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The Times 2026 boys and girls cross country preview · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: The Times 2026 Boys and Girls Cross Country Preview. Written
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  Speaker 1: by Brian Hoxie. This article is being read by an
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  Speaker 1: automated voice brought to you by Everlit. Ottawa coach Dan Heaver,
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  Speaker 1: Ninth Season Boys. Top returning runners, Atlas Brown Jr., Aries
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  Speaker 1: Brown Jr., Joey Hamer Jr., Connor Medina, so Brody Maynard,
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  Speaker 1: so Vinny Zuber, so... Key newcomers, Guy Runyon, so Tucker Clemens, F.R.
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  Speaker 1: Landon Gustafson, F.R. Ramiro Lazaro Corona, F.R. Jackson Rogers, F.R.
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  Speaker 1: Nolan Woods, F.R. Girls. Top returning runners, Hallie Loza, S.R.
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  Speaker 1: Zadie Ortiz, S.R. Ailey Harstead, S.R. Georgia Kirkpatrick, Junior Jasmine Adams,
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  Speaker 1: Junior Leah Ferentino, Junior Sophia Hart, Junior Ocean Fowler, so
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  Speaker 1: Kai Berry, so Elizabeth Arnold, so Key newcomers, Harper Carlson, F.R.
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  Speaker 1: Kennedy Kirkpatrick, F.R. Cameron Lascha, F.R. Isabella Maynard, F.R. McKenna Moore, F.R.
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  Speaker 1: Jocelyn Runyon, F.R. Carson Walker, F.R. Worth noting, at first glance,
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  Speaker 1: this might look like a rebuilding year for the Pirates,
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  Speaker 1: and in some ways it will be with such a
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  Speaker 1: young roster. However, Ottawa returns its top two runners on
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  Speaker 1: both sides in Georgia Kirkpatrick and Harstad for the girls,
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  Speaker 1: and Medina and Atlas Brown for the boys. We lost
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  Speaker 1: a lot of varsity experience and leadership from last year
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  Speaker 1: so there will definitely be some growing pains with such
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  Speaker 1: a young group heaver said we have a lot of
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  Speaker 1: younger athletes who are ready to compete for varsity spots
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  Speaker 1: there's going to be a lot of competition within both
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  Speaker 1: teams and we're excited to see how much this group
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  Speaker 1: can improve over the course of the season streeter coach
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  Speaker 1: devin doughty second season boys top returning runners trenton studnicki
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  Speaker 1: junior jack reese so avery missile so cooper galuba so
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  Speaker 1: Key newcomers Bennett Burrell, FR Braden Hanses, FR Phoenix Velasquez,
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  Speaker 1: FR Girls. Top returning runners Giselle Guadarrama, SR Rhea Huey,
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  Speaker 1: SR Elizabeth Davis, SR Brianna Chavez, SR Luca Trammell Jr.
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  Speaker 1: Worth noting, the Bulldogs return a handful of experienced runners
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  Speaker 1: on both sides and will hope to record lower times
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  Speaker 1: as the season progresses. Studnicki, 66-21, 16.8, was the top
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  Speaker 1: finisher for the boys squad at the Morris Early Bird
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  Speaker 1: Invite while Huey, 37th, 22-29, and Trammell, 38th, 23 o'clock,
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  Speaker 1: led the way on the girls' side. Marquette coach, Mary Schiltz,
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  Speaker 1: third season boys, top returning runners, McKinley Thompson, SR, Shea Connor, SR,
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  Speaker 1: Logan Leskenich, Jr., Caden Hauser, so, Mason Ferrario, so, girls'
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  Speaker 1: top returning runner, Cecilia Reynolds, so. Worth noting, Thompson led
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  Speaker 1: the way for the Crusaders by opening the season, finishing
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  Speaker 1: 52nd in a time of 19, 25.1 at the Morris
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  Speaker 1: Early Bird Invite. while Connor placed 75th and 23, 7.2.
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  Speaker 1: Seneca Coach, Kim Foster, Ninth Season Boys. Top Returning Runners,
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  Speaker 1: Liam Bama, Callum Wright, Brady Fort, Landon Hebel, Pierce Gilbertson,
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  Speaker 1: Chris Thompson, Alex Zydrin, Gavin Coulombe Key Newcomers, Cameron Chapman,
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  Speaker 1: Henry Tallarico Girls. Top Returning Runners, Talia Jenkins, Julie Muller,
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  Speaker 1: Taylor Schaefer. Key Newcomers, Josie Mueller, Ellie Thompson, Aurora Jackson,
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  Speaker 1: Annika Jackson. Worth noting, Foster expects the boys' side to
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  Speaker 1: be led by Baima and Wright, with Hebel and Fort
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  Speaker 1: set to have solid seasons. On the girls' side, Julie
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  Speaker 1: Josie Mueller are expected to be the frontrunners. Both teams
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  Speaker 1: are working hard, and I'm confident we will see personal
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  Speaker 1: bests all season long, Foster said. They are ready to
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  Speaker 1: compete and excited to see their times drop as the
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  Speaker 1: season progresses. Sandwich. Coach, Mickalene Bell, first season boys. Top
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  Speaker 1: returning runners, Logan Trigg, Jr., Lincoln Minnard, Jr., Damian Walsh, Jr.,
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  Speaker 1: key newcomers, Matthew Baez, Jr., Grayson Sinclair, Jackson Miller, FR,
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  Speaker 1: Aiden Quellum, FR, girls. Top returning runners, Kayla Cresson, SR,
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  Speaker 1: Isla Stevens, SR, Olivia Agajanian, so Norovic, SR. Key newcomers,
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  Speaker 1: Raina Moyer, so Gwen Ryan, FR. Worth noting, the Sandwich
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  Speaker 1: Boys were Kishwaukee River Conference runners-up, and regional champions last season.
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  Speaker 1: Trigg Menard and Walsh returned to comprise most of the
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  Speaker 1: Indians' top four this fall. We have a strong top
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  Speaker 1: four and are hoping to bump up our freshmen to
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  Speaker 1: round out our team, Bell said. Our returning upperclassmen are
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  Speaker 1: working hard and have amazing individual goals for the year.
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  Speaker 1: Our freshmen have proven they are capable and ready to
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  Speaker 1: compete at the varsity level. We are looking forward to
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  Speaker 1: a promising season. On the girls' side, the Indians won
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  Speaker 1: KRC and regional titles and qualified for state with the
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  Speaker 1: starred powered engine that was Sonny Weber, who won the
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  Speaker 1: Class 1 Across Country State Championship. Weber is now a
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  Speaker 1: Duke Blue Devil and Sandwich has a new coach. Crescent
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  Speaker 1: Stevens and Agajanian all return after competing at the state meet.
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  Speaker 1: We may be small, but we are large with talent,
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  Speaker 1: Bell said. Our ladies have proven that they are ready
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  Speaker 1: to compete. They have set competitive goals that will push
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  Speaker 1: them throughout the season. We cannot wait to see what
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  Speaker 1: they are capable of, especially once we hit competition season.
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  Speaker 1: Skylar Casellas contributed to this report. Somanak, Leland Coach. Sam Freitag,
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  Speaker 1: fourth season, boys. Top returning runners, Caden Hamer-Jones, SR. Aiden Wesson, SR.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel Spiema, SSR. Porter Snyder, Jr. Raul Hernandez, Jr. Isaac Noble, so.
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  Speaker 1: Key newcomer, Blake Wesson, FR. Girls top returning runner, Emma Rominski, SR.
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  Speaker 1: Key newcomers, Maggie Hamer, FR. Avery Hamer, FR. Vivian Deacon, FR.
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  Speaker 1: Hunter McCoy, FR. Worth noting, the Bobcats co-op, returns a
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  Speaker 1: number of runners that Freitag is expecting to have great
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  Speaker 1: seasons after success a year ago. I am proud of
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  Speaker 1: these runners for putting together a full boys and girls team,
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  Speaker 1: Freitag said. Last year, our boys team and Emma Ruminski
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  Speaker 1: made it to sectionals. This year, I am hopeful that
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  Speaker 1: both teams will make it. A large chunk of our
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  Speaker 1: team has times in the teens, so I know their
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  Speaker 1: eyes are already set on state. Newark coach, Ashley Monroe,
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  Speaker 1: third season, boys, runners, Teejan Brits, so Austin Rabel, SR,
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  Speaker 1: Jameson Kelly, SR girls. Runners, Anna Kreps, are Easton Kempiak, SR.
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  Speaker 1: Worth noting, Brits, Rabel, and Kelly will run as individuals
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  Speaker 1: at meets this fall for the boys team, as Newark
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  Speaker 1: does not have a full team. Brits and Rabel have
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  Speaker 1: already competed in two races. Kreps and Kempiak will run
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  Speaker 1: as individuals at meets for the girls. Neither has competed
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  Speaker 1: in a meet yet this season. Skyler Kislis contributed to
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  Speaker 1: this report, Fieldcrest coach. Chad Quinnell Boy's top returning runner,
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  Speaker 1: Ryland Valaza SR. Key newcomers, Gavin Dyckman, F.R. Abram Harazak, F.R.
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  Speaker 1: James Stolt, F.R. Girls. Top returning runners, Chloe Nussbaum, so
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  Speaker 1: Torgan Hovey Jr. Worth noting, the Knights field a boys
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  Speaker 1: team for the first time since 2024. Four of Fieldcrest's
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  Speaker 1: six competitors are freshmen, three of whom figure to be
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  Speaker 1: the team's leading finishers. Dyckman placed 93rd in last year's
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  Speaker 1: ISA Class 2, a state meet, and is on track
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  Speaker 1: to lead the pack. Abram Haraslak and James Stolt are
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  Speaker 1: looking to work with Gavin to create a 1-2-3 tandem
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  Speaker 1: as they grow into being the key parts of the
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  Speaker 1: varsity team over the next few years, Kuhnel said. Nussbaum
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  Speaker 1: and Hovey are the Knights' lone girls competitors this season.
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  Speaker 1: Nussbaum led the team with a 53-place finish at regionals
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  Speaker 1: last year. Both ladies are ready to work together to
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  Speaker 1: build each other up while putting in the extra work
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  Speaker 1: and effort to continue to gain more PRs throughout the year,
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  Speaker 1: Quennell said. Kevin Schlum contributed to this report, Flanagan-Cornell coach,
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  Speaker 1: Paul Lebrecht first season boys, Runas-Keegan-Vishman Jr.- Landon- Leon' s affair. Worth noting,
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  Speaker 1: this is the program's first year in 40 years, Lebrecht said.
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  Speaker 1: We are excited to see improvement over the season and
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  Speaker 1: set the foundation to grow the program. Dwight coach, Lawrence Lane,
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  Speaker 1: 29th season boys. Top returning runners, Joe Ferris, SR Luke Josephic,
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  Speaker 1: David Allen, so Michael Josephic, so. Key newcomer, Axel Kargel,
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  Speaker 1: junior girls. Top returning runners, Mikaika Chambers, SR Chloe Byros, so.
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  Speaker 1: Key newcomers, Nicole Schmidt, so Libby Stepanovich, FR. Worth noting.
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  Speaker 1: Ferris and Chambers have both qualified for state all three
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  Speaker 1: previous seasons, the former moving up every year with a
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  Speaker 1: 15-28 finish time last season. and the latter with a
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  Speaker 1: 43 second and 35 place improvement with her 18-37 effort.
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  Speaker 1: Our summer attendance and running are as good as I
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  Speaker 1: can remember as a cross-country coach, Lane said. The athletes
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  Speaker 1: are excited for the season to start. Health and determination
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  Speaker 1: to succeed is quite high. I have seen improvement in
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  Speaker 1: everyone since summer work began. The sessions the team is
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  Speaker 1: putting in are necessary to build a great base of
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  Speaker 1: mileage for fall success.