IHSA Class 3A Sectional Highlights - October 29, 2023

By Michael Newman

Granite City Sectional 

Girls – The weather in the St. Louis area turned out to be good with the rain holding off until after the meet. It allowed for the speedway known as Wilson Park to use their long straightaways to turn to fast times. Tessa Russo of Plainfield South won her second race in a row after winning at Plainfield Central last week. The sophomore ran 16:53.5 on the 3-mile course to win by four seconds ahead of Brea Counihan of Lincoln-Way Central (16:57.9). Morgan Dick of Oswego East (17:18.9), Marlie Czarniewski of Plainfield North (17:24.6), and Ali Ince of Normal Community (17:25.3) were all a part of the top five individuals in this race.

#9 Yorkville was in command in this race from the start winning the Sectional title led by the sixth place finish from Sophia Keeler who ran 17:27. Annabelle Reeder was the second runner for the Foxes running 17:37 to finish tenth. She was followed by Ashley Schraeder (15th), Allegra Triner (20th), and Liliana Camargo (23rd). Yorkville had a 36 second split on their top 5.

#11 Plainfield North continues to run strong finishing second with 91 points having 5 runners in the top 44. The Tigers were led by Russo and Marlie Czarniewski in the top five followed by Elsie Czarniewski (18th), Kaitlyn Ward (29th), and Emaan Hussain (44th). #15 Oswego East finished third (130 points) followed by #13 Lincoln-Way Central (139 points), #8 Minooka (143 points), and Edwardsville (148 points). #20 Lincoln-Way East was the final team to qualify for state from this sectional with 179 points. #26 Normal Community West was the first team out of qualifying missing to go to Peoria by eight points.

Boys – Three of the top four ranked teams in Class 3A did not disappoint in this sectional race ending with some fast times. O’Fallon had the advantage for most of the race with Plainfield North and Plainfield South close behind. All the moves in this race happened in the final half mile with the two Plainfield schools taking charge. The Plainfield South duo of Camyn Viger and Dylan Maloney finished 1-2 to finish off the race. Viger was timed in 14:12.9 for the sectional win followed by Maloney (14:16). Thomas Czerwinski of Plainfield North finished third (14:18.1) followed by O’Fallon’s Dylan Ybarra (14:18.3) and Zach Thoman (14:20.3) finishing fourth and fifth. Owen Stahl of Plainfield North (14:20.9) and Jeremiah Lanum of Bradley-Bourbonnais (14:24.2) rounded out the lead pack finishing sixth and seventh. The next pack started 20 seconds later.

#4 Plainfield North edged #2 Plainfield South 55-64 for the sectional title with #3 O'Fallon scoring 80 points to finish third. All three teams will have a say on who wins the state championship next Saturday.

The Tigers placed 5 runners in the top 21 running a 37 second split on the group. Quinn Davis was the team’s third runner (11th) following Czerwinski and Stahl. Aidan Connors (19th) and Gavin Hall (21st) was the team’s fourth and fifth runners. Eason Miller was the team’s sixth runner finishing two seconds behind Hall running 14:59.

Plainfield South had a 58 split on their top five finishing behind Viger and Maloney. Riley Fink and Joaquin DeAlba were separated by just a second finishing 14th and 16th. Freshman Allex Batsala was the team’s fifth runner placing 38th. The split between Maloney and Fink was 37 seconds. The split between Fink and Batsala was 17 seconds. O’Fallon’s split was 58 seconds in this race behind the finishes from Ybarra and Thoman. Eli Greenstreet was the team’s third runner (14:42) finishing 8th followed by Brayden Kloeppel (25th) and Jackson Gherardini (47th).

Other state qualifiers included #27 Edwardsville scoring 148 points to finish fourth and #25 Lincoln-Way Central scoring 189 points to finish fifth. #23 Yorkville (197 points) and #30 Oswego East (207 points) were the final two teams from this sectional to qualify for the state meet.

(Note: Roland Hopkins contributed to this sectional recap)

Hinsdale Central Sectional

Girls – The course was soft on the corners of Katerine Legge Memorial but did not effect the outcome in both races. Liv Phillips of Naperville Central took the lead after the first turn of the race but had company with Julie Piot of Naperville North determined to stay with the favorite in this race. The two ran side by side for the duration of the race until 400 meters left in the race. Phillips made her move at that point with Piot making an effort to stay close. Phillips would have nothing to do with that running 17:42 for the sectional win. Piot ran 17:49 to finish second with Lily Eddington of Downers Grove North (18:15), Lindsey Gerhardstein of Sandburg (18:24), and Ava Gilley of Downers Grove North (18:30) finishing third through fifth.

#4 Downers Grove North made a move in the second of the race to hold on for the sectional win 54-62 ahead of an ever improving #5 Naperville North. The Trojans placed 4 runners in the top 8 with Alayna Todnem and Sarah Paul finishing 7th and 8th. Hannah Renner was the team’s fifth runner finishing in 32nd place. The team’s top five split was 81 seconds. The split between Paul and Renner was 51 seconds.

Naperville North ended with 5 runners in the top 24 with a 96 second split. Rianna Tandon (6th) and Shania Tandon (11th) were the team’s second and third runners followed by Bridget Kacedan (21st) and Brynn Pfeiffer (24th). The split between Tandon and Pfeiffer was 45 seconds.

#9 Naperville Central scored 100 points to finish third with #10 Sandburg scoring 118 points to finish fourth. #15 Hinsdale Central scored 127 points to place fifth. #14 Lyons Township had a 21 second top five split to help them finish sixth (141 points). #25 Metea Valley made it Peoria scoring 217 points to place seventh.

Boys – This could have been the most exciting finish out of all four Class 3A Boys sectional meets. Zac Close of Neuqua Valley took the lead at 2-miles stretching the distance on talented pack, Defending Class 3A champion Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central was seventh at the half way point following the move that Close had. The two runners were within five seconds of each other with less than 200-meters left. Bandukwala moved and passed Close with 10 meters to go to win the individual race with a 15:10.6 with Close under two seconds back (15:11.9). Ryan Eddington of Downers Grove North and Cooper Marrs of Riverside Brookfield both were timed at 15:24 to finish third and fourth. Cillian Henning of Lyons Township ran 15:25 to place fifth.

#1 Downers Grove North used their pack running to dominate this race helping them to prepare for next week scoring 49 points for the sectional win placing 3 runners in the top 10 and having 5 runners in the top 16. Their top five split was only 24 seconds. Grant Schroder was the team’s second runner behind Eddington finishing sixth. Phillip Cupial finished 9th followed by Caden Weber (15th) and Will Surratt (16th). This was Weber’s first race since running at First to the finish at the beginning of September.

#6 Lyons Township finished second (120 points) led by top 10 finishes by Henning and Nick Strayer (8th). #15 Naperville Central edged #10 Neuqua Valley 140-143 for third. #14 Sandburg (151 points), #16 Riverside-Brookfield (157 points), and #17 Hinsdale Central (173 points) were the final three teams to advance to state from this sectional.

Lake Park Sectional

Girls – There was no doubt after the first mile of this race that York would win the team title. There was a sea of green and white that would support that argument. At the same time, a orange clad runner would be taking matters in her own hands in winning the individual title. Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South has been running great all season with her best racing coming at the championship portion of the season. Poglitsch had an eight second lead on the York pack that included Michaela Quinn and Maggie Owens. By 2-miles, that lead grew to 16 seconds ahead of the same York runners. One runner that was moving through the pack was Sofia Borter of Geneva. The sophomore had moved from ninth at the end of the first mile to the end of the second mile where she had moved into fifth place. It was wire to wire for Poglitsch where she crossed the line in 17:20.3 for the sectional title. Borter moved dramatically in that final mile closing the gap on Poglitsch running 17:32.4 to finish second. Two weeks ago, at the DuKane Conference, Borter was more than 30 seconds behind Poglitsch on this same course. Poglitsch ran 17:31 for the conference title.

It has been a rarity that you would see #1 York run a split of over 30 seconds. The Dukes placed 5 runners in the top 9 scoring 27 points with only a 20 second split. Michaela Quinn ran 17:38 while Maggie Owens ran 17:40 to finish third and fourth. Anna McGrail ran 17:49 to finish fifth ahead of teammate Maggie Quinn (17:56). Katherine Klimek ran 17:58 to finish ninth in this race.

#12 Wheaton North was 88 points behind York finishing second with 112 points. The Falcons were led by a 10-11 finish from Maddie Romaine and June Rectenwald. #16 Huntley scored 163 points to finish third ahead of #23 Maine South (186 points). #19 Wheaton-Warrenville South redeemed themselves from missing state last year by scoring 196 points to finish ahead of the final two qualifiers #22 Batavia (200 points) and #23 Glenbard West (218 points. Hampshire finished eighth missing by 5 points. #21 Oak Park-River Forest missed qualifying by 8 points to finish ninth.

Boys – Josiah Narayanan and his Wheaton-Warrenville South teammates learned a lot two weeks ago in the DuKane Championships when he finished second individually and while the team placed second. That changed dramatically for the #9 Tigers winning their regional race and then a convincing performance in this sectional race. A pack of 10 runners were withing three seconds of Narayanan, Owynn Garrelts of Maine South, and Aidan Murphy of Wheaton North. Narayanan was told before the race by one of his coaches Chris Kuntz to take the lead when he was comfortable. He did that just after the mile from leaving the pack and having a 10 second lead. He went on to run 14:43 to win by 11 seconds ahead of Murphy (14:54) and another second ahead of Garrelts (14:55). Aiden Noel of Wheaton Warrenville South ran 14:58 while Jacob Barraza of DeKalb ran 14:59 as the two finished fourth and fifth. Mohamed Abdullahi of Mather ran 15:01 to place sixth ahead of seventh place Liam O’Connor of Oak Park-River Forrest (15:04). Hampshire Regional winner Tommy Nitz of Huntley got his showed clipped on the tight first turn of the course. He ran with his shoe half on for most of the race but still finished eighth to qualify individually. Zach Saltiel of York ran 15:11 and finished ninth as he passed Will Kozlowski of Lane Tech in the final 10 meters. Kozlowski did not run in his regional race last week due to illness but ran 15:12 to finish tenth.

#9 Wheaton-Warrenville South won their sectional title with 89 points placing 4 runners in the top 29, 5 in the top 51. Their split on the first four runners was 52 seconds and on their top 5 runners at 73 seconds. #13 St. Charles East scored 129 points too finish second. #11 Oak Park-River Forest scored 134 points finishing ahead of Lane Tech (136 points) by two points. Batavia and #26 York both scored 161 points finishing fifth and sixth. York returns to Detweiller Park after missing last year’s meet. They have run at the state now in 59 out of the last 60 state meets. #21 Wheaton North did not have their best race of the year but still qualified for state finishing seventh (180 points).

Hoffman Estates Sectional

Girls – The Busse Woods course was messy on this Sectional Saturday. It did not seem to bother #3 Barrington in this race placing 5 runners in the top 14 to win the sectional championship 33-56 ahead of #2 Prospect. The Fillies were helped by a 1-2 finish led by the win from Scout Storms running 17:01 with teammate Mia Sirois running 17:13 to finish second. Prospect’s Veronica Znajda was one second behind Sirois running 17:14 to finish third. Anna Lester of Vernon Hills (17:37), Meg Peterson of Prospect (17:43), and Danielle Jensen of McHenry (17:45) were the next three races to finish.

The key in the race was that the Fillies won the individual battles in the top five. Barrington had a 75 second split on their top 5 with Sabrina Roach finishing 8th followed by Abby Lewis (13th) and Angelica Hil (14th). Prospect had 5 runners finish in the top 26 led by Lily Ginsberg finish 10th behind Znajda and Peterson. Ireland Wildhart (17th) and Sophie Fransen (26th) were the Knights fourth and fifth runners. The team’s top five split was 89 seconds.

#6 Hersey had an impressive performance scoring 112 points to finish third ahead of #27 Warren Township (183 points) and #30 New Trier (201 points). Unranked Loyola Academy ran their best of the season scoring 217 points to place sixth. #29 Lake Zurich made it to state scoring 226 points for the final qualifying spot.

Boys – Ben Crane won the individual title to help #8 New Trier win the team title with 93 points. Crane ran 14:53 for the win with Rory Gaan of Fremd running 14:59 to finish second. Brian Hatoum of Highland Park ran 15:03 to finish third ahead of Joe Bregenzer of Barrington (15:12) and Nate Wehner of Highland Park (15:14). The Trevians ended up with 5 runners in the top 46 in this race with a 54 second split. Felix Hekster finished 11th to lead the pack behind Crane. Atticus Miller (16th), Walter Garrett (26th), and Michael Moran (46th) were part of the top five. Their split between Hekster and Moran was 27 seconds.

#7 Hersey finished second (116 points led by a top 10 finish by Zac Frayder who finished seventh. The Huskies placed 5 runners in the top 41 with just a 27 second split. #5 Barrington finished third (139 points) followed by #18 Highland (155 points), and Fremd (172 points). Deerfield had a 23 second split on their top 5 for the first time in the large school race for the first time since 1982 scoring 181 points. Deerfield had qualified for the 2A state meet six times in between the AA appearance. Prospect was the final team to qualify scoring 203 points finishing seventh.