ILXCTF – Mike Newman – News – Illinois High School Cross-Country Weekend Highlights

Illinois High School Cross-Country Weekend Highlights – September 18, 2022

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Hot weather hit Illinois again for the second weekend in a row. Autumn season hits this weekend meaning we could have some great racing weather. That does not mean the races we saw on Saturday were not fast. Check out the recap and videos from the Richard Spring Invitational.

Here are highlights from some of the meets in Illinois from this past Saturday.

Minooka Flight Invitational

#13 Maine South won 5 of 7 flight races to win the Boys team title with 22 points Saturday at Channahon Park. Yorkville (31 points), Waubonsie Valley (32 points), Carroll OH (33 points), and Batavia (36 points) finished in the top five. Zachary Balzer of Minooka and Jack Agnew of Carroll OH broke away from the pack early in the championship flight race. Agnew had a good kick to outdistance Balzer to win with a 15:08 time. Balzer was two seconds behind in second-place (15:10). Tommy Nitz of Huntley led the pack running 15:37 to finish third.

#7 Minooka edged #6 Lyons Township 18-19 for the team title with their only flight wins coming from the fifth (Taya Gummerson) and sixth (Cassie Brushaber) flights. #4 Naperville Central (23 points) finished third ahead of #11 Huntley (28 points) and #17 Yorkville (38 points). Breanna Burak of Huntley ran 17:57 to claim the championship flight win. Kate Tueting of Naperville Central ran 18:16 to finish third. Sophia Bruhm of Carroll OH placed third (18:36).

Kaneland Eddington XC Invitational

#3 Downers Grove North made their first trip as a full team to this meet a successful one. The Trojans placed 5 runners in the top 10 to easily win the Boys Varsity team title with only 33 points. Riley Newport of DeKalb pulled away to win the individual title (14:57) by four seconds ahead of Evan Horgan of Belvidere North (15:01).

North only had a 26 second split on their top five runners led by the third-place finish from Topher Ferris. Grant Schroder (5th), Asa Gaspar (6), Caden Weber (9), and Ryan Eddington (10) rounded out the team’s top five. Benet Academy finished second (112 points) just one point ahead of third-place #24 Jacobs (113 points). DeKalb (124 points) and 2A #4 Belvidere North (127 points) finished fourth and fifth.

Hadley Ferrero of Crystal Lake Central won her second race of the season in a convincing manner. The all-state sophomore runner ran 17:47 to win the individual race by 14 seconds…