.#1 Yorkville defended their state championship once again on the strength of the senior twin duo Jake and Luke Hoffert. Jake and Luke overcame a strong effort from Danville senior Caleb Hummer with about 1200m to go to finish 1-2 in 14:29 and 14:30. Last year the twins went 2-3. The Foxes showed their depth as all five scorers hit inside the top 50 and the scoring split was an outstanding 1:08 (its great when you have two top front runners). The 108 points was good enough to win against a hungry pack of chasing teams. #2 Mahomet-Seymour had never won a trophy in its 45 years of competing in cross country. In fact, the best they have ever done was 4th as a Class A school. On Saturday, the Bulldogs got their first plaque with a runner-up finish by scoring 134 points ahead of #3 Lansing Illiana Christian's 172 tally. The key to the successful run was a 52 second scoring split that was much better than Illiana's 1:38. #9 Springfield got the best of #5 Metamora 187-203 to close out the top five squads.
The individual race as indicated before went 1-2 by the Hoffert twins but a chasing Shane Williamson (So., Vernon Hills) caught Hummer late inside the final half-mile and kept his foot on the accelerator to take third in a BIG personal best 14:37. Mahomet-Seymour junior Alex Keeble watched last year's race in his warm-up gear because he was unable to go because of illness; he rebounded nicely to place 4th in 14:49. Colin DeYoung (Jr., Illiana Christian) passed a fading Hummer in the final meters to take fifth in 14:49.... the splits were 4:43, 9:43 for the leaders
