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Yorkville’s Owen Horeni is the Record Newspapers boys track and field Athlete of the Year · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Yorkville's Owen Horeni is the Record Newspapers Boys Track and
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  Speaker 1: Field Athlete of the Year. Written by Joshua Well, this
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  Speaker 1: article is being read by an automated voice brought to
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  Speaker 1: you by Everlett. Owen Horeni was in a sense, born
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  Speaker 1: to run. The recent Yorkville graduate played soccer growing up
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  Speaker 1: like his parents. His parents also ran, and the family
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  Speaker 1: neighborhood had a sort of running club, so Horeni grew
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  Speaker 1: up around running. Harenni ran with his dad and ran
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  Speaker 1: intramurals in elementary school. Herenni can still remember competing at
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  Speaker 1: the Fox Trot Middle School Invitational, where he took third
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  Speaker 1: while in sixth grade. Growing up in that community, I
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  Speaker 1: was almost born into it, Herenni said. That race was
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  Speaker 1: a big eye opener for me. I thought maybe I
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  Speaker 1: could compete. Coming to Yorkville High School with a running pedigree,
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  Speaker 1: Horeni left as one of the school's most decorated runners. Horenni,
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  Speaker 1: at this year's is A State Track and Field meet,
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  Speaker 1: placed second in the Class three a eight hundred meter run,
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  Speaker 1: his fifth state medal. That came on the heels of
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  Speaker 1: placing third at the Class three A state cross country meet.
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  Speaker 1: In the fall, the best finish ever by a Yorkville
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  Speaker 1: runner in Class three A. Horenni is the Record Newspapers
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  Speaker 1: Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Honestly, it
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  Speaker 1: all went better than I could have expected, Horeni said,
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  Speaker 1: in reflecting on his high school career. Coming in, I
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  Speaker 1: wanted to be successful watching it all payoff, looking back
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  Speaker 1: and reflecting, it's been a ride and so fun. It's
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  Speaker 1: a sport that nobody else can claim your successes. So
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  Speaker 1: happy with how I have grown as a runner and
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  Speaker 1: grown as a person. Horeni, who will run collegiately at
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  Speaker 1: Notre Dame, is not quite done with his track season.
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  Speaker 1: He will compete at New Balanced Nationals in Philadelphia, running
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  Speaker 1: the eight hundred and one mile. He checked off a
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  Speaker 1: huge personal goal on June fourth at the Hokah Festival
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  Speaker 1: of Mine in Saint Louis, finishing the eight hundred and
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  Speaker 1: one forty eight point five to eight. It really is
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  Speaker 1: a huge mental thing for me, Herenni said. I had
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  Speaker 1: gone one fifty four my freshman year, one fifty two
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  Speaker 1: as a sophomore, one fifty one junior year. It was
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  Speaker 1: a huge step up for me, huge for me knowing
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  Speaker 1: that I could break that barrier. It was so much fun.
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  Speaker 1: I loved racing there. It was a brand new experience
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  Speaker 1: and I capitalized on that opportunity. It meant a lot
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  Speaker 1: coming back from State and not running as well as
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to run. Harenni, who was looking for his
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  Speaker 1: first state title in the eight hundred after finishing second
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  Speaker 1: as a junior, took to the lead in that race
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  Speaker 1: with three hundred and fifty meters to go, but he
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  Speaker 1: was passed by Washington's Ben Gorsage with one hundred to go,
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  Speaker 1: settling for another second place finish in one fifty one
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  Speaker 1: point zero seven. I want to say it was a
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  Speaker 1: learning experience at State, Harenni said. It was less of
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  Speaker 1: a racing maturity thing and more of a mental thing.
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  Speaker 1: It happened. Happy for Ben. It happened. Now it's time
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  Speaker 1: to move on. It was a heartbreaker, a little happens
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  Speaker 1: to everybody, But racing that next week and finishing on
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  Speaker 1: top in Saint Louis was a cherry on top. The
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  Speaker 1: race at State was one of only two open races
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  Speaker 1: that Herenni did not win this spring. The other race
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  Speaker 1: was a huge moment for Herenni at the prestigious Arcadia
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  Speaker 1: Invitational on April eleventh in California. Herenni took third and
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  Speaker 1: one five zero dot two to five comma at the time,
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  Speaker 1: the number one eight hundred time by an Illinois runner
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  Speaker 1: and seventh best nationally. It was awesome, Herenni said. Arcadia
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  Speaker 1: was a race that I watched as a freshman and sophomore.
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  Speaker 1: Junior year, I figured out a way to get out
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  Speaker 1: there and race the eight hundred. A huge experience, and
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  Speaker 1: I didn't race as well as I wanted to. Senior year.
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  Speaker 1: I felt confident, felt in the time schedule that it
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  Speaker 1: was an introduction to championship racing. Herenni went on to
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  Speaker 1: beat the time with a one five zero dot one
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  Speaker 1: eight comma and also won the one thousand six hundred
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  Speaker 1: at conference and at Sectionals, he recorded a season best
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  Speaker 1: four h nine seventy seven one thy six hundred to
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  Speaker 1: win distance night at Palatine. It was a grind the
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  Speaker 1: entire season, knowing that I had the end goal in
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  Speaker 1: mind of winning State. There were a lot of ups
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  Speaker 1: and downs, but mainly ups. Herenni said. It was definitely
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  Speaker 1: a year of growth for me, a huge year. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: it was for Hereni, but also Yorkville's team. The Fox
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  Speaker 1: has won the Southwest Prairie Conference championship for the first
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  Speaker 1: time and also the sectional title. We have been working
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  Speaker 1: toward it since my freshman year, Herenni said, It's been
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  Speaker 1: in our mind the entire time. Horeni admitted it's a
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  Speaker 1: little hard to weigh long term goals collegiately with the
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  Speaker 1: NCAA's proposed five and five seconds age based eligibility model
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  Speaker 1: for Division I athletes, but he does have some short
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  Speaker 1: term goals in mind. One goal is I want to
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  Speaker 1: make the ACC roster for either cross country, indoor track,
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  Speaker 1: or outdoor track. It's a big goal because the ACC
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  Speaker 1: is so competitive. Herenni said. It will be a grind,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm excited to move on, move into Notre Dame
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  Speaker 1: and get settled.