Illinois HS XC Weekend Highlights - October 9, 2022

Photo: Scout Storms went out and broke the course record Saturday at Heritage Park to win the Wheeling Invitational (Barrington HS Girls XC Photo Credit)

By Michael Newman [email protected]

This weekend is usually the calm before the storm. This upcoming week is Conference Week where most of the teams in Illinois are contesting for conference Championships. The week starts Monday with the Amboy Columbus Day Invitational.

This week’s big meet was the Naperville Twilight Invitational. The meet at Metamora was the top meet in the state on Saturday. Here are highlights of some meets that took place over the last week in Illinois.

Gene Jones Runnin’ Red Invitational

This is traditionally one of the biggest meets of this weekend. The 2002 edition of the meet failed to disappoint. 1A #1 Tolono Unity was in charge of the Girls race after winning their conference title last Tuesday. The Rockets placed 3 runners in the top 10 while running a 67 second split on their top five to win the team title with 75 points. Erica Woodard and Emily Decker finished sixth and seventh to lead the team with freshman Mackenzie Pound just four seconds behind Decker in ninth.

This was loaded some great teams from all three classes. 2A #2 Dunlap scored 89 points to finish second placing their top three runners in the first 15 led by the eighth-place finish from Kate Robertson. Their top five split was 72 seconds. #12 Palatine finished third (98 points) with Abigail Jordan finishing fifth to lead the Lady Pirates. 2A #16 Rochester finished fourth (102 points) ahead of 2A #7 Washington (107 points)

A time under 17-minutes is something to keep an eye on as we head into the state series in a couple of meets. Becca Heitzig of Lincoln and Natalie Bierbaum of Normal University faced each other in Peoria in September with Heitzig finishing second in the race by two seconds ahead of Bierbaum. It was close in Saturday’s race with Heitzig again finishing in front. Heitzig ran 16:59 to win the race with Bierbaum running 17:03 to finish second. Zoe Carter of U-High ran 17:20 in finishing third ahead of Colleen Zeibert of Rochester (17:22) and Palatine’s Jordan (17:23).

The Boys individual race was just as fast with four runners under 15-minutes on this 2.94-mile course. Parker Nold of Oswego East tuned up for this week’s Southwest Prairie Conference meet pulling away to run 14:26 in winning the race by seven seconds ahead of Brenden Heitzig of Lincoln (14:33). Mason Krieg of Palatine (14:38), Josh Weeks of Morton (14:48), and Jaden Frederick of Glenbard South (15:05) rounded out the top five.

#14 Palatine put 6 runners in the top 15 to win the Boys team race with only 47 points. The addition of frosh/soph runners Alex Krieg and Carter Hayes will give this team a boost. The freshman, Alex Krieg, was the team’s second runner finishing ninth with teammates Christian Keller and Owen Elliott right behind him with a 10-11 finish. Andy Hansen was two seconds back in 14th. The team’s top five split was 54 seconds. Their split from A. Krieg and Hansen was only five seconds.

#21 Oswego East finished second (67 points) led by the win by Nold and the eighth-place finish from Dhairya Trivedi. 2A #4 Morton finished third 110 points behind Weeks and Yonas Wuthrich (6th) finishing in the top 10. 2A #7 Champaign Central (119 points) and 2A #6 Glenbard South (161 points) finished fourth and fifth.

Sterling Invitational

Great weather conditions meant some fast times on the Woodland Park course. Riley Newport of DeKalb tuned up for a showdown with Neuqua Valley’s Zac Close at the DVC Championships next Saturday by running 14:45 in winning the Boys individual race. Dale Johnson of Sterling also had a great race running 14:50 in finishing second. Conant placed 3 runners in the top 10 to win the Boys team title with 50 points. Vijay Krishnamoorthi (4), Gaven Coprin (6), and Jayden Patel (9) led the Cougars that ran a 50 second split on their top five. DeKalb continues to improve heading into the final four weeks scoring 63 points to finish second behind Newport’s win and the third-place finish from Jacob Barraza. 2A # 14 Fenwick continues to get better at the right time scoring 110 points to finish third led by Nathaniel McKillop finishing fifth. Chatham-Glenwood was one point t he Friars in fourth (111 points).

Pleasant Valley IA was in control of the Girls Varsity race placing 5 runners in the top 13 to win with 35 points. Grace Boleyn of Pleasant Valley ran 17:45 to win the individual race by two seconds with Audrey Luell of Zion-Benton running 17:47 to finish second. 2A #8 Chatham-Glenwood finished second (49 points) led by Ashlyn Chopra finishing third and Rachel Behrens finishing fourth. Zion-Benton scored 85 points to finish third.

Wheeling Invitational

Scout Storms of Barrington came back from finishing second last Wednesday at the Naperville Twilight Invitational to set a course record Saturday at Wheeling’s Heritage Park. The sophomore dominated this race running 17:18 to easily win this race by 66 seconds ahead of Glenbrook South’s Maggie Jortberg (18:26) and Kaitlyn Burns (18:36). #22 Barrington won this race in the first mile placing 5 runners in the first 11 in scoring only 27 points for the win. The Fillies had a 21 second split between Kaleigh Burns in fourth, Samantha Rowley in fifth, Claire Thome in sixth, and Abby Lewis in eleventh. Evanston (109 points) and Benet Academy (110 points) finished second and third. Benet was without their top runner Louisa Diamond in this race.

Barrington’s Boys team dominated their race like the Girls’ team from the school did. The #10 Broncos scored only 18 points to win ahead of Hersey’s JV team (50 points) and 1A #17 Northridge Prep (115 points) and host Wheeling (116 points) finishing third and fourth. Barrington took the first three places in this race and five of the top seven places in this race. Sophomore Joe Bregenzer led the way running 15:16 for the individual win. Teammates Avery Erickson (15:32) and Manasyu Chaudhari (15:39) finished second and third. The team a 52 second split on their top five runners.

Cumberland Invitational

Tolono Unity packed it up finishing 8-9-10 from Brendan Gaven, Eli Crowe, and Camden Fairbanks to help them win the Boys team title in this meet with 48 points. 1A #19 Effingham St. Anthony (83 points), Cerro-Gordo-Bement (89 points), and Arthur-Lovington (91 points) finished second through fourth. Logan Beckmier of Arthur Lovington ran 15:53 to win the individual race finishing 26 seconds ahead of Dylan Howell of Cerro Gordo-Bement.

1A #5 Marshall was an easy winner in the Girls race scoring only 25 points placing five runners in the top 16. Marshall was without one of their top five runners, Isabel Arthur, in this race. Molly Farrell continues to impress with every race after her big race at Nike Twilight a week ago. The freshman ran 17:47 to easily win by 87 seconds ahead of teammate Brooklyn Bender (19:14). Effingham St. Anthony (59 points) and Mattoon (105) finished second and third in the team race.

Benton Invitational

Gavin Genisio set the standard on his home course covering the 2.92-mile circuit in 14:08 to win the Boys Individual race by 31 seconds ahead of teammate Gabe McLain. It was a battle of two of the top 1A teams in the state. #8 Decatur St. Theresa placed 4 runners in the top 10, 5 in the top 19 to hold off host #5 Benton 37 -47 for the team title. Eighth seconds separated St. Teresa’s top three led by Evan Cook in third followed by Martin Velchek and Caleb Kernaghan. Cameron Kernaghan was the team’s fourth runner (10) followed by Gus Striglos in 19. The team’s top five split was 65 seconds. Benton placed their top 5 in the first 26 places.

The Girls race was close as Ahry Comer of Pope County ran 17:03 to win the individual title by just two seconds ahead of Miah Gilmore of Murphysboro. Brodie Denny of Anna-Jonesboro (17:34) and Molly Robertson of Carterville (17:44). 1A #15 Anna Jonesboro placed 5 runners in the top 18 to win the Girls Team title with 45 points. Their second through fifth runners placed from 13th to 18th places with only a 16 second split. 1A #16 DuQuoin (95 points) and Carterville (110 points) finished second and third.

Pontiac/Prairie Central Invitational

The first five finishers in the Boys 3-mile race were separated by only 13 seconds. Sam Bushert of El Paso-Gridley ran 16:13 to win the race by three seconds ahead of Morris’ Kaden Welch. Wyatt Miller of Sandwich (16:22), Dean Witzig of El Paso-Gridley (16:23), and Aidan Lee of Pontiac (16:26) finished in the top five. 1A #10 El Paso-Gridley, behind the top five finishes from Bushert and Witzig, scored 37 points to win the team title placing 5 runners in the top 15 that had a 60 second split. 1A #11 Pontiac (65 points) and 1A #13 Sandwich (97 points) finished second and third.

The Girls race was also outstanding with the first five finishers within 38 seconds of each other. Sundara Weber of Sandwich is having a sensational freshman season. This meet for her resulted in a win. Her winning time of 18:01 was four seconds ahead of second-place Joy Dudley of Morris. Kate Ahmari of Urbana University ran 18:27 to finish third. Nora Brady of Bloomington Central Catholic and Makensi Martin of Morris both were timed at 18:39 finishing fourth and fifth. 2A #20 Morris scored 59 points edged 1A #24 Urbana University (62 points) and 1A #14  Sandwich (67 points) for the team championship.

Loyola Academy Flight Night (Friday)

The Varsity race was separated by two flights with the team scores determined by the top five runners in the two races. #25 Hinsdale Central put five runners in the first 21 to win the team title with 70 points. #21 Loyola finished second (83 points) ahead of Prospect’s JV team which scored 92 points. Sarah Fischer led the Red-Devilettes running 17:42 for the individual win. Whitney Young’s Nikki Chopra (17:50) and Jade Lavallee (17:53) finished second and third. Sarah Skora led the Hinsdale pack placing 13 overall with their next three runners finishing between 19-21. The split on that group was 37 seconds.

#24 Lake Zurich, paced by the individual win from Dylan Myers, won the Boys team title with 35 points. #30 St. Ignatius scored 70 points to finish second ahead of third-place Highland Park who scored 109 points. Myers winning time of 15:16 was 12 seconds ahead of second-place Matthew Conroy of St. Ignatius College Prep. Lake Zurich placed their top three runners in the top five. Nate Wehner of Highland Park finished third with the Bears’ Braden Eckman and George Sabev finishing fourth and fifth and within a second of each other.

Illini Prairie Conference Championships (Tuesday)

1A top rated Tolono Unity placed 5 runners in the top 10 to repeat as Girls Conference Champions. 1A #24 Monticello and St. Joseph-Ogden finished second and third both scoring 87 points. Mabry Bruhn of Monticello dominated the Girls race running 17:33 for the win by 32 seconds ahead of St. Joesph-Ogden’s Savanna Franzen. Emily Decker led Unity running 18:16 to finish third. The Rockets top five split was 87 seconds with their split from their second through fifth runners at 48 seconds.

1A #14 St. Joseph-Ogden used a 3-5 finish from Lance Retz and Isiah Mock to help them win the Boys Conference title ahead of #11 Pontiac (66 points) and #24 Monticello (78 points). Brecken Fahrenkrug of Illinois Valley Central ran 16:01 to win the individual race by 11 seconds ahead of Aiden Pacunas of Rantoul.