Photo: Daniel Chen of IMSA leading just after the mile on his way to the win at the Aurora City Championships (Mike Newman Photo)

By Michael Newman

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The first week of high school cross-country this season ended with some fresh faces stepping into the spotlight. It also had some recognizable runners and teams that opened their season making statements.

Yorkville’s Girls team opened with a win on Monday. You can read about their meet here.

Top ranked Downers Grove North is one of the best teams in the nation. Even without two of their top seven not running on Wednesday, the Trojans rolled to a win on their home course. Read more about that race here.

There were not a ton of meets on Saturday. What we did see deserves to be looked at in depth. We will also look at some of the other races during the week.

Normal West Invitational

Two of the state’s powerhouse Girls teams Minooka and Dunlap faced off at Normal’s Maxwell Park on Saturday. It was Dunlap that was on top. The #2 2A Girls team in the state placed their five scorers in the first seven to win the team title with only 21 points. Minooka, ranked #6 in 3A, was next with 36 points. The first fifteen runners in this race were either Minooka or Dunlap athletes.

Minooka’s Emily Shelton was under control throughout the race as she pulled away for the win (17:34) 12 seconds ahead of Dunlap’s Campbell Petersen. The freshman ran 17:47 at Detweiller at Dark at the end of July. It just makes Dunlap’s pack that much deeper. The Eagles 46 second split on five runners also included Franny Verville, Abby Johnson, and Ayah Aldadah placing third through fifth. Kate Piper was the team’s fifth runner as she finished seventh.

Minooka had five runners in the first eleven. Their split from Shelton to their fifth runner Julia Dames was 1:47. That is a better start than they had a year ago. Their split from #2 runner Vivian Van Eck (sixth overall) and Dames was only 53 seconds.

Minooka won the Boys race even without one of their top runners Jordan Freese. The Indians scored 35 points for the win ahead of 2A #7 Normal West (74 points) and Mt. Zion (77 points. Mt. Zion’s Mason Jones won the individual race (15:38) ahead of Normal West’s Tyler Dunn. Minooka, who had a 45 second split on their five scorers, were led by a fourth-place finish from Mark Dames.

First to the Finish Kickoff Meet @ SIU-Edwardsville

It was a great day for Mascoutah teams in this meet predominately dominated by 1A schools in the field. The Indians left the SIU-Edwardsville campus with both Boys and Girls team titles.

It started in the Girls race where Mascoutah put their five scorers between 13^th and 26^th place to score 88 points for the win. Led by Julia Capp, Mascoutah had only a 26 second split on their top four runners. Their overall five-runner split was 49 seconds.

A team to watch in 1A this year will be Springfield Lutheran. They had 4 runners in the top 24 as they scored 111 points to finish second. 1A #16 Freeburg (116 points), #10 St. Teresa (130 points), and #8 Breese Mater Dei (192 points) rounded out the top five.

Lydia Roller of Staunton was the new face out front in the Girls race. The freshman took home the individual title (19:53.9) by 15 seconds ahead of Freeburg’s Breanna Chandler.

Mascoutah demonstrated the same pack running as they did in the Girls race. They scored 110 points to win the team title headed by Casmir Cozzi’s 16^th place finish. Their five-runner split was only 44 seconds. 1A #9 Freeburg was without their top runner Charlie Parrish who will make his season debut at Granite City on September 2. Corbin Schwable finished sixth to lead the Midgets to second with 128 points. Missouri school Cape Gireadeau Notre Dame scored 198 points to finish third.

The surprise early in this season in the southern part of the state has been cross-country newcomer Father McGivney. The school from Glen Carbon is in their first year of cross-country competition. It does not look like it in the way they have run in their first two meets. They won easily on Monday at New Athens. They followed up on Saturday with a fourth-place finish (205 points) led by freshman Ross Bushur’s eighth-place finish. #14 Pinckneyville finished fifth (225 points).

Jackson Stewart of St. Teresa will be one of the top runners this fall in 1A. He started off his 2017 campaign with a win (16:29) finishing six seconds ahead of Trenton-Wesclin freshman Justin Mumford (16:35.1) and another second ahead of Breese Mater Dei’s Luke Goebel.

Aurora City Championships

Waubonsie Valley’s Boys team and Rosary’s Girls teams came away with the team championships. It was the individual races that took the spotlight. Both races did not come down to the wire for the win but dominating race strategies by both winners.

Daniel Chen of Illinois Math & Science Academy broke the race open just before the mile as he went through in 4:55 while the rest of the pack was 13 seconds back. Chen felt the fast-early pace during the second mile as Metea Valley’s Rokas Gudinavicius and Wes York of Waubonsie Valley were slowing closing the gap. Chen pulled away for the win on the 5-kilometer course (16:22). York passed Gudinavicius in the final 10-meters to finish second. Gudiniavicius is new to the sport having played soccer before. It was a good first race for him.

3A #25 Marmion Academy did not run their top six runners leaving the door wide-open for a young but talented Waubonsie Valley team. Led by York’s second-place finish, the Warriors all five of their scorers in the first 13 to win the team title with 44 points. West Aurora was next with 59 points.

Four runners were together at 6:10 for the first mile in the Girls race. When the lead vehicle came out of the back loop, it was Waubonsie Valley’s Ashley Heidenrich that was all alone. The sophomore had a 15 second lead just after two-miles. She went on to run 19:27 to win the race by 30 seconds ahead of Rosary’s Claire Hengesbaugh.

It was a tight three-team battle for the Girls team title. Rosary placed 5 runners in the first 14 to score 45 points. Waubonsie Valley was next with 51 points followed by Metea Valley (53 points). The outcome may have been different if Metea Valley had their top two runners from the Frosh/Soph race (Brooke Bolger and Natalie Weisman) up on varsity.

McHenry County Championships @ Emmricson Park, Woodstock

No team scores were kept in this meet. It was the season debut of Crystal Lake South’s Jack Becker. The 3A all-state runner from a year ago, Becker ran 15:36 to win the individual race 11 seconds ahead of Jacobs junior Zach Albrecht.

It was close in the Girls race as Cary-Grove sophomore Allison Drage pulled away for the win (19:07.9) some six seconds ahead of Woodstock’s Kylie Hagmann (19:13.8).

Plainfield City Championships

3A #25 Plainfield North put the first six runners across the line before anyone else in the Girls race scoring a perfect 15 points. Juliana Stogsdill won her second race of the week as she finished in 18:38 for 3-miles. Teammate Megan Patton finished second (19:12).

3A #8 Plainfield South showed their packing ability placing five runners in the top ten to earn bragging rights in the city scoring 25 points for the win. #11 Plainfield North scored 43 points to finish second. North’s Omar Paramo was the individual winner (15:30) as he finished six seconds ahead of South’s Christian Knowlton. South’s split on their top five was only 34 seconds.

Morris Early Bird Invitational (Wednesday)

The Girls race is one of mentioning especially since it featured three of the top 2A runners in the state. Rachel Richtman of Kaneland took home the individual win (18:13.2) as she finished just five seconds ahead of LaSalle-Peru’s Rachel Hickey (18:18.2). Kayla Schiera of Sandwich finished third (18:36.8).

2A #5 Kaneland was impressive placing 5 runners in the first 11 to score only 23 points for the team championship. Glenbard South finished second (80 points) ahead of Morris (83 points) and LaSalle-Peru (87 points).

Seneca won the Boys team title with 65 points led by Christopher Collet’s individual win. The junior ran 16:47 to finish three seconds ahead of Luis Aguilar of Ottawa Marquette with Streator’s Danny Rodriguez running 16:54.5 to finish third.