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Boys Race - #3 Vernon Hills demonstrated Saturday that they will be a team that will be reckoned with for the 2A state championship. The Cougars placed four runners in the first ten to score 45 points to win the sectional championship. #7 Dixon was a distant second with 99 points. Kyle Whitney was Vernon Hills’ first runner finishing third overall. Their split on five was a tight 30 seconds.

#6 Crystal Central finished third (102) only three points behind Dixon. Maple Park Kaneland used a pack that started with a 19^th place finish by Kyle Carter to finish fourth. Prairie Ridge and Grayslake Central tied for fifth both qualifying for the state meet. #19 Belvidere North finished eighth failing to qualify a team for the first time since the school was opened in 2007.

Ryan Pitner (Central HS, Crystal Lake) won the individual race in 15:09 on the Belvidere High School campus course. Simone Thorpe (Dixon HS) was 12 seconds behind in second.

Girls Race - #3 Crystal Lake Central put four runners in between 10^th and 19^th place. It was enough to give the Lady Tigers the sectional title with 103 points. Maddie Dagley led the pack finishing tenth. Their split on four was 24 seconds, 70 seconds overall on five.

Kitty Allen finished third to lead #11 Marengo to a second place finish. #5 Vernon Hills was five points behind in third. Lake Forest earned a state bid finishing fourth with 141 points. #9 Lake Forest finished fourth with 141 points. #8 Kaneland took the final qualifying spot with 176 points.

It was a great individual race. Maura Beattie (Woodstock HS) won the race in 17:44. She was only three seconds ahead of Kelsey Schrader (DeKalb HS). Defending 2A champion Victoria Clinton (Kaneland HS, Maple Park) finished eleventh in this race.

Chicago University Sectional

Boys Race - #10 Jones College Prep placed six runners in the first ten to easily win the team title with 22 points. Peter Schaible won the individual race (15:30) by 24 seconds over teammate Markiyan Protsiv. Their split on five was 54 seconds.

#18 Fenton finished second with 79 points. Elmwood Park qualified finishing third with 110 points. Chicago Lake View placed fourth with 149 points. There was tie for fifth place between Chicago University and Mt. Carmel, both with 172 points. Both teams will qualify for the state meet. Chicago University’s seventh runner, Zach Emanuel, is the son of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Girls Race – Jones completed a sweep of the team titles at this sectional winning with 58 points. The Eagles placed three runners in the first eight paced by the second place finish of Julia Lohman. Chicago Payton, Chicago University, Elmwood Park, and Trinity all qualified for next weekend’s state meet.

Lucy Kenig-Ziesler (University HS, Chicago) won the individual title by 23 seconds over Lohman. Her winning time was 19:07 on the 3 mile Washington Park course.

Decatur MacArthur Sectional

Boys Race – Johnny Leverenz (Danville HS) had control of the race at the mile and cruised to the sectional title winning by 28 seconds over Murphy Affolder (Mascoutah HS). Leverenz’s winning time was 14:52.

#2 Mahomet-Seymour won the team title with 60 points led by a fourth place finish by Alex Keeble. The Bulldogs had a tight 2-5 split of 11 seconds. Their overall split was 31 seconds. #8 Springfield finished second with 93 points. There was a 71 point gap between second and the third through fifth teams. #24 Mascoutah qualified third with 164 points. #21 Waterloo was two points behind in fourth. #13 Chatham-Glenwood was another five points back in fifth with 171 points.

Girls Race – Mads Nelson’s third place finish boosted #8 Springfield to a slim 81-85 sectional title over #6 Chatham-Glenwood. Glenwood was paced by the sixth place finish of Demi Dixon. It was a battle of secondary pack split for the two teams. Springfield’s 2-5 split was 19 seconds. Glenwood’s 2-5 split was 20 seconds. #13 Highland, led by the individual win by Allison Zobrist, was 13 points behind Glenwood in third. Zobrist won the race in 17:52, seven seconds ahead of Lauren Whitehouse (Mahomet-Seymour).

Mahomet-Seymour (4^th- 127 points) and Mattoon (5^th- 148 points) were the final two qualifying teams.

Normal West Sectional

Boys Race – Zach Hird (Alleman HS, Rock Island) had total command of this sectional race winning the individual title. His time of 14:40 was 27 seconds faster than Zac Justus (Pontiac HS). Sam Doud (Bloomington HS) finished two seconds back in third.

#9 Metamora exacted a little bit of revenge from last week’s regional loss to #5 Normal University. Joel Anglin (6^th) and John Mangold (8^th) finished in the top 10 to lead the Redbirds to a 78-98 win over U-High. The split for Metamora was 35 seconds for five runners. #12 Dunlap finished third with 115 points. #14 Rock Island Alleman was fourth with 154 points. There was only nine points separating fifth to seventh place. East Peoria grabbed the final spot with 177 points. Normal West was eight points back in sixth.

Girls Race – Maryjeanne Gilbert (Notre Dame HS, Peoria) tuned up for next week’s huge 2A individual race with a huge sectional win. Her time of 17:10 was 48 seconds ahead of Abby Jockisch (Dunlap HS).

Haley Wills and Ashlee Knott finished 3-6 to lead #14 Washington to the team championship. Their point total of 95 points was 21 points ahead of second place #10 Dunlap. Normal West goes to state after finishing third with 142 points. Normal University and providence Catholic finished 4-5 with only one point separating them. Peoria Notre Dame finished sixth missing qualifying by nine points.

Wheaton Academy Sectional

Boys Race - #1 Illiana Christian won the sectional championship, but it was a close one. Both Illiana and #4 Yorkville scored 44 points. It was the 18^th place finish of 6^th runner Tom McGuire that was the difference for the Vikings. Their overall split on five runners was 37 seconds. #15 Glenbard South, with 6^th place finisher Joe Singleton, finished third with 85 points. #11 Wheaton Academy qualified finishing fourth with 99 points. There was a scoring malfunction for the fifth and final spot. At first, the timers determined that Richards finished fifth. Upon further review, it was determined that #17 Benet Academy was the actual fifth place team. Richards finished eighth.

In a rematch of last week’s regional meet on the same course, John Wold (Glenbard South HS, Glen Ellyn) pulled away at the 1 ½ mile point, then cruised to a 14:58 win on the 3.06 mile course. Wold went through two miles in 9:26. Jake Hoffert (Yorkville HS) was 19 seconds back in second. His brother Luke was third.

Girls Race – Skyler Bollinger stayed with her team to keep the pack together. It was the difference as #2 Yorkville placed four in the first eight to win the team title 50-60 over #1 Glenbard South. Erin Reynolds led the Lady Foxes with a fourth place finish. Their split on the first four was only 17 seconds. Bollinger finished 7^th and was the third runner for her team. #21 Montini finished third led by the third place finish by Brittany Fisher. Rosary was 15 points behind in fourth. It was extremely close for the final qualifying spot as sixteen points separated fifth through eighth place.

Riverside-Brookfield captured the final spot scoring 140 points. They were four points ahead of Nazareth Academy who finished sixth. #16 Wheaton Academy and #18 Lemont finished seventh and eighth failing to qualify. Mailin Struck (Riverside-Brookfield HS) commanded the individual race running 17:27 for the win. Diane Lipa (Glenbard South HS, Glen Ellyn) finished second 36 seconds behind.