Boys-
“I think this is shaping up to be one of the closest meets in recent history,” remarks Shelbyville coach, Kevin Kramer about the upcoming 1A boys race. Whether one sees it in the results and the forums, or hears it in everyday discussion in the meets, this is definitely what seems to be going on. Take this statistic: Two of the toughest sectionals—Elmwood and Decatur (St. Teresa)—both had team victories that were won by four points or less. In the case of the Elmwood sectional, the top four teams were only eight points apart. And on top of that, no top ranked team has ever gone undefeated by other 1A teams. Add the fact that the state meet has all of these runners of similar talent all racing each other makes who will come out victorious even more of an obscurity. Will it be a team like Tremont who contains really good front runners where they lack in depth, will it be a pack team like Winnebago of the polar opposite extreme, or will it be projected favorite Monticello who is somewhere in the middle?
1) Monticello
Going into the preseason, we expected this team to simply be advancing through the ranks for a better year to come, and it started out that way really early on in the season. But a magical spell seemed to take effect at the First to Finish Invite: The sages finished their top five all in 16:15 or less, and suddenly they were the projected team winners from here on out. They had one shortcoming in the Spartan Classic where they finished third by one point to Shelbyville (see below) and behind Tolono (Unity) (see below), but otherwise they have went into every invitational, plus regionals and sectionals, unbeaten by any 1A team. Out of all the teams in the hunt for the first place trophy (which is a lot this year), it is the most probable that this team will take it.
2) Tolono (Unity)
All season long, the Unity Rockets have given the Sages literally a run for their money, finishing just behind them by only a single digit amount of points on the days where they didn’t reign victorious. We have seen this team beat Monticello before at the Spartan Classic; they can do it again. What is needed is low points from their front runner, Andrew Warnes, and for their pack to follow with numbers ranging from the 15:40’s to really low 16’s.
3) Winnebago
Yet another team that we can expect to trophy, or even win the whole thing is Winnebago. The Oregon sectional champion with flying orange colors (which Janet Erb remarks as “expected”), the Indians are ready to rematch Monticello and face off against other contenders for the trophy. This team may not have a top notch front runner, but what they have is a pack that can all flirt outside and just inside the all-state bubble. Keeping consistently a 30 second top five split led frequently by Nathan Ambrose, expect possibly their entire top five to go below 16 minutes, which is what will be needed if they are to win at Detweiller.
4) Pleasant Plains
From an overall quiet early season, the Cardinals emerged after one sectional race into a potential trophy team, winning their sectional by one point over Tremont and three points over Rochester (see below). Coach Derek Debarr noted a positive trend he said that each runner has ran a better time than last year with each race. And we can see that they have tapered well and are ready to bring on more surprises at state.
5) Tremont
While the Turks still contain significant gaps that make this team vulnerable, they compensate for the 1-2 punch of Connor Ehnle and Caleb Imig, and their solid third man, Wilson Pflederer who can compete with the strong pack runners of other teams for some valuable points. If fourth and fifth can stay within 20 seconds of their third and form their own pack coalition, expect this team to walk out with a trophy.
6) Shelbyville
The rams have ran solidly against the Okaw Conference competition all-season long, also noteably finishing single digits behind Monticello and Unity, even beating the Sages once in the Spartan Classic. “I am very proud of the way we have put ourselves in position to do well,” reflects Coach Kramer, “We lost five of our top seven from last year’s third place team and we are right back knocking at the door.” As for being third place by a considerable amount at sectionals, “Our guys went out a little too conservative the first mile (5:20-5:35 range),” an error which they will surely fix this weekend.
7) Rochester
Yet another trophy contender, finishing third place in the extremely loaded Elmwood sectional. The Rockets are an all-round great team with a top five split that was only a minute, with a solid front runner leading the charge by the name of Michael Gleason. Him cracking into all-state territory and then the pack following twenty seconds later will be the winning conditions for this team to earn a trophy.
8) Elmwood-Brimfield
As usual, the Trojans have begun the season quiet, known for running the early season races in flats and not being too embarrassed by the humble performances that they put on early in the season. We saw at Detweiller what this preseason favorite team was made of as they triumphed at the Patriot invite. Unfortunately, that was followed by a sectional ambush at home as other teams put on their extra taper gears. But only being eight points short of the sectional victory, do not count Elmwood out from being in the hunt as they have displayed the trophy-earning talent before. What is needed for the Trojans is for their front runners, Matt Osmulski and
Nate Herridge, to each earn all-state honors and then for pack to be around 50 seconds behind at least. If they do that, they can most definitely add a 2013 trophy to their collection.
9) St. Joseph (Ogden)
In past seasons, the Spartans have come short of state qualification due to what seems every year to be their sectional predicament. This year, however, even when the sectional was tougher than ever, St. Joe has finally gotten a chance to show the state that they are a quality program in 1A cross country and have always been. As a team that has held its own against teams like Monticello, Unity, and Shelbyville, expect the Spartans to finish around ninth places as projected here, if not better.
10) Rockford Christian
A relatively young team that has spent this season maturing, the Royals have done a great job of that as the second place team of the Oregon Sectional. In the past, they have had stars like Justin Rehfeldt leading their team. This year, they have Nick Monkemeyer who is looking to go pretty deep into all-state territory as a sophomore. And he will be followed by a very dense pack that typically finishes 30 seconds apart from each other. The closer the pack gets to Monkemeyer, the better their standing will be this year looking into an even better year ahead when much of the same faces return.
11) Stanford (Olympia)
12) Freeburg
13) El Paso (E.P.-Gridley)
14) Sterling (Newman Catholic)
15) Urbana (University)
16) Salem
17) Rock Falls
18) Chicago (Latin)
19) Wood River (East Atlon)
20) Sparta
21) Nashville
22) Beecher
23) Niles (Northridge Prep.)
24) Westmont
25) Elgin (Harvest Christian Academy)
Boys-
In year’s past in 1A, we have always went into the state meet with an expected top set of individuals. This year is much harder to tell and the selection pool of top contenders who have beaten each other out at different points of the season is vast! If we went purely on the longest reigning season of dominance, Nick Hess would be the ideal pick. But the fact that he was not beaten by Jon Davis, but equaled in PR by him, too, raises a big question of how close in capabilities not only Davis is, but the entire chase pack!
1) Jon Davis (So.) Fithian (Oakwood)
The beginning of the season appeared to open up as a developing year for the emerging sophomore as he would finish among the top finishers in the local races he ran, but not necessarily beat them. Little did we know that only a couple months later in the season, Davis has already outperformed the preseason-1A favorite, Nick Hess (the only 1A athlete this season to pull off such a feat) at the Decatur sectional with a time equal to Hess’ best of the season (14:46). For this reason, Davis is considered the favorite going into state. “Jon is an extremely hard worker who always tries to out do himself,” comments his coach, Robinson Douglass. “He has a great kick at the end of a race and deserves all the success he's had thus far.”
2) Nick Hess (Sr.) Champaign (St. Thomas More)
Never running a bad race all season and consistently beating the 1A competition with solid 15 minute or lower numbers every race, expect Hess to not simply forego his great chance at the state championship without a fight until the finishing shoot. It is only now that Hess appears to have a significant challenger at his feet who outkicked him at sectionals by a fair margin of nine seconds (refer above). But according to his coach, David Behm, “Nick is ready and looking forward to a competitive race on Saturday,” importantly noting that “We worked fairly hard last week and Nick's training and focus is on the state meet,” meaning that we will very possibly see what we’ve usually seen all season except a considerably better time to seal the deal: And that is an individual victory!
3) Connor Ehnle (Sr.) Tremont
Yet another competitor to take into consideration for the individual crown, Ehnle has also some significant accomplishments in the 1A field of his own, including a second place finish in the First to Finish Invite, third place in the Spartan Classic, fifth place in the Peoria Invite against solely 2A competition, and most notably the sectional championship as of late season, which is amazing especially after an injury that has held him back from racing for two weeks. “Everyone at Tremont, Connor, myself, and the team are just happy that Connor is healthy enough to be able to run again,” Coach Mike Lynn remarks. “It's always a shame when someone puts in all the necessary work only to have an injury keep them out of competition at the end of the season.” Well hopefully for the Turks, sad faces will turn into smiles as Ehnle runs as he is projected to this week at Detweiller.
4) Eric Ponder (Jr.) Tuscola
The Okaw Valley conference champion has had a strong resume of individual dominance in one of the toughest areas of 1A Illinois cross country, snagging quite a few of the individual victories of those races, including most notably the Spartan Classic. Ponder has continued this prominence with his third place finish at the tough St. Teresa sectional. “Eric is preparing mentally, he has set goals for himself for his State Race,” Remarks his coach, Kristi Paulson. “We know he will represent Tuscola well! He is a competitor and we are all looking forward to Saturday!”
5) Caleb Imig (Sr.) Tremont
Ehnle’s teammate also has shown potential top five prominence all-season long, typically finishing within the 20 second range of Ehnle, and very notably in sectionals finishing only five seconds behind. He also has his own individual crowns to boast, such as capturing the Amboy crown in his teammate’s absence of doing the deed himself. Especially because of how he’s been prospering late season, one can safely say that Imig will be a reliable contender in the chase pack, and he might even be a factor in the very front.
6) Curtis Reed (Jr.) Mt. Zion
It is unfortunate that his team came short of qualification, especially due to health trouble of all things. But as the First to Finish champion early this season, as well as the Shelbyville regional finisher and fourth place sectional finisher late season in a field that will much resemble the state meet, we can expect Reed to be chasing down the front runners, just like he did a year ago with his 13th place finish.
7) Andrew Warnes (So.) Tolono (Unity)
Another possible future champion in the making, Warnes’ potential was realized when he ran a 4:35 mile in track. It may have been difficult to anticipate preseason as he was never seen in the varsity last year as a freshman. But now it is no unknown that Warnes has ran all season long worthy of a top ten spot, especially now as the fifth best finisher in the notorious St. Teresa “sectional of death”.
8) Michael Brown (Sr.) Carmi (C.-White County)
Coach Eric Dixon notes that “After a slow start, Michael has been turning in some good times.” A 16:14 individual sectional victory at the mud mountain 5k course of all places is a “good time” to say the least, especially considering that he “bounced back” after “he turned his ankle the day before the regional which slowed him some in the regional.” Also in the words of his coach, “I think he is ready to have a great race at Peoria.”
9) TJ Pitcock (Sr.) Byron
As both the Oregon sectional and Big Northern conference champion, Pitcock is very representative of talent that his area produces every year. Even in a stacked year like this, still expect a top 10 crack.
10) Cade Martens (Sr.) Heyworth
There is nothing really much to say about Martens other than him being a straight-up state veteran since two years ago when his team qualified. Last year, the team may have came short, but he certainly ran a great race and was just outside of all-state. As we can see from his late season sixth place performance, he has both the drive and experience to find his way into the chasing pack for a solid finish at Detweiller.
11) Matt Norvell (Jr.) Monticello
12) Cody Baele (Sr.) Kewanee (Wethersfield)
13) Nick Monkemeyer (So.) Rockford (Christian)
14) Michael Cook (Jr.) Kewanee (Wethersfield)
15) Michael Gleason (Jr.) Rochester
16) Daniel Plunkett (Sr.) Pleasant Plains
17) Matt Osmulski (So.) Elmwood-Brimfield
18) Tyler Johnson (So.) Pleasant Plains
19) Nate Herridge (Jr.) Elmwood-Brimfield
20) Ryan Van Dyke (Sr.) Stanford (Olympia)
21) Mohammad Hosseini (Jr.) Mt. Zion
22) Wal Khat (Jr.) Mooseheart
23) Kenny Heaton (Sr.) Sparta
24) Andrew Sharp (Sr.) Altamont
25) Ben Strobel (Jr.) Vandalia
Boys-
“I think this is shaping up to be one of the closest meets in recent history,” remarks Shelbyville coach, Kevin Kramer about the upcoming 1A boys race. Whether one sees it in the results and the forums, or hears it in everyday discussion in the meets, this is definitely what seems to be going on. Take this statistic: Two of the toughest sectionals—Elmwood and Decatur (St. Teresa)—both had team victories that were won by four points or less. In the case of the Elmwood sectional, the top four teams were only eight points apart. And on top of that, no top ranked team has ever gone undefeated by other 1A teams. Add the fact that the state meet has all of these runners of similar talent all racing each other makes who will come out victorious even more of an obscurity. Will it be a team like Tremont who contains really good front runners where they lack in depth, will it be a pack team like Winnebago of the polar opposite extreme, or will it be projected favorite Monticello who is somewhere in the middle?
1) Monticello
Going into the preseason, we expected this team to simply be advancing through the ranks for a better year to come, and it started out that way really early on in the season. But a magical spell seemed to take effect at the First to Finish Invite: The sages finished their top five all in 16:15 or less, and suddenly they were the projected team winners from here on out. They had one shortcoming in the Spartan Classic where they finished third by one point to Shelbyville (see below) and behind Tolono (Unity) (see below), but otherwise they have went into every invitational, plus regionals and sectionals, unbeaten by any 1A team. Out of all the teams in the hunt for the first place trophy (which is a lot this year), it is the most probable that this team will take it.
2) Tolono (Unity)
All season long, the Unity Rockets have given the Sages literally a run for their money, finishing just behind them by only a single digit amount of points on the days where they didn’t reign victorious. We have seen this team beat Monticello before at the Spartan Classic; they can do it again. What is needed is low points from their front runner, Andrew Warnes, and for their pack to follow with numbers ranging from the 15:40’s to really low 16’s.
3) Winnebago
Yet another team that we can expect to trophy, or even win the whole thing is Winnebago. The Oregon sectional champion with flying orange colors (which Janet Erb remarks as “expected”), the Indians are ready to rematch Monticello and face off against other contenders for the trophy. This team may not have a top notch front runner, but what they have is a pack that can all flirt outside and just inside the all-state bubble. Keeping consistently a 30 second top five split led frequently by Nathan Ambrose, expect possibly their entire top five to go below 16 minutes, which is what will be needed if they are to win at Detweiller.
4) Pleasant Plains
From an overall quiet early season, the Cardinals emerged after one sectional race into a potential trophy team, winning their sectional by one point over Tremont and three points over Rochester (see below). Coach Derek Debarr noted a positive trend he said that each runner has ran a better time than last year with each race. And we can see that they have tapered well and are ready to bring on more surprises at state.
5) Tremont
While the Turks still contain significant gaps that make this team vulnerable, they compensate for the 1-2 punch of Connor Ehnle and Caleb Imig, and their solid third man, Wilson Pflederer who can compete with the strong pack runners of other teams for some valuable points. If fourth and fifth can stay within 20 seconds of their third and form their own pack coalition, expect this team to walk out with a trophy.
6) Shelbyville
The rams have ran solidly against the Okaw Conference competition all-season long, also noteably finishing single digits behind Monticello and Unity, even beating the Sages once in the Spartan Classic. “I am very proud of the way we have put ourselves in position to do well,” reflects Coach Kramer, “We lost five of our top seven from last year’s third place team and we are right back knocking at the door.” As for being third place by a considerable amount at sectionals, “Our guys went out a little too conservative the first mile (5:20-5:35 range),” an error which they will surely fix this weekend.
7) Rochester
Yet another trophy contender, finishing third place in the extremely loaded Elmwood sectional. The Rockets are an all-round great team with a top five split that was only a minute, with a solid front runner leading the charge by the name of Michael Gleason. Him cracking into all-state territory and then the pack following twenty seconds later will be the winning conditions for this team to earn a trophy.
8) Elmwood-Brimfield
As usual, the Trojans have begun the season quiet, known for running the early season races in flats and not being too embarrassed by the humble performances that they put on early in the season. We saw at Detweiller what this preseason favorite team was made of as they triumphed at the Patriot invite. Unfortunately, that was followed by a sectional ambush at home as other teams put on their extra taper gears. But only being eight points short of the sectional victory, do not count Elmwood out from being in the hunt as they have displayed the trophy-earning talent before. What is needed for the Trojans is for their front runners, Matt Osmulski and
Nate Herridge, to each earn all-state honors and then for pack to be around 50 seconds behind at least. If they do that, they can most definitely add a 2013 trophy to their collection.
9) St. Joseph (Ogden)
In past seasons, the Spartans have come short of state qualification due to what seems every year to be their sectional predicament. This year, however, even when the sectional was tougher than ever, St. Joe has finally gotten a chance to show the state that they are a quality program in 1A cross country and have always been. As a team that has held its own against teams like Monticello, Unity, and Shelbyville, expect the Spartans to finish around ninth places as projected here, if not better.
10) Rockford Christian
A relatively young team that has spent this season maturing, the Royals have done a great job of that as the second place team of the Oregon Sectional. In the past, they have had stars like Justin Rehfeldt leading their team. This year, they have Nick Monkemeyer who is looking to go pretty deep into all-state territory as a sophomore. And he will be followed by a very dense pack that typically finishes 30 seconds apart from each other. The closer the pack gets to Monkemeyer, the better their standing will be this year looking into an even better year ahead when much of the same faces return.
11) Stanford (Olympia)
12) Freeburg
13) El Paso (E.P.-Gridley)
14) Sterling (Newman Catholic)
15) Urbana (University)
16) Salem
17) Rock Falls
18) Chicago (Latin)
19) Wood River (East Atlon)
20) Sparta
21) Nashville
22) Beecher
23) Niles (Northridge Prep.)
24) Westmont
25) Elgin (Harvest Christian Academy)
Boys-
In year’s past in 1A, we have always went into the state meet with an expected top set of individuals. This year is much harder to tell and the selection pool of top contenders who have beaten each other out at different points of the season is vast! If we went purely on the longest reigning season of dominance, Nick Hess would be the ideal pick. But the fact that he was not beaten by Jon Davis, but equaled in PR by him, too, raises a big question of how close in capabilities not only Davis is, but the entire chase pack!
