2020 ILXCTF.com XC Season Awards - Boys 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

This is usually a tough category to judge. It makes it tougher to compare especially when you are limited to running in a region. You do not get the head-to-head comparison that we usually get in a normal season. Then again, this was 2020.

Marcellus Mines of Joliet West caught people off guard when he ran 15:26 at a dual meet at Plainfield South on September 19. He followed that up when he ran 15:20 at the Yorkville Top Times Meet on October 7. Mines also won the East Division Southwest Prairie Conference race before finish sixth at the Minooka Regional and 20th at the Normal Community Sectional.

It was inevitable that Grant Giblin would make it into the Sandburg Top Seven after winning the Frosh/Soph level of the Pre-Season SWSC Meet. He was in the team’s top five when he finished ninth at the Sandburg All-Together Meet on September 11. Giblin ran 14:54 to win the Frosh/Soph level at his conference meet.

Nate Wehner of Highland Park was consistent during the 2020 season finishing in the top 10 of races that he competed in five out of six meets. Wehner finished second in the CSL-North Conference Meet, fifth at the Grant Regional before finishing 32nd at the Hoffman Estates Sectional.

Mines and Giblin ran in the same meet once in November in the ShaZam meet. Mines finished 105. Giblin finished 125. The one factor to look at is that Giblin was quarantined for two weeks after his conference meet missing both state series meets. Wehner did not run in the November meet.

There is a razor’s edge between Mines and Giblin this season. You cannot penalize Giblin for missing those meets. Still, Mines had the edge for the overall season.

Congratulations to Marcellus Mines of West High School in Joliet as the 2020 ILXCTF.com Illinois Class 3A Boys Newcomer Runner of the Year.

Class 2A

Dylan Nalley of Marion had a great freshman season finishing in the top three in all the races that he competed in during the IHSA Season. Nalley ran a personal best 15:10 in finishing third in the South Seven Conference Meet, second in the Highland Regional, and third at the Richland County Sectional. Nalley finished his season finishing eighth at the ShaZam Championships.

It was a similar season for Josh Weeks of Morton as finished in the top four of all his eight races during the fall regular season. He finished fourth at the Mid-Illini Conference Meet running a 1:22 personal best. Weeks followed that up by finishing third at the Metamora Regional Meet and then fourth at the Peoria Notre Dame Sectional. He was Morton’s top runner when he finished second at the ShaZam Meet helping the Potters win the D2 team title in this meet.

Cooper Marrs of Riverside-Brookfield also deserves consideration even though he missed the state series races due to his team being quarantined during that period. Marrs won the Metro Suburban Conference Meet. He also ran in the ShaZam Meet finishing 22nd.

The emergence of Weeks for Morton this fall was a difference maker in why Morton finished on top at the end of the year. Like with the Class 3A category, it is close between both Nalley and Weeks. Both should have a promising next three years. Weeks finishing ahead of Nalley at ShaZam gives him the edge.

Congratulations to Josh Weeks of Morton High School in Morton as the 2020 ILXCTF.com Illinois Class 2A Boys Newcomer Runner of the Year.

Class 1A

I wanted to see how Gavin Genisio of Benton would perform during this 2020 season after he ran 4:30 for 1600-meters during a time-trial last spring. What this fall season showed that he could be one of the top Class 1A runners in the upcoming years. Genisio was strong at the end of the season finishing second in the Ohio Division of the SIRR Conference. The freshman finished third in the Hamilton County Regional and then second at the Belleville Althoff Sectional. Genisio finished his season placing 11 at the ShaZam Championships D1 Race. He was the top freshman finisher in that race by 62 seconds.

Issac Teel of Pinckneyville was in the same region / sectional as Genisio and had a great freshman season. Teel was the top runner on his team winning the Mississippi Division of the SIRR Conference. He won the Marissa Regional before finishing fourth at the Belleville Althoff Sectional.

Teel and Genisio raced against each other twice during the season. Genisio won both encounters first at the Pinckneyville 6-Team Meet in August and then at the Sectional Meet.

Congratulations to Gavin Genisio of Benton High School as the 2020 ILXCTF.com Illinois Class 1A Boys Newcomer Runner of the Year.