By Michael Newman

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Congratulations go out to Josh Methner of Hersey High School in Arlington Heights as the 2018 ILXCTF.com Illinois Boys XC Runner of the Year.

Methner was nearly perfect during the regular season after starting the year by finishing second at Fenton’s John Kurtz Early Bird Invitational. He did not lose after that winning invitational races such as the Richard Spring Invitational and the Palatine Invitational. The junior started the state series with wins in the Mid Suburban League Championship, the Hoffman Estates Regional, and the Hoffman Estates Sectional before finishing his IHSA Season with the individual state championship in Class 3A. He also helped Hersey win their first trophy as his team finished second in 3A.

Methner’s season did not stop after the state meet. He finished a close second behind Indiana State Champion Cole Hocker of Indianapolis Cathedral at the NXR Midwest Regional.  He then qualified for the Foot Locker Nationals two weeks later by finishing seventh in the Foot Locker Midwest Regional. His national competitions began a week later in Portland when he finished 15^th at the Nike Cross Nationals. The next week in San Diego at the Foot Locker Nationals. Methner was among the leaders for most of the race finishing sixth overall.

At the beginning of the 2018 season, no one knew who Methner was on the national stage. In the 2019 Cross Country Season, he should be one of the top runners in the nation.

His strategy in both national races was to stay near the front for as long as he could and then hold on to the finish. It was a similar strategy that Danny Kilrea put together in his junior year at NXN when he took the lead before ending up finishing 13^th. In his senior season, Kilrea finished fifth at NXN and third at Foot Locker.

We could see Methner following the same path next fall.

There were three other runners that we considered in this category.

Ethan Kern of York did not finish where he wanted to in the Illinois 3A State Meet placing ninth. The junior had an injury free season with wins at the WSC-Silver Championships and the Niles West Sectional. It was the post-season races that caught everyone’s eye. He helped his team finish third overall at the NXR Midwest Regional by finishing fifth to qualify for the Nike Cross Nationals. Kern finished right with Methner placing sixth at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional qualifying for the national race in that meet.

He ran two strong national races placing 28^th at the Nike Cross Nationals and then 35^th at the Foot Locker Nationals. No one expected him in that position at the beginning of the year. Yet in December, he was still racing. There are big things ahead for Kern the rest of his junior season and then in the 2019-20 school year.

Mathias Powell of Mahomet-Seymour finished out his senior season by winning the 2A State Championship in a convincing manner by 17 seconds ahead of Lake Forest’s Nathan Schmitt. Powell was undefeated against 2A competition this fall. His only “setback” was when he finished third at the Richard Spring Invitational behind Methner and Kern.

Tommy Brady of Maine South finished his senior cross-country season winning the championship flight of the Minooka Invitational as well as winning the Central Suburban League Championships and the Loyola Academy Regional. Brady ran 14:17 to finishing second in the IHSA 3A State Meet.

Photo Credit: ©2018 Laura Duffy