The IHSA State Meet produced some of the best performances that we have ever seen and looks to be the greatest state meet of all-time for every level. Take a look at each race broken down here.
1A Girls
There was a lot of hype heading into this race between Kate Foltz of Tuscola and Isabella Keller of St. Anthony. Keller of course was trying to defend her state championship that she won last year. Foltz took this race out hot from the gun and never looked back. She was 5:15 at the mile, with Keller coming through in 5:23. The chase pack came in a little later at 5:32 as they were lead by Mia Kotler of Latin. Foltz maintained her blistering pace through 1.5 where she was 7:57. Then came through 2 miles in 10:40. The final mile she came back with a 5:18 to be the 3rd girl runner ever at the time to break 16:00 at Detweiller Park. Keller was 2nd in 16:27. Kyla Babb of Westmont had a big performance to take 3rd in 16:35. Williamsville pulled out the win with a score of 171 as they moved up as a team excellent through the final mile as they moved from 3rd in the team race to 1st. Tolono Unity was leading the team race at the mil, but remained 2nd in the team scoring after the 1.5 until the reached the line. The 3x defending state champions missed defending their crown by 2 points as they scored 173. Right behind them was the favorite entering the meet, Anna Jonesboro, who scored 177 points. They were leading the team battle of the majority of the race and just barely lost it in the final mile.
1A Boys
Entering the race the talk wasnt about who will win, but how fast will Gabe McLain of Benton will run. Man were a lot of people wrong. McLain opened up in 4:47 at the mile leading Nicolai Martino of Winnebago and Chaz Oberkfell of Gillespie. The story was the same at 1.5 and 2 miles. Those three were neck to neck for the entire of race until McLain tried surging to put them away, but Oberkfell and Martino surged back within the final 200m of the race. This resulted in Oberkfell picking up the win as he stormed by Martino and McLain. He had the biggest race of his season as he ran 14:31 for the win. Martino was 2nd in 14:33. McLain 3rd in 14:36. In the team race it was Northridge Prep who claimed their first state title in school history. They moved up great during the race as they were 4th at a mile. They scored 126 points. Elmwood took 2nd with 156 points and were actually leading at 2 miles. Eureka nabbed the 3rd place trophy with 165 points for their best race of the season. They led in the early stages of the race and just held on to obtain a 3rd place trophy.
2A Girls
There was a lot of hype entering the meet of the battle between Sunny Weber of Sandwich and Annika Swan of St. Ignatius. Both runners were side by side at the mile as they came through in 5:18. Erin Hinsdale of Wheaton St. Francis led the chase pack in 5:22. They started to fall off pace at 1.5 where they came through at 8:07 but came through 2 miles still in 10:49. Thats when Weber made her move and didn't look back as she won in 16:11. Swan was 2nd in 16:27. Zoe Carter of Normal University moved great in the race to take 3rd in 16:49. In the team race it was St. Ignatius who was just dominating in this race who scored 76 points for the win. They had the fastest 1-5 average ever in 2A with it being 17:32. DePaul nabbed a trophy again with their 2nd place finish. They scored 177 points. The defending champions, Chatham Glenwood, were 3rd in 217 points.
2A Boys
Heading into this race maybe people looked at this as Finn Richards' race to lose. He showed that the 2A state title was going to go through him with him leading the race through a mile in 4:41 he had a few guys right on his tail, but by 1.5 had dropped all but Thomas Jochum of Glenbard South as they came through in 7:05. They were even together at 2 miles where they came through in 9:32. It was then that Richards made his move and pulled away from Jochum to win in 14:21! Jochum was 2nd in 14:31. Evan Nosek of Kaneland and Cuyler Swanson of Morris battled to the line for 3rd with Nosek dipping him at the line. They both ran 14:36.70. The team battle was exciting heading into the meet with 3 teams seemily having emerged as the favorites. Here it was Payton who won their first state title. They scored 113 and moved up through the race well especially Vaughn Collier and Preston Ellis. Morton was 2nd as they win another trophy for one of the best programs in 2A over recent years. They were 5th at the mile and moved up to score 191 points for 2nd. Latin narrowly won another trophy for the program as they beat out Dixon by 1 point as they scored 195 points.
3A Girls
We knew heading into the meet that we would be on record watch for this race, but some rain throughout the meet put that into some jeopardy. Mia Sirois of Barrington didn't care about the rain and opened up in 5:13 at the mile. She had Amelie Ojeda of Willowbrook in toe and then it was Scout Storms of Barrington leading the chase pack. Mia kept her quick pace through 1.5 where she was 7:51 and now had a 15 second lead on the field. She came through 2 miles in 10:30 and it finally dawned on a lot of people that we would likely see the new state record. She closed in 5:22 and barely beat Judy Pendergast's old record of 15:53.80 with a time of 15:53.40. A record that stood for 9 years that had many all-time greats attempt to break it. Karlin Janowski of York moved up great throughout the race to take 2nd in 16:30. Veronica Znajda of Prospect was 3rd in 16:34. The team race was jaw dropping when you look at the the results. Barrington walks away with the team win with a score of 130 points, York was 2nd with 131 points, and Downers Grove North took 3rd with 132 points. That's right it only was 2 points that separated the trophy teams. Prospect just missed a trophy with a score of 142 points. So did Batavia who scored 148 points for 5th. 18 points separated the top 5 teams.
3A Boys
The boys race had a lot of hype around it with a lot of people touting Ben Crane of New Trier and Dylan Maloney of Plainfield South as the big dogs of 3A. The first mile was taken out in 4:32 by Joe Bregenzer of Barrington. At that point, all of the main contedners were in the front of the pack. From there is when Crane moved to the lead and came through 1.5 in 6:57. He continued to extend his lead at the 2 mile mark as he led through in 9:25. Then thats were he really dropped the hammer as he closed in 4:37 for the win. Grant Schroder of Downers Grove North ended up taking 2nd place in 14:11. Joe Bregenzer was 3rd in 14:12. The all-state cutoff was insane in this race with it taking 14:37 to be an all-stater. Downers Grove North was your team champions and have entered the conversation for the greatest team in history. 1999 York had the old record for the best 1-5 average of 14:31. Downers Grove North broke that this weekend with a 14:29 1-5 team average. We will have to see how they finish at NXN before dubbing them the greatest of all-time, but this weekend was definetly a step towards that direction. They scored 83 points and people will mention that 1999 scored 24 points, but this year only 5 all-staters were not on qualifying teams. That was not the same in 1999 where a lot of all-staters were individual qualifiers. This was also the Trojans 4th trophy in a row. Plainfield North finished 2nd with a score of 154 points. Plainfield South secured their 3rd trophy in 3 years with a score of 248 points.
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