By Michael Newman

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Four things that we found out from Saturday’s 1A sectionals:

1 – Tolono Unity looks to be the Girls team to beat in Saturday’s first race at the state meet. The Rockets had a commanding win over a good St. Joseph-Ogden team. Eureka does have the runners that could come away from the state title.

2 – Emma Argo of Eureka has gone undefeated against 1A runners heading into the state meet including a good sectional win. Lydia Roller of Staunton and Amelia McLain of Benton have been running hot as of late and could stand in the way for Argo’s back to back state titles.

3 – Clifton Central and Monticello face each other for the third time this season next week in Peoria with Clifton Central coming away with wins in both. Both looked good in their sectional wins. Elmwood-Brimfield is ready to defend their state title coming on strong at the right time once again.

4 – Garrett Dixon has been the 1A runner to watch this fall. Great races in sectional wins by Cree Stumpf of Roxana and Christopher Collet of Seneca show that this race Saturday morning could be closer than we think.

More highlights from the sectional meets can be found below.

Decatur St. Teresa Sectional – Tolono Unity looked primed to defend their 1A Girls state title with a convincing win in this sectional. The Rockets scored 47 points to dominate this race with five runners in the top 17.  Jordan Harmon and Caroline Bachert finished within six seconds of each other placing fifth and sixth. Taylor Joop (12^th), Evelyn Adkins (14^th), and Kylie Decker (17^th) followed as the team had a 46 second split in their scorers.

St. Joseph-Ogden, led by Cassidy Bagby and her seventh-place finish, scored 105 points to finish second. Monticello (114 points), Urbana University (164 points), and Teutopolis (172 points) were the other team state qualifiers.

Lydia Roller of Staunton looked extremely strong in her race win in this sectional over a top-flight field. Roller’s time of 17:23 was 33 seconds ahead of Fran Hendrickson of St. Thomas More (17:56) with Shelbyville’s Ailey Mitchell finishing third (18:03).

Garrett Dixon’s individual win helped Monticello win the sectional title with 62 points. Dixon controlled the race running 15:15 and winning by 10 seconds over Robinson’s Negus Bogard (15:25) and St. Teresa’s Jackson Stewart (15:31).

The Sages placed five runners in the top 23 with Luke Sokolowski (10^th), Morgan Dixon (17^th), and Josh Baysore (22^nd) following Dixon. The split on the group was 68 seconds. Their split from two to five was 28 seconds.

Other team state qualifiers from this sectional included Robinson (97 points), Urbana University (110 points), Marshall (179 points), and Toledo Cumberland (192 points). St. Joseph-Ogden finished sixth (197 points) missing qualification for state by five points.

Elmwood Sectional – Defending 1A State Champion Elmwood looks to be ready for another run at a state championship. The Trojans’ pack looked strong as they placed five runners in the top 21 to win the sectional title with 74 points. Luke Hoffmann led his team with a seventh-place finish with Jacob Brown (13^th), Griff Inskeep (17^th), Alex Feller (20^th), and Thomas Harmon (21^st). The split on the scorers was only 26 seconds.

Stanford Olympia (99 points), El Paso-Gridley (127 points), Eureka (131 points), and Athens (132 points) are the other team qualifiers.

Tremont’s Leland Sumer won a close race to win the sectional title. The junior ran 15:27 to win by two seconds ahead of Hamilton’s Miles Sheppard who is only a freshman.

If there is one team that could challenge Tolono Unity next Saturday, it could be Eureka. The Hornets placed five runners in the top 25, led by a 1-3 finish from Emma Argo and Alexi Fogo, to win the Girls team title with 54 points. Argo is ready to defend her 1A individual championship running 17:27 winning by 23 seconds ahead of Liberty’s Katelyn Robbins of Liberty. Fogo ran 18:04 to finish third.

Pleasant Plains were led by Caroline Jachino’s sixth-place finish. Stanford Olympia (112 points), El Paso-Gridley (117 points), and Williamsville (134 points) were the other team qualifiers. Knoxville finished sixth (141 points) and missed qualifying by seven points.

Benton Sectional – If there is one runner to keep an eye on at next week’s state meet, it could be Benton’s Amelia McClain. The junior ran 17:14 on the 2.92-mile course to win by over 50 seconds in capturing the Girls Sectional title. DuQuoin’s Gabrielle Alongi (18:06) and Breanna Chandler of Freeburg (18:22) finished second and third.

Algoni’s finish, along with Olivia Phillips eighth-place finish, helped DuQuoin capture the sectional title with 63 points. Maddie Decker (11^th), Grace Alongi (18^th), and Alexis George (34^th) were the team’s other top five runners.

Freeburg (91 points), Pinckneyville (109 points finished second and third. The next three teams were within four points of each other as Roxana (169 points) and Okawville (171 points) finished fourth and fifth. Nashville finished second (173 points) missing qualifying by two points.

Freeburg placed five runners in the top 23 in winning the sectional title with 68 points. Corbin Schwable finished fourth to lead the Midgets. The team ran a 38 second split on their top five which included Carson Smith (16^th), Cade Smith (17^th), Blake Hatter (20^th), and Evan Wilkerson (22^nd).

Father McGivney finished second (80 points) qualifying for the state meet for the first time in the program’s history. The Griffins had Tyler Guthrie (3^rd) and Zach Brasel (10^th) lead them in the top ten. Steeleville (95 points), Roxana (174 points), and Benton (175 points) were the other state qualifying teams.

Oregon Sectional – Rock Falls swept the team titles in a pair of close team races.

The Rock Falls Girls’ team put five runners in the top 19 to score 45 points for the team title ahead of Winnebago (59 points) and Rockford Christian (83 points). The Rockets were led by top ten finishes from Bailee Fortney (3^rd) and Alex Gomez (8^th). Stark County (161 points) and Seneca (189 points) were the other team qualifiers. Aurora Central Catholic missed qualifying by three points.

Karlie Hey of Sterling Newman won the individual race (18:53) edging Natalia Martino by two seconds.

Christopher Collet of Seneca dominated the Boys race. He ran 15:54 to win by 31 seconds ahead of Rock Falls’ Dawson Smith (16:25) and Sterling Newman’s Shay Hafner (16:26).

Rock Falls used top ten finishes by Smith and Matt Laws (7^th) to win the Boys title (105 points) ahead of Pontiac (116 points) and Seneca (117 points). It was close for the final two state qualifying spots with Winnebago (133 points) and Sterling Newman (162 points) grabbing the final two spots. Aurora Central Catholic (166 points) and Rock Island Alleman (168 points) just missed qualifying as a team for state.

Lisle Sectional – Top ranked Clifton Central prevailed in the Boys race winning with 38 points. The Comets put three runners in the top nine led by Isaiah Ditta’s individual win. The junior ran 16:14 on the five-kilometer course to win ahead of Herscher’s Drew Rogers (16:19). Central put five runners in the top 16 with Jeremy Snejberg (3^rd), Trevor Swanson (9^th), Jerod Snejberg (14^th), and Blake Stua (16^th) following Ditta with a 61 second top five split.

Northridge Prep (59 points), Chicago University (98 points), and Paxton-Buckley-Loda (132 points) finished second through fourth. Joliet Catholic and Herscher both scored 146 points to tie for fifth. Both teams will run in the state meet next Saturday.

It was also extremely close in the Girls team standings. Herscher won the team title (66 points) led by Jillian Milton’s seventh-place finish. Herscher placed five runners in the top 22. IC Catholic Prep will make their first team appearance at state in the Girls program history finishing second (87 points) led by top ten finishes from Carly Calcagno (2^nd) and Carly Manchester (5^th). Beecher (106 points) and Kankakee McNamara (145 points) finished third and fourth. Clifton Central captured the final qualifying spot (173 points) ahead of DePaul College Prep by one point.

It was a pair of freshmen on front in the individual race. Julia Wolke of Christian Liberty Academy ran 18:55 to win the individual race by 23 seconds ahead of Calcagno.