By Michael Newman

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The 3A Boys race at November’s IHSA State Meet was a great one. It was one of the fastest races especially for the top 5 runners to finish. This was perhaps one of the most difficult decisions of any of the DyeStat Illinois Cross Country Awards. When deciding the classification awards for Runner of the Year, I put more emphasis on the results that happened during the regular IHSA season. When looking at the overall Runner of the Year, I looked at the total picture. We will get to that eventually. The 2016 3A scene was one of the most competitive that I can remember.

None of the five runners that were considered went undefeated during the IHSA season. One of the closest to that mark was Brian Griffith (Lake Zurich HS). The senior had a statement race in winning the Richard Spring Invitational over a state quality field. He also won the North Suburban Conference title along with 3A Regional and 3A Sectional title. Griffith did finish 2^nd in two races finishing only two tenths of a second behind York’s Charlie Kern at the Palatine Invitational and then a tenth of a second behind teammate Matt Pereira. Griffith ran 14:14 to finish 5^th in the 3A State finals.

Charlie Kern (York HS, Elmhurst) ran the fifth ever fastest time for a junior (14:12) when he finished 4^th in the 3A State Race. He did have an up and down season but did pick up wins at the Palatine Invitational and the 3A Lake Park Regional.

Dylan Jacobs (Sandburg HS, Orland Park) started out his season strong running 14:19 in September to win the Lions Pride Invitational over a field that included Lyons Township’s Danny Kilrea and Vince Zona. He had a mid-season “slump” finishing 2^nd at the Richard Spring Invitational and then 6^th at the Peoria Invitational at the beginning of October. He came on strong at the end of the year running 14:18 to in the Sandburg Regional and 14:25 to win the Marist Sectional. Jacobs ran 14:10 to finish 3^rd in the State Meet.

Danny Kilrea (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange) saved his best for the end of the year. He won the Culver IN Invitational in September and then the tough WSC-Silver Conference Meet in October. His 14:08 that finished second in the 3A State Race is the second fastest time ever for a junior trailing only Craig Virgin’s 13:59 that he ran in 1971.

Soren Knudsen (Minooka HS) started his season finishing 2^nd against strong fields at the Hornet-Red Devil Invitational and the First to the Finish Invitational. He was untouchable after that winning all his races including the Naperville Twilight Invitational on his way to the 3A State championship.

Looking at the races during the regular season, it came down to Jacobs and Knudsen. The Sandburg junior ran some great races at the end of the year in the state series. It was Knudsen that had the edge. He won the Edwardsville Sectional but injured his hip in the process. He did not tell anyone until the day before the state meet. He gutted through that race moving away from the pack with a kilometer to go on his way to running 14:02 making him the 9^th fastest runner ever at the IHSA State Meet.

Congratulations to Soren Knudsen of Minooka HS in Minooka, Illinois as the DyeStat Illinois 2016 3A Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.