn't ready for the start or the finish of the race.

The race opened very fast, and Strobel said he will have to alter his training next year in order to be more prepared for that.

"Going out fast didn't help me," Strobel said. "If I had trained for that earlier in the year, I would have been more prepared.

"Even going through the first mile at five minutes, I was still in 40th place," he said. "Next year, I'll have to train to go out fast and hold on."

Throughout the middle mile, he began to move up several places, passing people who were beginning to slow down.

He caught up to the tail end of a group that went up to about 19th place, but he was unable to make up any ground in the last half mile.

"You've got to be ready for the finish," he said. "I'll have to train to finish strong – definitely going uphill."

After a week off of training, Strobel will turn his focus to track, where he will be seeking a return trip to state in the 3,200-meter run.

Last spring, he qualified in the race, but did not place at state, despite running a personal-best time of 9:51.77.

And if all goes well, he hopes that he will be able to improve on his time and place at another state meet this spring.

"I want to qualify in both the mile and two mile," Strobel said. "Hopefully, I can be in contention to finish in the top nine in the two mile."