2024 IHSA Class 3A XC Sectional Meet Highlights

By Michael Newman

Mia Sirois running 16:03 and Ben Crane running 14:14 set the stage for what was a great Saturday for the Class 3A Sectional Meets. Downers Grove North swept the team titles at Hinsdale Central with hopes of sweeping next Saturday at Detweiller Park. York, Barrington, and Minooka will have a say in the Girls team title after great sectional wins. Plainfield North was strong winning the Boys Sectional and readied themselves to a showdown with Downers Grove North for the third time this season.

Here are highlights from the four sectionals that took place on Saturday

Hoffman Estates Sectional – The Busse Woods course ran fast in this meet ran extraordinarily fast on this cool Saturday morning, Mia Sirois of Barrington demonstrated why as she ran 16:03 to demolish this field for the win. Her teammate Scout Storms held off Veronica Znajda to finish second with a 17:03 time. Znajda ran 17:05 to finish third. Sirois was in the lead from the start passing the mile in 5:20 with a 12 second lead over the pack. It grew to 40 seconds at two miles and then the 58 second margin she won by. Meg Peterson of Prospect ran 17:16 to finish fourth. Josie Cahill of New Trier (17:26) and Maddie Bialko of Hersey (17:27) finished fifth and sixth. Ireland Wildhart of Prospect (17:31), Sabrina Roach of Barrington (17:32), Alexa Izenstark of Hersey (17:34), and Stella Davis of Evanston Township (17:38) were also part of the top 10 finishers.

#1 Barrington is one of the state favorites for the Class 3A title and showed why by placing 4 runners in the top 11 with Victoria Tarara the fourth runner and Viktoria Higgins the fifth runner finishing 20th. The Filles won the team title with only 41 points. Their spread from Storms to Higgins was at 53 seconds. #6 Prospect scored 76 points to finish second with their three top 10 finishes along with Mary Laba placing 28th and Anna Zajac placing 37th. #8 Hersey finished third (113 points). #15 Lake Zurich (174 points) and #21 Glenbrook North (208 points) finished fourth and fifth. #24 Schaumburg (213 points) and #19 New Trier (228 points) were the final two Girls qualifying teams.

Ben Crane of New Trier made his race look easy as he ran 14:14 to claim the Boys individual race. Crane passed two miles in 9:28 with Joe Bregenzer of Barrington right on Crane’s shoulder with Evan Parker of Niles West gaining on the two runners. Parker briefly had the lead as Crane took off in the final half mile to claim the win. Bregenzer 14:25 to finish second with Parker running 14:30 to finish third. Jameson Tenopir of Cary-Grove finished fourth (14:41). Palatine’s Alex Krieg (14:42) and James O’Sullivan (14:50) finished fifth and sixth. Max Sudrzynski of Jacobs (14:51), Dylan Dominguez of Highland Park (14:52), Karanveer Patil of Lake Zurich (14:55), and Mateus Salomao of Hersey (14:58) were all part of the top 10.

The win from Crane helped #6 New Trier win the team title with 98 points. The Trevians ended up placing 5 runners in the top 37 led by Jordan Kreiner (19th), Walter Garrett (23rd), Jonah Swanson (32rd), and Evan Shu (37th). The spread on those four runners was only 14 seconds. #11 Lake Zurich scored 120 points to finish second with Patil in the top 10 with Cameron Libby (15th) and Luke Marshall (20th) following. The Bears had a 42 second spread on their top five. #4 Palatine scored 129 points to finish third ahead of #13 Prospect (134 points). #12 Barrington (153 points) and #8 Fremd (158 points) finished fifth and sixth. #22 Libertyville scored 172 points to finish seventh and earned the final Boys qualifying spot in this meet. #14 Hersey missed qualifying for the state meet by two points.

Hinsdale Central Sectional – Downers Grove North is ready for the team title at next weekend’s Class 3A State Meet. The Lady Trojans placed 5 runners in the top 9 to easily win the Girls team title with only 28 points. #5 Naperville North scored 58 points to finish second. One runner that will step into the spotlight next weekend is Amele Ojeda of Willowbrook. The senior dominated the individual race running 16:35 on the 2.9-mile course to win by 16 seconds ahead of Alayna Todnem of Downers Grove North (16:51). Emma Berres of Naperville North ran 16:58 to finish third. Lilly Eddington was DGN’s second runner running 17:09 to finish fourth followed by Rianna Tandon of Naperville North (17:16). Downers North took the next two places as Audrey Casten (17:23) and McKenzie Willard (17:27) finished sixth and seventh. Macy Dick of Oswego East ran 17:32 to finish eighth ahead of Downers North’s fifth runner Ava Gilley who ran 17:35 to finish ninth. Elizabeth Hall of Neuqua Valley and Shania Tandon of Naperville North both ran 17:39 to finish tenth and eleventh.

Downers Grove North’s top five spread in this race was 44 seconds. Naperville North, who also had Kathryn Rohr (17th) and Annika Lovisa (26th) in their top five had a 78 second spread on their scorers. #18 Naperville Central finished third with 123 points led by Lola Satre-Morales finishing 13th. #13 Waubonsie Valley qualified for the state meet for the first time in the team’s history scoring 153 points to finish fourth. #22 Oswego East (177 points) and #23 Hinsdale Central (183 points) finished fifth and sixth. Downers Grove South ran their best race of the season scoring 184 points to capture the final team qualifying position. #20 Neuqua Valley missed making it to the state meet by 10 points.

It was all Downers Grove North also in the Boys race. The #1 team in Class 3A rolled to the Boys win with only 38 points. Phillip Cupial and Grant Schroder finished 1-2 for their third race in a row. Cupial ran 14:07 for the win with Schroder three seconds behind his teammate to finish second. Ben Wuggazer of Lyons Township ran 14:16 to finish third. Patrick Clune of Naperville Central finished fourth (14:23) with Will Surratt of Downers North running 14:26 to finish fifth. Miguel Flores of Morton (14:29) and John O’Halloran of Lyons Township (14:31 finishing sixth and seventh. Luke Atzman of Sandburg (14:32) and Brady Travers of Doners Grove North (14:34) finished eighth and ninth. Grayson Meek of Neuqua Valley and Santiago Chavez of Reavis both ran 14:37 to finish in the next two spots.

Downers Grove North did not run one of their top five runners John Courtney in this race. North’s fifth runner in this meet was Jack Loftus who finished 21st. The team’s top five split was 41 seconds in this race. #8 Lyons Township scored 112 points in finishing second placing 5 runners in the top 45 with a 57 second spread. #21 Sandburg ran a good team race placing 5 runners in the top 41 with a 36 second spread to score 130 points in placing third. #17 Neuqua Valley (149 points) and $26 Naperville Central (166 points finished fourth and fifth. Naperville North in sixth (184 points) and Morton (190 points were the final two teams to qualify.

Normal Community Sectional – Maya Ledesma of Minooka has broken course records in her past two weeks, This week’s race was making a statement showing she will be ready for November 9. Ledesma ran a fast 17:01 in the Maxwell Park course to win the sectional title. Plainfield North earned the second and third place finishes as Elise Czarniewski ran 17:58 ahead of her sister Marlie (17:59). Quincy freshman Peyton Kuhl ran a great race running 18:02 to finish fourth. Ellie Bush of O’Fallon ran 18:03 to place fifth. Edwardsville’s Madison Popelar (18:04) and Willow Jackson (18:06) finishing sixth and seventh. Rubi Tapia-Morales of East Moline (18:13), Renee Warren of Normal West (18:16), and Natalie Nahs of Minooka (18:17 rounded out the top ten runners in this race.

#4 Minooka, behind Ledesma’s win and Nahs finishing in the top 10. Scored 51 points to win the sectional title. The Indians ended up placing 5 runners in the top 19 with Clara Getsoian (15th), Taya Gummerson (16th), and Leah Kleckauskas (19th). Minooka’s spread between Nahs and Kleckauskas was 20 seconds. #10 Edwardsville placed 5 runners in the top 44 with a 74 second spread to score 81 points to finish second. #9 Plainfield North finish from the Czarniewski sisters and Tessa Russo finishing 14 helped the Tigers score 91 points in finishing third. #12 Yorkville scored 110 points to finish fourth. #28 O’Fallon scored 166 points to finish fifth. Lincoln-Way Central scored 174 points to finish sixth. It was tight for the seventh and final qualifying spot. Lincoln-Way East edged in for the seventh spot scoring 197 points. Lockport was painfully close missing making it to state by just one point. Normal West missed making it to state by three points.

Dylan Maloney of Plainfield South was in charge of the Boys race. Maloney tuned up for his state race running 14:36 to claim the Boys sectional title. Thomas Czerwinski was a close second running 14:43. Zach Thoman of O’Fallon (14:52) and Quinn Davis of Plainfield North (14:54) finished third and fourth. Gavin Rodgers was Edwardsville’s top runner running 15:00 to finish fifth one second ahead of Owen Horeni of Yorkville (15:01). Braden Hoff of Lincoln-Way Central finished seventh (15:03) finishing ahead of Aidan Connors of Plainfield North (15:09). Colin Thomas of Edwardsville, Jack Galminas of Lincoln-Way Central, and Dylan Buturusis of Plainfield South all ran 15:13 finishing from ninth to eleventh.

Plainfield North placing three runner in the top 10 along with James Maso (24th) and Gavin Hall (28th) helped the #2 Tigers scoring 60 points with the sectional title. Their top five spread in the race was 58 seconds. #3 Plainfield South scored 93 points to finish second. Maloney and Buturusis were followed by Alex Batsala (23rd), Riley Fink (34th), and Kellan Hernandez (35th). The spread between Maloney and Buturusis was 37 seconds. The spread from Buturusis to Hernandez was 40 seconds. #5 Edwardsville 99 points to finish in third. #16 Lincoln-Way Central (140 points) and Yorkville (180 points) finished fourth and fifth. #18 O’Fallon (190 points) finished sixth. Quincy ran a great race scoring 214 points in finishing seventh.

Lake Park Sectional – By the time that the Girls race at this sectional, Karlin Janowski had a slight lead heading into the first right turn on the course. Her lead grew from that point with a pack of runners that stayed close to her, Janowski finally broke away from the field approaching the final mile of the race. The York freshman ran 17:02 to win the race by 11 seconds ahead of Avery Hacker of Batavia (17:13), Maddie Romaine of Wheaton North again ran a great race as she has over the past month running 17:17 to place third. Madeline Cassidy of Batavia was the Bulldogs’ second runner running 17:22 to finish fourth. Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South is running with more confidence heading to state as she ran 17:24 to placed fifth. Julia Rodney of St. Charles North continues in her first year of the sport placing sixth (17:30). Gwen Krodel of Batavia ran 17:33 to place seventh ahead of Alexa Novak of Glenbard West (17:38), Maggie Quinn of York (17:41), and Sophia Arcuri of Maine South (17:42).

York’s pack made a move in the final mile of the race to capture the team win. The #3 Dukes scored 58 points with 5 runners finishing in the top 18. Janowski and Quinn were followed by Sophia Galiano-Sanchez (16th), Scarlett Moriarty (17th), and Sofia Stoddard (18th). The three runners were separated by just four seconds. Their spread from Quinn to Stoddard was 23 seconds. Batavia had the advantage through four runners especially with 3 runners in the first 7 places. The #7 Bulldogs scored 84 points in finishing second. Claire Deppe was the team’s fourth runner (25th) while Madison Wnek finished 52nd as the team’s fifth runner. #11 Wheaton-Warrenville South scored 139 points to finish third. Poglitsch again gave the team the low points in the front. Their pack was led by freshman Addy Lindsay who finished 20th. #16 Huntley edged #14 Wheaton North 156-157 for fourth place. #26 Maine South made it to state scoring 185 points to finish sixth. #17 Glenbard West was the final Girls team to advance scoring 208 points placing seventh.

The fast times that showed at the end of the Boys race were not indicative of the way the race played out. There were as many as seven runners that were within two seconds of each other as Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South led the pack through that point in 9:57.6. That was when the racing began. Narayanan made a surge that broke himself away from most of the pack. The one runner that stayed close was Jacob Barraza of DeKalb who bided his time waiting to make his move. That happened with 500-meters left in the race when Barraza made his move. Narayanan said after the race that he tried to go, but this was just not his day. Barraza stormed to a 4:38 final mile to win the sectional title. Narayanan ran 14:39 to finish second.

Liam O’Connor of Oak Park-River Forest ran 14:44 to finish third with Tommy Nitz of Huntley (14:46) and Aidan Murphy of Wheaton North (14:47) finish fourth and fifth. Batavia’s Francesco Benelli (14:50) and Edward Polaski (14:53) finished sixth and seventh. Aiden Noel of Wheaton-Warrenville South (14:55), Greyson Ellensohn of St. Charles East (15:00), and Owynn Garrelts of Maine South (15:01) all finished in the top 10.

York did not have a runner finish in the top 10 in this race. When intermediate scores were given at the first two miles, York had the team lead. The #7 Dukes scored 93 points to win the team title placing their top five runners between 15th to 32nd places. Patrick McGrail and Carter Olsen were separated by one second finishing 15th and 16th. Zach Saltiel (21st), Emmett Bradford (27th), and Max Zangan (32nd) were the rest of the team’s top five. York’s top five spread in this race was 26 seconds. #10 Batavia scored 123 points to finish second seven points ahead of #15 Wheaton-Warrenville South who scored 130 points. #19 Lane moved after the first mile scoring 143 points to finish fourth one point ahead of #28 Oak Park-River Forest (144 points). #29 Glenbard West (157 points) and #27 Wheaton North (172 points) were the final teams to qualify for the state meet.