Flowers finishes high school career with blazing race at state

PEORIA – Jersey’s Ben Flowers closed his Illinois high school country career in the same strong fashion he showed all season, posting a time of 14:43, a personal best, on the course for eighth place.

Grayslake Central's Jack Aho won the race in a time of 14:25 on the three-mile course; Hinsdale North's Charlie Nodus took second in 14:30.

Jersey cross-country coach Harold Landon said he was pleased with Flowers’ effort.

“The thing about it, he ran his race,” Landon said. “We thought it was really important to come in at about 4:45 for the first 1,600 and he came in at 4:44. He was still only six seconds behind the leader. We thought if was any less faster, he would have problems later in the race.

"He was still right on it, running 9:45 for the two-mile mark. He ran a pretty good 4:57 last mile. He did struggle some the last 50 yards.”

Flowers will compete in one more race to close his high school cross country career in Terre Haute, Ind., running with top runners from other Midwestern states. The meet, sponsored by Nike, will take place on Sunday and is invitational only.

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