By Michael Newman

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Congratulations to Dylan Jacobs of Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Illinois as the DyeStat Illinois 2016 Boys Cross Country of the Year.

There were four runners that were all deserving of this honor. It came down to the Foot Locker Nationals race as the deciding factor of this award.

Dylan Jacobs had the best resume out of all the four runners that were considered. After his 3^rd place finish at the IHSA 3A State Meet, the junior continued strong in his racing finishing 2^nd at the NXR Midwest Regional to qualify for the NXN Nationals and then 2 weeks later pulling away in the final 800 meters to win the Foot Locker Midwest Regional championship. Jacobs was leading at the mile in Portland. He was the 3^rd Illinois runner to cross the finish line as he placed 19^th to earn All-American honors. The following week in San Diego, Jacobs went after it leading at the halfway point in the race. He ended up finishing 11^th but earning another All-American honor.

It was close between Jacobs and Danny Kilrea (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange) in this award. Kilrea found his strength finishing 2^nd in the 3A State Meet and then six days later winning the NXR Midwest Regional race just missing the course record by 3 seconds. Two weeks later in Portland, Kilrea was also among the leaders at the mile mark. Kilrea finished 13^th earning All-American honors and finishing 10 seconds ahead of Jacobs. The deciding factor was the Foot Locker race. If Jacobs had finished out of the top 15 in that race, then this honor goes to the Lyons Township junior. The two raced six times this year with Kilrea with a 4-2 edge. The two All-American honors just pushed Jacobs slightly ahead.

Jack Aho (Grayslake Central HS) was also in the running for the award going into the Foot Locker race. He had a great season dominating the 2A State Finals winning ahead of his brother by 15 seconds. He followed that up by finishing 3^rd at the NXR Midwest Regional and then 2^nd behind Jacobs at the Foot Locker Midwest Regionals. He finished 2 seconds ahead of Jacobs in placing 17^th to earn All-American honors at the NXN Nationals. The following week in San Diego, Aho ended his season by finishing 18^th at the Foot Locker Nationals finishing 14 seconds behind Jacobs.

Soren Knudsen (Minooka HS) was the 3A Runner of the Year this fall and also was considered for this award. His 14:02 to win the 3A State race put him 9^th fastest runner ever at the state meet. The hip injury that forced him out of the two regional races did not hurt his chances in consideration for the award. It was what the other 3 runners did in November and December put them ahead of Knudsen.

Like I said at the beginning, it could have gone to any of these four great student/athletes. What it does set up is one heck of a 2017 distance season on the track between these four along with Charlie Kern, Matt Pereira, Vince Zona, and Brian Griffith just for starters.