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IHSA Class 2A Sectional Highlights - October 29, 2023Published by
IHSA Class 2A Sectional Highlights - October 29, 2023
By Michael Newman
Jacksonville Sectional Two course record performances on this 2.9-mile course. Girls old record time was 16:27 by Madz Negro of Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin in 2010. Boys Old Record was 14:08 by Michael Clevenger of Decatur MacArthur in 2011.
Girls – #1 Chatham-Glenwood has dominated their competition most of this season. Saturday’s Sectional was another demonstration of this and how ready they are for the Class 2A State Meet on November 4. The Titans placed 5 runners in the top 17 with a 56 second split to win with only 40 points. Ali Londrigan again was their top runner with a 16:47 time to finish fourth. Ashlyn Chopra ran 17:23 to finish seventh with Sophie Rentmeister and Ally Knudson finishing ninth and tenth. Brenna Sloman was the team’s fifth runner finishing 17th. Their split between Chopra and Knudson was just 10 seconds.
Becca Heitzig of Lincoln ran 16:33 on this course in the conference meet two weeks ago. She bettered that time on Saturday running a new course record of 16:26.9 breaking that record by just a tenth of a second. Natalie Bierbaum of Normal University finished second (16:39,9) and teammate Zoe Carter running 16:44.2 to finish third. Londrigan finished fourth with Ava Boyd of Mahomet-Seymour finishing fifth (17:17.7).
#11 Mt Zion finished second (121 points) behind the eighth place finish from Renee Ballard. Cameron Crump finished sixth to lead #6 Waterloo to a third-place finish (133 points). #15 Normal University scored 151 points to finish fourth led by the finishes from Bierbaum and Carter. A big plus for U-High was the return of third runner Lana Alcorn who had not race for a month. She did finish 40th overall in this race. #14 Champaign Centennial qualified for state by finishing fifth (176 points). #22 Rochester (191 points) and #23 Effingham (217 points) were the final two team qualifiers from this sectional. #20 Mahomet-Seymour missed qualifying for state by four points.
Boys – Dylon Nalley of Marion in the past two weeks has set course records on his way to conference and regional titles. He made it three for three with a dominating race for the win. Nalley ran 13:37.1 breaking the course record by 31 seconds of State Champion Michael Clevenger. Nalley won by 49 seconds ahead Julian Baker of Mt. Zion (14:26). Caleb Mathias of Champaign Central finished third (14:31) ahead of Owen Morgan of Taylorville (14:33) and Mekye Lomax of Marion (14:35).
It was close between the top 2A teams in the state in this sectional. #2 Normal University edged #1 Marion 70-78 for the sectional title. The Pioneers placed 5 runners in the top 22 to achieve the sectional win with just a 25 second split. Mason Hart (6th) and Sachit Munduli (8th) led U-High with top 10 finishes. Mitchell Hayes (15th), Connor Hartman (19th), and Landen Alcorn (22nd) were also a part of the team’s top five. Marion had the lead through four runners with Raphael Greer and his brother Gabriel finished 13-4. The Wildcats fifth runner was Evan Dailey who finished 49th.
#12 Bethalto Civic Memorial finished third (152 points) led by the ninth place finish by Max Weber. #20 Mt. Zion (156 points) and #14 Mt. Vernon finished fifth (185 points). #27 Taylorville (185 points) and #26 Mascoutah (203 points) were the final two sectional qualifying teams.
Geneseo Sectional Girls – There seem to be always surprises in a cross-country sectional. This was one of those sectional meets. Niki Tselios of Lemont was to be one of the top five runners in this race pulling away to run 18:47 for the sectional win. The junior won by 13 seconds ahead of Claire Blotnik of Joliet Catholic (19:00). The next six runners finished within five seconds of each other led by Avery Braker of Morton (19:00) followed by Jayne Hermann of Washington (19:02), Makensi Martin of Morris (19:03), Katie Sell of Dunlap (19:05), and Madeleine James of Washington (19:06).
#2 Washington was in command of the race scoring 53 points but were without their #1 runner Sophia Ramirez who was not in their lineup. The Panthers still placed 5 runners in the top 22 to claim the win. Olivia Nordheilm was the team’s third runner finishing ninth. Bailey Butler (12th) and Allison Woolever (22nd) were Washington’s fourth and fifth runners that gave them an 85 second split.
#4 Dunlap edged #5 Morton 88-89 for second-place. #27 Morris finished fourth (147 points). #30 Sterling (157 points), #21 Metamora (166 points), and Lemont (199 points) were also a part of the top seven team finishers.
Boys – Dale Johnson of Sterling tuned up for next week’s state meet running 15:10 to win the individual race by 24 seconds ahead of Dylan Gehl of Geneseo (15:34). Josh Weeks of Morton finished third (15:46) ahead of Gavin O’Connor of Brother Rice (15:49) and Morton’s Yonas Wuthrich (15:51). #6 Morton was on in this race with the return of Wuthrich and the ninth-place finish from Layton Knopp gave the Potters the sectional title with 70 points. Phillip Canopy (16:35) finished 26 while fifth runner Boston Beyer placed 33rd. The top five split for Morton was 59 seconds.
#13 Washington, who finished ahead of Morton in last week’s, scored 100 points to finish second. #17 Geneseo finished third (129 points) ahead of Sterling (153 points), Dunlap (174 points), #30 Morris (183 points), and Oak Forest (193 points). This will be the first appearance for the school in the state meet since 2010 when they finished 16 in the 2A State Race.
Trinity Sectional Girls Race – Annika Swan had a comfortable win by 38 seconds to lead St. Ignatius College Prep to the sectional win with 43 points. Swan’s time of 17:34 was ahead of Delilah Helenhouse of Benet Academy who had a 18:12 time. Juliana Gamboa of Fenwick ran 18:19 to finish third ahead of Emily Stecky of DePaul College Prep and Molly McGreal of Trinity who were both timed at 18:21 finishing fourth and fifth.
St. Ignatius placed 5 runners in the top 15 with a top 5 split of 116 seconds. Their split on their second through fifth runners was 52 seconds led by sixth place finisher Ella Hwang. She was followed by Meghan Semmer (10th), Lizeth Montes (11th), and Mary O’Reilly (15th). #10 Benet Academy scored 76 points to finish second. #18 DePaul College edged Nazareth Academy 96-97 for third place. Fenwick (154 points), Payton Prep (161 points), and St. Laurence (247 points) were the seven teams to qualify. Northside Prep missed qualifying for state by four points.
The team race in next week’s race should be just as tight as what we saw in this sectional. #3 Glenbard South edged #4 Benet Academy 55-57 for the sectional. Glenbard South had 5 runners finish in the top 17 with a split on the group of 38 seconds. Michael Bailey was the Raiders’ third runner finishing 14th followed by Lucas Newman (16th) and Tom Jochum (17th). The split on those three runners was just three seconds. Benet Academy placed their first 3 runners in the top 7 with 5 runners among the top 31. The Redwings top five split was 83 seconds. Charlie Phelan was the team’s second runner finishing sixth followed by Aiden Hulett placing seventh. Jacob Malloy (12th) and Danny Shannon (31st) were the team’s fourth and fifth runners.
#7 St. Ignatius edged #5 Payton Prep 87-91 for third and fourth. DePaul College Prep (146 points) was followed by St. Laurence (184 points) and Chicago University (215 points) for the final three state qualifying spots.
Woodstock Sectional Girls – Race favorite Sundara Weber of Sandwich won the sectional tile in this meet running 18:15 for the win. Hadley Ferrero of Crystal Lake Central ran 18:47 to finish second with Izzy Bing of Mundelein Carmel running 18:50 to finish third. Madison Twarling of Lakes Community ran 18:57 to finish third with Sara Armstrong of Grayslake Central running 19:01 to finish fifth. #3 Grayslake Central will look to go after their straight Class 2A closer. They got one step closer in this sectional scoring 83 points to win the team title. The Rams placed 5 runners in the top 31 led by top 10 finishes by Armstrong and Ava Henne finishing eighth. Isabella Domier (22nd), Sofia Witt (28th), and Jordan Sutter (31st) were separated by 22 seconds. Their overall split was 60 seconds.
#9 Crystal Lake Central scored 110 points ahead of #8 Crystal Lake South (123 points) and #12 Wheaton St. Francis (130 points). #16 Lakes Community finished fifth (138 points) with #19 Rockford Boylan placing sixth (196 points). #13 Lake Forest and #29 Rosary both scored 202 points tied for seventh. Both teams will qualify for next week’s state meet.
Boys – Trey Sato of Grayslake Central will be a runner to watch in next week’s race. Sato ran 15:25 in winning the sectional title by 11 seconds ahead of Will Gelon of Prairie Ridge (15:36). There was a 20 + seconds before Evan Nosek of Kaneland with Ishan Patel of Woodstock and Naif Al Harby of Sycamore finished third through fifth all timed at 15:57.
#10 Marmion Academy had 5 runners in the top 37 to win the team title with 101 points. Kaneland was just four points behind (105 points) finishing second with #11 Prairie Ridge another three points back to finish third (108 points). #18 Grayslake Central scored 136 points to finish fourth. #8 Woodstock (166 points), #25 Dixon (187 points), and Lakes Community (188 points) were the final team qualifiers. More news |
