IHSA Class 3A Boys XC Sectional Meet Highlights

Liam Newhart wins over a loaded field at the Waubonsie Valley Sectional (Kevin Dorsey Photo)

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Here are highlights of the Class 3A Sectional Meets.

Waubonsie Valley Sectional

This meet was as tough as advertised as some good teams will not race together next week. Besides that, with such a quality field, the racing was great. Liam Newhart of Oak Park-River Forest pulled away from the field in the final half mile to secure the sectional individual championship with a 14:44 time. He missed the course record set by Evan Jager by three seconds (14:41). Seven runners were under 15-minutes on this tough Waubonsie Valley course. Dan Watcke of Hinsdale Central comfortably crossed the line in second (14:48) with Nicholas Strayer of Lyons Township running 14:49 to finish third. Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central and Cillian Henning of Lyons Township were both timed at 14:51 to finish fourth and fifth. Zac Close of Neuqua Valley was just two tenths of a second behind finishing sixth (14:52). Nick Parrell of Oak Park-River Forest ran 14:58 to finish seventh.

The races in the past few weeks for the WSC-Silver teams have been extremely close. This was one of those extreme races. #4 Downers Grove North edged #1 Hinsdale Central 75-78 for the team title. North had 5 runners in the top 23 with only a 21 second split. Topher Ferris led the Trojans finishing ninth. Caden Weber (12th), Ryan Eddington (14th), Grant Schroder (21st), and Ava Gasper (23rd) followed. Hinsdale Central again showed their presence in the front in this race after Watcke and Bandukwala finishing. Michael Skora and Jesse Gamboa were together with a 17-18 finish. Max Lowe was the team’s fifth runner with a 43rd place finish. The teams top five split was 58 seconds. The split from Gamboa to Lowe was 29 seconds with a top four split of 29 seconds.

#3 Oak Park-River Forest scored 99 points to finish third behind their WSC-Silver rivals. Newhart and Parrell in the top 10 were followed by Michael Michelotti in 11th, Owen Augustine in 36th, and Daniel Johnson finishing 51st. Their top five split was 69 seconds. #13 Naperville Central had a 36 second split with 5 runners in the top 44 to finish fourth with 128 points. Samuel Barnard led the team finishing 15th. #5 Lyons Township edged #11 Neuqua Valley 134-135 for the fifth-place spot. Both teams advanced to the State Meet.

#25 Downers Grove South snuck up on people last year advancing to Peoria. The Mustangs did it again in this season as they scored 192 points as the final team to advance to state from this sectional. Naperville North and #15 Sandburg both scored 222 points finishing eighth and ninth. Benet Academy scored 222 points to place tenth. #23 York finished eleventh with 255 points also not qualifying for the State Meet. It is the first time for a York Boys team not to qualify for an IHSA State Meet since 1963.

Normal Community Sectional

Camyn Viger of Plainfield South pulled away down the stretch to run 14:42 in winning the sectional individual title Saturday morning at Maxwell Park. Parker Nold of Oswego East made it close running 14:45 to finish second. Oliver Burns of Plainfield North ran 14:51 to finish third ahead of Zachary Balzer of Minooka (14:57). Ethan Reynoso of Plainfield South was fifth (15:01) followed by Dylan Ybarra of O’Fallon (15:02) and Marcellus Mines of Joliet West (15:05).

#2 Plainfield South got ready for next week’s State Meet scoring only 32 points to win the Sectional title. The Cougars placed 5 runners in the top 11. Owen O’Shea was the team’s third runner finishing eighth with BJ Sorg and Dylan Maloney with a 10-11 finish. South’s top five split was 42 seconds off Viger. Their split from Reynoso to Maloney was 23 seconds. #10 O’Fallon looked strong scoring 98 points to finish second led by Ybarra’s finish and top 20 finishes from Zach Thoman (14th) and Eli Greenstreet (16th). #22 Oswego East edged #6 Plainfield North 112 to 117 for the third-place finish. #20 Lincoln-Way East qualified scoring 134 to finish fifth led by Jack Roberts finishing ninth. #21 Yorkville (144 points) and Oswego (195 points) were the final two team state qualifiers. #30 Minooka missed qualifying for state finishing eighth with 213 points. It was the first time since 1987 that both Oswego Boys and Girls teams qualified for state in the same season.

Hoffman Estates Sectional

Dylan Myers of Lake Zurich may be a runner to watch up front in next week’s state meet. The senior captured the win in this sectional running 14:39 on the Busse Woods course. Mario Torres of Buffalo Grove was 10 seconds behind running 14:49 to finish second. Joe Bregenzer of Barrington finished third (14:57) ahead of Palatine’s Mason Krieg (15:00) and his freshman brother Alex (15:05). Ben Crane of New Trier ran 15:06 to finish third.

#7 Palatine easily won the sectional team title with 60 points placing 5 runners in the top 23 with only a 33 second split. Jack Casaccio and Andy Hansen finished 16-17 behind the Krieg brothers. Carter Hayes was the team’s fifth runner placing 23rd. #12 Lake Zurich was impressive scoring 100 points to finish second with 5 runners in the top 42. Braden Eckman was the team’s second runner finishing tenth behind Myers. #8 New Trier finished third (111 points) behind Crane’s finish and the Trevians placing 5 runners in the top 41.

#28 Prospect made it state finishing fourth with 133 points with Luka Kuzmanovic and Andrew Katsogianos finishing in eighth and ninth. #17 Hersey finished fifth (139 points) led by Liam Naughton finishing seventh. #16 Barrington was one point back in sixth with 140 points. #19 Conant was the final team out of this sectional as they scored 162 points in finishing seventh. #29 Jacobs finished eighth missing qualifying for state by two points.

Lake Park Sectional

Riley Newport of DeKalb tuned up for the State Meet next week with a comfortable effort. He had Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Nathan Virginelli close to him for the first mile then pulled away to win the sectional title running 14:50. His teammate Jacob Barraza moved from eighth-place after two miles going through the pack to end up finishing second with a 15:10 time. Matthew Conroy of St. Ignatius Prep ran 15:15 to finish third ahead of Tommy Nitz of Huntley (15:17) and Caleb Youngstedt of Wheaton North (15:18).

The first four teams in this sectional were separated by 10 points. #14 Wheaton-Warrenville South placed 5 runners in the top 26 with a 31 second split to win with 88 points. The Tigers were pushed by top 10 finishes from Sam Cruz in sixth and Josiah Narayanan in tenth. #24 St. Ignatius Prep was just three points back scoring 91 points to finish second. The Wolfpack had four runners in the top 19, 5 runners in the top 45 with a 52 second split. Their top four split was just 27 seconds. #10 Maine South was another three points back in finishing third with 94 points led by a 9-11 finish from Alex Wille and Joey Karlesky. The Hawks had 5 runners in the top 31 with just a 27 second split. #18 Wheaton North was another four points behind placing fourth with 98 points. The Falcons had 5 runners in the top 42 with a 46 second split.

#26 St. Charles East finished fifth with 160 points led Mitch Garcia finishing 21st as well as the Saints running a 26 second split on their top five. #27 Lane Tech and Rockford Guilford both scored 177 points finishing sixth and seventh with both teams qualifying for the state meet. Huntley and DeKalb both will miss the trip to state both scoring 194 points.