Date: October 19th, 2024
Location: Maxwell Park; Normal, IL
Time Schedule:
9:15am - 1A Girls
10:00am - 1A Boys
10:45pm - 2A Girls
11:30pm - 2A Boys
12:15pm - 3A Girls
1:00pm - 3A Boys
1:45pm - 4A Girls
2:30pm - 4A Boys
Boys Teams: Grayslake (Prairie Crossing), Pingree Grove (Cambridge Lakes), Crystal Lake (Prairie Grove), Elmhurst (Visitation), Chicago (Old St. Mary's), LaGrange (St. Francis Xavier), Orland Park (St. Michael), Seneca, Clifton Nash, St. Joseph, Paris (Mayo), Casey-Westfield, Tremont, Normal (Metcalf), Heyworth, Germantown Hills, Mossville, Rock Island (Jordan Catholic), Shelbyville (Moulton), Sullivan, Litchfield, Petersburg (PORTA), Springfield (Blessed Sacrament), Carlinville
Girls Teams: Crystal Lake (Prairie Grove), Grayslake (Prairie Crossing), Round Lake Park, Chicago (St. Benedict), LaGrange (St. Francis Xavier), Elmhurst (Visitation), Orland Park (St. Michael), Clifton Nash, Seneca, St. Joseph, Marshall, Kansas, Normal (Metcalf), Tremont, Mackinaw (Dee-Mack), Elmwood, Mossville, Chillicothe, Shelbyville (Moulton), Sullivan, Staunton, Athens, Springfield (Blessed Sacrament), Pleasant Plains
Girls -
Shelbyville Moulton has dominated the rest of the state the entire season up to this point. They have won every single meet and the expectation is the state meet will be the same result. What we will witness this weekend is pure dominance. This team will be chasing the moniker of being the best best Middle School team in state history. Leah Shoaff and Hazel Atkins lead this team and will be both battling for top 5 positions. Tessa Tomblin, Natalie Nohren, and Graclyn Stephens will all be battling for an all-state position. This team could challenge the 50 point barrier this weekend. All 5 members were part of Moulton's 4th place finish last year at the state meet. Chicago St. Benedict leads the chase pack in the field. Much like Moulton they have a great 1-2 punch of Chloe Milton and Berrit Shure who will be racing for top 5 positions. Maren Castelli has looked great this season up to this point. She will be in all-state contention as well. The key will be keeping their 5th runner as close to 13:00 as possible. This team took runner up last year. Normal Metcalf looked to be on the right track after the Sectional. They won with a score of 32 points in a win over Tremont. They were led up front by Harper Funk and Tessa Kendall who both were under 12:30 at the Sectional. The key for this team will be keeping their 3-5 pack within 30 seconds of each other. Athens made a massive step forward at the sectional as they won over Springfield Blessed Sacrament with a score of 29 points. Corinn Hart really stepped up and looks like a potential top 10 runner this weekend. Their pack of Gracelyn Grimsley, Fayth Sokolis, and Emily Patton had a split of 4 seconds at the sectional. That will be very helpful at the state meet. The key for this team will be keeping their 5th runner out of the back of the pack. Springfield Blessed Sacrament is led by superstar individual Phoebe DeFrain who will be in contention for a top 5 finish at the least. They didn't have their best race of the season at the sectional but have been one of the best teams in the classification all year. They will be in the trophy hunt here. Elmwood returns five runners from their 10th place team a year ago and enters this meet as a wildcard in the trophy race. They got a big win at the Sectional over a very good Mossville squad. They had a 105 split of 54 seconds at the Sectional. If they can find each other during the race and move up together this could be a dangerous group.
This individual field is the best field in any of the classifications. Audrey Dickinson of Glasford Illini Bluffs enters this meet as the favorite to bring home the individual title, but it wont be easy. She has yet to lose this season. Sporting a PR of 11:34 heading into the state meet is very impressive and will make it interesting as she will finally have some competition around her. Chloe Milton of Chicago St. Benedict took 59th a year ago as her teams 5th runner. This year she will be fighting for an individual state title. She was very impressive at the sectional where she ran 11:37 for a massive PR. She beat a solid field that included teammates Berrit Shure. Shure was 4th in this race last year and will be looking to rekindle some magic this weekend. She ran 5:07 in the mile this spring so has the pedigree to stake her name into this race. Hazel Atkins of Shelbyville Moulton will challenge for the individual win here. She had a phenomenal season up to this point with her only loss being against her teammate. She sports a PR of 11:45 and it will likely take a performance under 11:40 to win this state title. Her teammates Leah Shoaff will be one of the top runners to watchin this race. She was 3rd here last year and is the top returner in the field. Phoebe DeFrain of Springfield Blessed Sacrament has suffered defeats to both Audrey Dickinson and Hazel Atkins this year, but could potentially still challenge for the win here. She has ran 11:50 already this season and if she pieces the right race together here she could surprise some. Harper Funk of Normal Metcalf was 7th in this race last year and will be a key runner to watch for. Her season hasn't been the best up to this point, but can rekindle some great racing here. Ava Driskill of Pleasant Plains didn't run at the Sectional, but sports a PR of 11:44. If she does run at the state meet expect her to be in the mix.
Boys -
The team race looks to be clear with Elmhurst Visitation coming in as the heavy favorite and looking to potentially be one of the greatest teams in IESA history. They dominated the Sectional which held some other trophy contenders. The craziest part? They did that without Joey McKillop who was the state runner-up last year. We could potentially see this group score under 40 points and that point total will be even lower if Joey McKillop runs. Chicago Old St. Mary took 2nd at their Sectional behind Visitation. This team is young and next year could be their year to bring home a state title, but this year they will try and take home a 2nd place trophy. They had a 1-5 split of 45 seconds at the Sectional and are led by Edward Maley and Julien Duque who both could be potential all-staters. LaGrange St. Francis Xavier took 3rd at that sectional and will also be in the trophy hunt here. They have a great pack who had a 1-5 split at the Sectional of 16 seconds. This is a very strong thing to have heading into a state championship. Germantown Hills won the Sectional with a score of 54 points. They are led by Zane Kingham who is one of the top individuals in the classification. Their 2-4 had a split of 3 seconds at Sectionals. The key for this group will be trying to get their 5th runner to move up closer to their pack. Other teams like Tremont, Normal Metcalf, and Grayslake Prairie Crossing could also sneak into the trophy positions.
Jacob McKillop of Elmhurst Visitation seems to be the favorite entering the state meet after his 10:28 performance at Sectionals. His only loss of the year came at the hands of his twin brother Joey McKillop. Joey didn't run at the Sectional, but if he runs at the state meet then we could potentially see the twins go 1-2. Gavin Moffat of Latin was second at the Sectional behind McKillop. He has had a great season up to this point as he has ran 10:46. He was 4th in this race a year ago. Greyson Ince of Normal Metcalf took 8th in this race last year. He has looked strong over his last few races in winning fashion. He could potentially see himself in the hunt for the individual title. Zane Kingham of Germantown Hills Has been getting better it feels like with each race this season. He looked great at his sectional which he won in 11:05. He didn't have his best race last year at the state meet, he will look for this year to be a different result. James Masaka of Northridge Prep was third in the sectional at Legion Park in 10:50. He has steadily gotten better at each meet this year. He was 1 spot off being an all-stater last fall. He will be running for a top 5 spot here. Beau Green of Arthur hasn't broken 11:00 yet this year, but had a phenomenal track season this past spring running 4:50 for 1600m to win the 3A State Championship. He hasn't lost this season yet. When he gets into this race with competition then it could result with him coming away with an individual win.
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