2025 XC Conference Rundown: Wednesday Conference Edition

Conference week is upon us and Illinois Running News will be writing previews for the top conference meets in the State this week. Check us out every day this week to read about your favorite conference meet!

SWC Conference

Key Boys Teams: Edwardsville, O’Fallon

Key Boys Individuals: Brayden Kloeppel (O’Fallon), Colin Thomas (Edwardsville), Cooper Wittek (Edwardsville)

Key Girls Teams: Edwardsville, O’Fallon

Key Girls Individuals: Ellie Bush (O’Fallon), Ella Thompson (Edwardsville), Morgan Popelar (Edwardsville)

Outlook: One of the top rated programs in Illinois will look to sweep the team titles. Both Edwardsville teams are ranked within the top 20 in 3A and they are expected to take big team wins here. Their boys will have to compete with Brayden Kloeppel of O’Fallon. Who is likely going to take the individual win. He was a stud during the track season and he ran 14:24 at the Richard Spring invite. He’s going to be tough to beat individually, so Edwardsville will look towards filling all the spots behind him. Cooper Wittek and Colin Thomas are the core two scorers for the Tigers, they should go 2 and 3 here. On the girls side, Ellie Bush of O’Fallon will be the narrow favorite over Ella Thompson and Morgan Popelar of Edwardsville. Bush is the only sub 18 girl in the field, when she ran 17:49 at Richard Spring. However, Thompson and Popelar both ran 18:15 and 18:17 on the much slower Peoria invite. It could be a close race between these three, but as of now, Bush has the slight edge.