The rankings continue to unfurl as we continue the march to #1
Head Coach/coaches: Dustin Franckey/Mike Tipsord
Last year's finish: State- 20th place
Key returners: Alec St. Julien (Sr), Nik Schnabel (Jr), Trevor Morse (Jr), Jordan Giese (Sr), Erik Reck (Sr)
Projected top 7: Ryder James (Fr), Giese, St. Julien, Schnabel, Reck, Morse, Jesse Barfield (Fr)
Newcomers: Ryder James (Fr), Jesse Barfield (Fr), Keagan Busboom (Fr), Daniel Busby (Fr), Cameron Grohler (Fr)
Coach Franckey's Outlook: Our boy's team has worked together all summer long and have meshed very well with the newcomers. We have some lofty goals this year that starts with a Conference win, Regional and Sectional win.
19. Rock Falls
Head Coach: Mark Truesdell
Last year's finish: Oregon Sectional- 7th place
Projected top 7: Smith, Laws, Parker, DeLaTorre, Alvaro Hernandez (Jr), Cameron Gonzalez (Sr), Noah Schueler (Jr)
Carson's Outlook: Rock Falls will be carried by Dawson Smith and Matt Laws this season. Smith is expected to be the team's top runner after placing 15th in the state last year. In addition, Smith completed a great track and field season as he placed 9th in the 2A 3200m. In order for the Rockets to improve their stock, they will need to lower their 3-5 split. It was a consistently bad 2:30 behind Laws last year.
Head Coach: Andrew Wszalek
Last year's finish: 7th- Carlinville Sectional
Projected top 7: Magrini, Clapper, Wrobel, Ian Miller (Jr), Jace Carpenter (Sr), Will Moore (So), Noah Anayd (So)
Carson's Outlook: The Sabres are not a very deep team this year as the only have seven returners. They may not have much depth to go to state, but they certainly have the pack to go downstate. Watch for a 1-5 split of about one minute from this group. This could be a sneaky group as they could rise up the rankings.
17. Cumberland
Head Coach: Jim Miller
Last year's finish: Carlinville Sectional- 6th place
Projected top 7: McClellan, Sutherland, Rayce Zike (So), Michael Carpenter (Jr), Logan Edwards (So), Wiley Peters (Fr), Owen Ray (Fr)
Newcomers: Peters, Ray
Carson's Outlook: Cumberland looks to be carried by Kort McClellan this year as he is the only returning state qualifier that they have. McClellan is coming off a track season that was not as impressive as he wanted it to be, but his teammate, Blake Sutherland, had a great track season. Sutherland ran a 4:48 1600m and 10:34.71 3200m. The rest of the Cumberland group of runners will be farther back. So, watch for McClellan and Sutherland to carry this team.
16. Robinson
Head Coach: Tony Cork
Last year's finish: 15th- State
Projected top 7: Bonnell, Wright, Amdahl, Zach Buttolph (Jr), Parker Middleton (So), Carter Shew (So), Negus Bogard (Jr)
Key additions: Bogard
Coach Cork's Outlook: Robinson is a Class A school and we finished 15th last year. We were missing one of our top four runners at State and with him would probably have been 10th or 11th. That runner graduated as well as our number one runner. We will have four of our top seven returning. In addition, Negus Bogard, a junior, will be running with us this year. He finished 27th last year at state running for Palestine/Hutsonville. He has always lived in Robinson since being adopted in 2015, but his mom teaches in Hutsonville so he was in school there for the last two years. Wyatt Bonnell, a senior, will be one of our top five and ran about 16:10 at State last year. Maverick Wright, a junior, was about 16:15 at State. Koty Amdahl and Zach Buttolph, both juniors, should be our other top five runners. Koty ran 16:50 at State and Zach was about 17:10, If we stay healthy and work hard, I would hope we can qualify for State again. Negus is having an excellent summer of training and can be one of the best in the State. He was fifth in the 3200 in track at 9:49 last year and ran a 4:24 1600 in qualifying for the final. He was 10th in the mile at 4:33 in the finals.
15. Elmwood
Head Coach: Gregg Meyers/Tom Gorham, Mike Sullivan, Kyle Anderson, Lance Zaerr
Last year's finish: State Champions
Projected top 7: Hoffmann, Whitney, Brown, Stevenson, Thomas Adkins (Jr), Griff Inskeep (Sr), Thomas Harmon (Fr)
Newcomers: Inskeep, Thomas Harmon (Fr)
Coach Meyers' Outlook: We lost 3 of our top 4 runners to graduation (Cooper Hoffmann, Trevor Dunkel, and Alex Herrmann). It will be very difficult to fill those shoes. We do have a very good group of runners, but we will lack experience. We did pick up senior Griff Inskeep who has been a very vital part of our 4x800 relay team in track. Logan Whitney has been working very hard to rehab a broken leg that has had him sidelined since November. He missed the entire track season and we are hoping he will be able to participate in full practices by the middle of the season. Luke Hoffmann (3200) and Thomas Adkins (4x800) had very good track seasons that have set them up for the possibility of a good cross country season. Thomas Harmon had an excellent 8th-grade year in both track and cross country, plus he has had a very good summer, so he could have a very good freshman year. Sophomore's Eli Stevenson, Victor Lampe, and Tyler Sheridan have had a good summer and could show a huge improvement from their freshman years.
14. Seneca
Head coach: Kim Foster
Last year's finish: State- 17th place
Projected top 7: Collet, Baldouf, Krause, Billy Glasscock (So), Brendan Stroud (So), Noah Petty (So), Trevor Till (Jr)
Key addition: Brady Danek (Fr)
Coach Foster's Outlook: Our boy's team has been working hard this summer both during conditioning and on their own. They have been building mileage, working on speed and strength, and team bonding. The boys are very focused on the potential they have. They are ready to be challenged and pushed out of their comfort zone. It will be a fun season with this group.
13. Tremont
Head Coach: Mike Lynn
Last year's finish: Elmwood Sectional- 7th place
Projected top 7: Sumer, Petro, Voss, Andrew Hellrigel (Sr), David Smalley (Sr), Austin Shafer (Sr), James Getz (Jr)
Carson's Outlook: Tremont is coming into this season relying on their top runner, Leland Sumer. Sumer was an all-stater last year when he took 20th place. Sumer was also an all-stater in track as part of the Turk's 4x800m team that garnered a 6th place in Charleston. Also returning from that team is Dalton Petro who was also a state qualifier in the 4x400m. Petro will be his team's 2nd runner and from there on the other positions will change race by race. If an injury is to happen to Sumer, Tremont's chances at even qualifying for state will be gone.
Head Coach: Jim Helton
Last year's finish: Carlinville Sectional- 9th place
Key Returners: Elijah Burns (Sr), Zach Brasel (Jr), Tyler Guthrie (So), Brandon Ahring (So), Tanner Fox (So) Projected top 7: Burns, Brasel, Guthrie, Ahring, Fox, Noah Beltremea (So), Christian Logue (So)
Coach Helton's Outlook: Last year was Father McGivney's first year competing as a team; largely consisting of underclassmen, they finished 3rd at Regionals/9th Sectionals. In their first year of track this past spring, Elijah Burns qualified for the 3200m, and the 3200m Relay team (3 frosh/1 soph) ran 8:40 to finished 3rd, barely missing state qualification. Assisting cross country last year/starting track this year, Coach Helton is serving his second go-around; back in the 1980-1990's, he coached cross country/track at Seneca High School.
11. Clinton
Head Coach: Daniel Andrews
Last year's finish: Eureka Regional- 10th place
Projected top 7: Black, Hendriex, Thomas, Ty Brennan (Jr), Ian Hale (Jr), Max Stauffer (Jr), Brennan Wolfe (So)
Carson's Outlook: Many people are going to look at this one and think why are they here? Clinton didn't even make it out of their regional last season and now they are ranked 11th in the state? Well, this team ran very consistently last year, running near their PR's multiple times. Ethan Black is another factor because he raced bad at the regional meet and was the team's 5th runner when he should have been their number 1. Watch for this team to have a 1-5 split of about 1:10 minutes. This is a young team that may break out.
10. DeeMack
Head Coach: Sam Ingram
Last year's finish: State- 5th place
Projected top 7: Johnson, Blumeyer, Carnicle, Henderson, Tyler Spurlock (So), Kolin Wilkins (So), Hunter Johnson (So)
Carson's Outlook: This team is returning 4 of its top 7 that qualified for the state meet last year. Watch for the top 3 runners of Johnson, Blumeyer, and Carnicle to be the main reason why this team runs well. They had two state qualifiers during track, John Carnicle in the 4x800m and 4x400m also, Jacob Henderson in the 4x800m. Both of those runners were all-staters in the 4x800m. If DeeMack can find a 5th runner and Henderson can run the same way he ran during track, DeeMack will shoot up the rankings.