Reflections of Illinois runners at the NXR Midwest XC Regionals

By Michael Newman

Ben Crane came towards the finish line at Lavern Gibson National XC Course Sunday afternoon with clear focus on the finish line. The New Trier senior has run this year with a chip on his shoulder all season finishing third as a junior in the IHSA State XC Championships and then second in the 3A 3200 Meter Run last spring at state. He finished ninth in this race a year ago and was now in front with a few steps to cross the finish line.

The New Trier senior crossed the finish line not with a smile on his face but with relief and satisfaction running 14:46.03 and winning the NXR Midwest title and running the ninth fastest high school time ever on this course.

Crane crossed the finish line and took some steps veering to the left collapsing to the finish area ground. After catching his breath after a couple of minutes recovering, he looked up and said that was the hardest race I’ve ever been in. Crane earlier this month had verbally committed to Brigham Young University before winning the state title in Peoria. His win sets him up to make the National double of this meet and then Foot Locker Nationals. He qualified for Foot Locker last year placing 24 in the national race. His sight is higher in the next couple of meets and what he could accomplish.

“I think what me came ahead at the end is that I had so much doubt coming through my head throughout the race. I pushed it aside and tried to stay in the moment,” Crane said after his win. “It’s been a dream of mine to run in Portland.”

Downers Grove North qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals for the fifth time in the program’s history and the third year in a row easily dispatching the rest of the field in an impressive performance. The Trojans won the team title scoring 109 points. Their dominance started with top ten places with Philip Cupial who finished seventh and Grant Schroder who finished tenth both earning All-Midwest honors. Will Surratt was the team’s third runner (48th) followed by John Courtney (70th) and Brady Travers (85th). The team’s overall spread was 49 seconds.

“We did not change anything after state,” said senior Grant Schroder. “We came in here and raced like any other race.”

The top three teams in the Boys Championship race all ran the week before in state meets. Rockhurst MO was almost 100 points behind North scoring 205 points. Plainfield North will have to wait until November 30 until they find off if they run in Portland. The Tigers scored 220 points missing the auto qualifier by 15 points. Quinn Davis (22nd) and Thomas Czerwinski (25) again led the team. As the top two runners. Aidan Connors was under the weather in this race but still finished 90yh. James Maso (92nd) and Dominic Frigo (181st) were the team’s fourth and fifth runners. The team had a 60 second spread on their top five runners.

Mia Sirois of Barrington has run strong all season especially towards the end of the season. The sophomore set the Detweiller Park course record last week running 15:53.4. Sirois held the lead for most of the race until the final 300-meters runners in the race. Michigan D1 State Champion Victoria Garces of Midland Dow passed her in the final stage of the race winning the NXR Midwest title timed in 16:52.97. Sirois was the only runner under 17-minutes as she ran 16:57.32 to finish second.

“” It was hard on my legs (state race) especially after an effort like that,” Sirois said after her race. “I’m happy with the way that I ran. I was just running the tangents today trying not cut everyone off.” Sirois was unsure after the race if she run in the Foot Locker Series beginning at the end of the month.

Downers Grove North’s Girls team has gotten used to close finishes in recent years. It happened when they finished third the previous week in the Class 3A State Meet just missing by two points. They had a good margin lead into the final mile of the race but that changed as Carmel IN and Romeo MI made a charge closing the gap.

This time for Downers North, the margin between the three teams was four points. Downers Grove North and Romeo were the automatic team qualifiers separated by one point 146-147. Carmel finished in third with 150 points and will have to wait until November 30 to see if they get one of the four at-large positions.

North had five runners separated by 46 seconds in this race. Alayna Todnem led the team finishing 33rd followed by Audrey Casten (46th) and McKenzie Willard (56th). Lily Eddington (86th) and Ava Gilley (89th) were the team’s fourth and fifth runners. The Trojans only ran six runners in the championship race with Hannah Renner their sixth runner.

Their seventh runner will be promising freshman Macy Ermitage who finished 10th in the Frosh/Soph race. Ermitage suffered an injury two days after running the Frosh/Soph race at the EIU Challenge meet at Neuqua Valley. Her race last Sunday was her first race since that opening meet. Ermitage’s race at NXN will be her first Varsity race of her high school career.

“Last week was such a disappointing ending to our IHSA career,” said one of their five seniors in their line-up, Ava Gilley. “We were frustrated. We knew we had one more shot. We took advantage of the opportunity.”

Championship Highlights – Girls

There were five other Illinois runners besides Sirois that earned All-Midwest Regional honors in this race. Kate Foltz of Tuscola finished tenth. The 1A State champion will use this experience well running 17:28.28. Karlin Janowski of York also gained a ton of experience as she ran 17:33.19 to finish 11th. 2A State Champion Sundara Weber of Sandwich finished 14th along with Veronica Znajda of Prospect (15th) and Zoe Carter (19th) finishing in the top 21.

Illinois and Ohio had six runners each finish in the top 21 followed by Indiana with five runners and Michigan with four runners. Missouri did not have any runners finish in the top 21.

Other Illinois runners in the top 50 in this race included Amelia Ojeda of Willowbrook (23rd), Isabella Keller of Effingham St. Anthony (25th), Meg Peterson of Prospect (31st), Alayna Todnem of Downers North (33rd), Maya Ledesma of Minooka (34th), Ireland Wildhart of Prospect (41st), Madeline Bialko of Hersey (44th), and Audrey Casten of Downers North (46th).

There were three more Illinois schools that finished in the top 10 in this meet. Prospect ran their best race of the season placing fifth (203 points). The Knights putting three runners in the first 41 runners was an immense help. Barrington finished sixth (231 points) led by Sirois. The Fillies did not have their all-state runner Scout Storms in this race. They did have a spread on their second through fifth runners of 30 seconds.

York scored 310 points in finishing eighth overall. York moved three places in the final mile to get their finish led by Janowski and Sophia Galiano-Sanchez placing 63rd. There were four more Illinois schools that finished in the next five places. Naperville North finished 11 with 332 points, St. Ignatius College Prep scored 370 points to finish 12, Minooka scored 394 points to place 14, and Edwardsville scored 429 points to finish 15. 30 teams scored in this race.

Championship Highlights – Boys

Four runners including Crane earned All-Midwestr Region honors in this race. Phillip Cupial and Grant Schroder of Downers Grove North finished seventh and tenth. Finn Richards of Benet Academy ran 15:19 to place 16th.

Michigan led the five states with All-Midwest runners with six. Ohio followed with five runners. Illinois and Indiana had four runners followed by Missouri who had two runners finishing in the top 21.

Other Illinois runners finishing in the top 50 included Quinn Davis of Plainfield North (22nd), Thomas Czerwinski of Plainfield North (25th), Rory Gann of Fremd (29th), Jameson Tenopir of Cary-Grove (30th), Evan Nosek of Kaneland (31st), Joe Bregenzer of Barrington (32nd), Carson Kaiser of Kaneland (39th), Carter Hayes of Palatine (43rd), Will Surratt of Downers Grove North (48th), and Evan Parker of Niles North (49th). Kaiser had the freshman time of the meet running 15:36.58.

Plainfield South was the only other school to finish in the top 10 placing seventh with 330 points. Dylan Maloney did run in this race even though he was suffering from food poisoning. He was the top runner for the Cougars placing 75th. South did have a 28 second spread on their top five runners.

York moved up during the race finishing 11th overall and the fourth Illinois team to place. Their successful season ended scoring 352 points led by Patrick McGrail finishing 99th with the team having a tight 15 second spread on their top five runners.

New Trier scored 389 points to finish 13th overall. Palatine scored 427 points in finishing 15th. 34 teams scored in this race.