2020 ILXCTF.com XC Season Awards - Girls Newcomer Runners of the Year

By Michael Newman

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How would like to start your first high school season of cross country in the fall of 2020? The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way that high school athletes raced across Illinois. In some meets, it was just wave races that limited the number of athletes to 50 runners or lower.

There were small invitational meets that limited the teams to six or lower.

When we got to the state series of the regional and sectional meets, there were three to four flight wave races with all the performances merged to get a team winner. It did not seem like real cross-country racing with teams split among those races. The racing itself was spectacular. For a freshmen or newcomers to the sport, this was their norm. Hopefully for 2021, we get back to normal racing where we finish at Detweiller Park.

Here are the runners that we found were among the best in this category.

Class 3A

There were a few new runners that were in the spotlight at the beginning of the season. By the time we got to November, there was one runner that stood out.

One of the reasons York was considered the top team at the end of the 2020 Girls Class 3A season was from an influx of three freshman that earned their way into the team’s top seven. The one freshman that led the way for the Lady Dukes was Michaela Quinn. She was the team’s second runner at the ShaZam meet finishing sixth overall. Before that, she was the #1 runner in the WSC-Silver Conference race placing second overall. She finished as the team’s top runner also in the Proviso West Regional and the Lyons Township Sectional placing third in both races. In the tough conference that she raced in, she finished no lower than third in the four dual meet races.

Ali Ince of Normal Community jumped into the state spotlight during the summer when she ran 5-minutes for the mile in a meet in Chicago. Ince won eight of nine races during the IHSA regular season. She put up times like 16:58 at the fast Granite City Regional and as well as 17:22 at the Peoria Notre Dame Blue-Green Invitational at Detweiller Park. Her only “setback” came at Metamora on October 10 when she finished less than a second behind Anna Perry of Eureka.

Morgan Mackie of Loyola Academy also attained notoriety during summer track meets heading into her first high school season. In the summer meet in Chicago, Mackie clicked off times of 11:00 for 3200-meters and 5:02.64 for the 1-Mile Run. She had a strong end of the regular season winning GCAC Championship, finishing third in the Loyola Academy Regional, and second in the Hoffman Estates Sectional. Mackie did not have her best race at the ShaZam Meet finishing 95th.

Ince and Quinn ran in the same meet once this season. Quinn finished sixth at ShaZam five seconds ahead of Ince.

Congratulations to Michaela Quinn of York High School in Elmhurst as the 2020 ILXCTF.com Illinois Class 3A Girls Newcomer Runner of the Year.

Class 2A

Three runners that ran in the ShaZam Championships in November were freshman that finished in the top 20 in the meet.

It was no surprise that Bella Domier of Grayslake Central was towards the front in most of her races this fall. Domier won the Class 2A title in eighth grade while running at Park Middle School. The transition to 3-miles was no problem for this freshman starting her season running 19:23 and then finishing her sectional in second while running 17:52. Domier finished fifth the following week in the ShaZam Meet.

Ava Gorrie of Chatham-Glenwood started her high school career seven dual meets before heading into the state series meets. Corrie adapted well as the team’s top runner finishing fourth in the Jacksonville Regional and sixth in the Richland County Sectional. She was the top runner for her team placing 18th as Chatham-Glenwood won the ShaZam D2 team championship.

Becca Heitzig of Lincoln finished her middle school cross country career finishing second in the Class 1A IESA State Meet in 2019. Heitzig started her high school career in a strong way winning the Apollo Conference Meet. The following two weeks she finished second in both the Jacksonville Regional and Richland County Sectional. Heitzig ran in the post-season finishing 12th at ShaZam.

Abby Machesky of Crystal Lake South is another freshman that should be mentioned. She moved up as the Gators’ second runner at the end of the season. She finished fourth at the Fox Valley Conference Meet. Machesky finished her season placing second at the Belvidere Regional and then ninth at the Lakes Sectional.

Domier was the top newcomer in Class 2A this fall by a wide margin finishing in the top three in her final three regular season meet and then fifth at ShaZam. It will be interesting to see when we have a regular season in 2021 how fast she will run at Detweiler Park.

Congratulations to Bella Domier of Central High School in Grayslake as the 2020 ILXCTF.com Illinois Class 2A Girls Newcomer Runner of the Year.

Class 1A

When I was researching for the 2020 season, I looked at a promising East Dubuque Boys team and kept an eye on them as the season progressed. I stumbled upon Hailey Heiar when looking at the results of this school early in the year. She did not run for her team during her freshman season instead opting to play on her school’s volleyball team. The sophomore was one of many athletes that picked up cross country this fall after one of their sports was moved to 2021.

Heiar was no stranger to running. She had run 7:00 for 1600-meters during her eighth-grade season. She also competed in the Discus and Long Jump showing that she was more than a runner. The sophomore won her first three races easily in some races by over two minutes. She proved how good she was during the IHSA State Series finished second in the Oregon Regional 10 seconds behind race winner of Natalia Martino of Winnebago. Martino had finished sixth in the Class 1A State Meet in 2019. The following week at the Seneca Sectional, Heiar finished second again behind Martino this time by 14 seconds.

Heiar made believers of most of the Illinois XC onlookers at the ShaZam Meet finishing fourth overall. Martino finished eighth in that race.

Gabriela Moreman of Bismarck-Henning finished third in both her regional and sectional races and then 10th at ShaZam. Erica Woodard of Tolono Unity was behind Moreman in both of those races finishing fourth in the regional and sixth in the sectional. Woodard ran in the ShaZam meet placing 25th.

Moreman was the top freshman this fall in Class 1A. When it came to runners in the first year of running in the fall, the honor belongs to Heiar. Hopefully, she decides to run next fall instead of playing volleyball. It will be interesting to see how much lower she drops her 3-mile time.

Congratulations to Haley Heiar of East Dubuque High School as the 2020 ILXCTF.com Illinois Class 1A Girls Newcomer Runner of the Year.