By Michael Newman

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It came down to 2 athletes for this award just as it did at Detweiller Park in November for the 1A State championship.

Brayden Hamblen (Rock Falls HS) entered the year as the top returnee from the 2015 1A Boys State Meet. His regular season was strong achieving big wins at the First to the Finish Invitational and the Amboy Columbus Day Invitational against some of the top 1A fields of the season. His state series meets were going well until the 1A Oregon Sectional when he finished 2^nd in the race behind Tanner Chada (Hinckley-Big Rock HS). He came back the following week in the 1A State finals when he pulled away in the final mile to run 14:23 for the state championship.

The jump that Wyatt McIntyre (Athens HS) made from his sophomore year to junior year was fantastic. He finished 28^th in the 1A Boys state race in 2015. That spurred him to do some big things this fall. He picked up some big wins running 14:19 on Jacksonville’s 2.85 mile course. On his second time at Detweiller Park, he ran 14:53 to easily win the Patriot Invitational. McIntyre made the 1A Boys State Race pushing the pace for the middle part of the race and had the lead until 800 meters to go. Hamblen passed him to win by 4 seconds.

McIntyre was undefeated this season except for two races where he finished second behind Hamblen at the First to the Finish Invitational and then at state. The Athens junior did have a good post-season finishing 15^th at the NXR Midwest Regional Championship and then defeated Hamblen when he finished 21^st at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional ahead of Hamblen who finished 98^th. It shows what kind of runner we will see in McIntyre his senior year when he will be the top returnee heading into the season. But in 2016, 1A Boys belonged to Brayden Hamblen.

Congratulations to Brayden Hamblen of Rock Falls High School in Rock Falls, Illinois as the DyeStat Illinois 2016 1A Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.