Monticello Is Tabbed Class A Boys #1 In Pre-Season Preview

The 2017 Class A Boys State Championship highlights bring to life another incredible affair between individuals and teams. This season is going to be another masterful one that will eventually be added to the IHSA archives. 

Head Coach: Mike Neisler
Last year's finish: Elmwood Sectional- 6th place
Key returners: Jon Neville (Jr), Logan Wheeler (So), Charlie Kistner (So), Jake Spaid (Sr)
Projected top 7: Neville, Wheeler, Kistner, Spaid, Parker Kistner (Jr), Alec Pfeffer (So), Chase Mayberry (So) Coach Neisler's Outlook: This will be a good young team with only one senior in the top 10. I'm sure one of [our] goals will be to get to the state meet after being so close last season. [The boys] have all done more running than last summer, however, we have a summer injury to one of our top guys. He should recover and not have any issues during the season. We will be getting all we can this season because you never know what a year will bring, but this team may still be a year away from really showing what they can do.

Head Coach/coaches: Olivia Morris/Matt O'Hanlon
Last year's finish: Elmwood Sectional- 8th place
Key returners: Kyle Johnson (Sr), Jack Cook (Jr), Connor Standish (Sr), Eli Steinbeck (Sr), Alex Heinold (Sr), Mitchell Danner (So), Cade Walder (So)
Projected top 7: Johnson, Cook, Standish, Steinbeck, Heinold, Danner, Walder
Newcomers: JD Standish, Noah King, Jackson Zimmer, Nigel Robinson
Coach Morris' outlook: If we can get our pack closer to our front-runners, this team can really be a force. Keeping our team goals at the forefront of our mind throughout the season is going to be key for us.

Head Coach: Michael Melick/Jacob Ludy, Katie Ludy
Last year's finish: State- 13th place
Key returners: Noah Smith (Sr), Bo Halvorsen (Sr), Matt Ingalsbe (Jr), Mason Ringger (So), Nathan DeMarb (So), Will Bushert (Sr)
Projected top 7: Smith, Halvorsen, Ingalsbe, Ringger, DeMarb, Bushert, Asa Smith (Fr)
Newcomers: Asa Smith (Fr), Noah Ludy (Fr)
Coach Melick's Outlook: We return nine of our top ten. We have a lot of talent on this team. If we can build consistent training from now until November, I'd like to think this could be our highest placing team, ever. Noah Smith, in particular, has been laying a solid foundation and building on a breakout track season. I think he will lead this young team (half of our top ten could be fresh-soph) and be a positive influence while holding them accountable for reaching their potential. Aidan Mann is having a fantastic summer and making an early bid for most improved. Jordan Shelton also had a breakout season in track, although mostly in the sprinting events, so we'll see how that confidence translates to grass. Having Coach Ludy around will go a long way to improve our training plan and have the boys ready come November.

Head Coach: Kerry Trueblood
Last year's finish: State- 7th place
Key returners: Noah McIntyre (Jr), Ryan Nordsiek (Sr), James Goodenow (Jr), Joseph Goodenow (Jr), Will Hill (So), Kyle Sholtis (Jr)
Projected top 7: McIntyre, Nordsiek, Ja. Goodenow, Jo. Goodenow, Hill, Sholtis, Hayden Thomas (So)
Carson's outlook: The Warriors return six of their top seven last year that qualified for the state meet. They didn't have the best track season as they only had one state qualifier and it was Noah McIntyre in both the 800m and 1600m. Athens will feel the loss of their general and state champion Wyatt McIntyre who has graduated and moved on to continue his running career at the University of Illinois. The positive spin here keeping the 1-5 scoring split to about a minute and everything will be fine.

Head Coach: Carl Florcyzk
Last year's finish: State- 9th place
Key returners: Corbin Schwable (Sr), Carson Smith (Sr), Blake Hatter (Sr), Cade Smith (So), Evan Wilkerson (So), McKallen Smith (Jr)
Projected top 7: Car. Smith, Hatter, Cad. Smith, Wilkerson, M. Smith, James Trentman (So), Schwable
Coach Florcyzk's outlook: We have had a great summer in regards to our training! The boys have worked extremely hard. We had great attendance all summer long. We went to a team camp at SLU, did some fun off-campus runs, and had some fun team-building throughout the summer as well. We finished off our summer training by racing at Detweiller at Dark. It's a team with great leadership as well. The boys have some big goals for the fall and are very motivated!

Head Coach: Brett McLain
Last year's finish: State- 22nd place
Key returners: Joey Sample (Jr), Avery Potter (Sr), Brady Gischer (Jr), Ethan Krieger (Sr), Parker Sieveking (So), Kaden Beadle (So)
Projected top 7: Sample, Potter, Gischer, Kreiger, Sieveking, Beadle
Carson's outlook: Benton is returning six state staters from their team last year. Weird thing is that those six are the only returning six on the team together. They are still such a good group of six runners that they belong here, but if an injury happens to anyone in this group, they will drop hard.

Head Coach: Doug Mynatt/Rachael Brewer, Erik Greenwell
Last year's finish: State- 8th place
Key returners: Nicolas Ramkumar (Jr), Aryan Lalwani (So), Henry Kraatz (Jr), Matty Tang (Jr)
Projected top 7: Lalwani, Kraatz, Ramkumar, Tang, Ethan Ashbrook (JR), Aniket Gargya (SO), Henry Laufenberg (FR)
Newcomers: Aniket Gargya (SO), Henry Laufenberg (FR), Ian Evensen (FR)
Coach Mynatt's outlook: The strength of our very young 8th place state team last year (4 sophomores, 2 freshmen, only 1 senior), was the ability to run a pretty consistent 1-4 split throughout the state series (:21 seconds @ St. Thomas More Regional; :21 @ Carlinville Sectional; :29 @ State). Matty Tang was our #5 in those races and will close the 30-second gap he ran behind our #4 last year. However, that #4 was then-freshman Alex Dolcos who is choosing to play soccer this season, so our success and our ability to take the team to a spot higher than that 8th place finish may rely on three newcomers to the high school team, Aniket Gargya, who is trading soccer for xc this season, and two freshmen, Henry Laufenberg and Ian Evensen, who both ran for me last year as 8th graders. Henry led our 8th-grade boys to an 8th place finish at the IESA State Meet, with Ian running #3 for us in that effort.

Head Coach: David Ladehoff
Last year's finish: State- 11th place
Key returners: Isaiah Ditta (Jr), Jeremy Snejberg (Sr), Trevor Swanson (Jr), Blake Stua (Jr), Jarod Snejberg (Jr), Caleb Kent (Sr), Caden Chamness (Jr)
Projected top 7: Ditta, Je. Snejberg, Swanson, Stua, Ja. Snejberg, Kent, Chamness
Carson's outlook: Clifton Central returns all 7 members from their state qualifying team last year. They will have around a 55 second split for their 1-5 group and the experience of already being on the big stage for a state meet. Their crew had a great track season having three state qualifiers. Isaiah Ditta in the 1600m and 3200m, Trevor Swanson in the 4x800m, and Jeremy Snejberg in the 4x800m. This group will be contending for a state title this November.