The story is similar for Marion, winner of the Glenwood Sectional with 99 points. Marion placed four in the top 18, and then their fifth finished 74th. This has been their pack complexion all year long, and this has served Marion well downstate, winning a number of races as a team and looking like the class of the 2A field south of Springfield. However, a team title will require a full-pack race in a way that hasn't yet happened for the Wildcats.
The gauntlet Kaneland Sectional produced six more teams who can all finish top 10: Belvidere North, Prairie Ridge, Glenbard South, Crystal Lake Central, Woodstock, and Fenwick. Belvidere North's runner-up was a strong indication of the Blue Thunder running best at the right time, but do not take your eyes off Prairie Ridge who is a huge breakout team this fall. City schools Payton and Mather have hovered around the periphery of trophy contention all year but were passed in the sectional race by a rapidly developing Deerfield squad. What can Deerfield replicate from their great performance from last year?
Individuals-
Many fans of IHSA cross country already have noon on Saturday tagged as a must-watch cross country. Dylon Nalley has unleashed a storm upon course records the entire season, including a 14:03 blitzing of the Peoria Central field on October 1st.
Incredibly, Nalley is only a junior and did not even compete in the IHSA cross country season in 2021, so the state is watching the Marion wildcat do all this in only his first *real* year of high school cross country. How historic is Nalley's form? Consider that his Highland regional course record of 14:35 broke Andrew O'Keefe's course record by thirty-five seconds. Nalley's sectional performance was 14:06 over a fast but fair three mile Glenwood home course. Of all the male runners this weekend, Nalley deserves most of the sub-14:00 conversation. How far can he go, and how aggressive will he be early on? Don't be shocked if he blazes a 4:26 first mile.
A solid, eventless race from Nalley should easily be enough to produce his first state title in high school. Who leads the chase pack? Dale Johnson from Sterling, who won the Kaneland Sectional, is a strong candidate to do this in a front-running fashion. He held off Evan Horgan from Belvidere North, who has come on strong this postseason.
Trey Sato leads the Grayslake Central attack, and his time over 15:00 at Deerfield is not representative of his fitness-after a slow first mile, Sato closed in 9:41.
Cooper Marrs from Riverside-Brookfield and Josh Weeks of Morton are two high-upside all-state runners that have been here before.
Brenden Heitzig represents the Lincoln Railsplitters as an individual and, despite being overshadowed by Nalley at times, has been dominant in his own right. For the rest of the all-state pack, watch for Julian Baker, Nate McKillop, Jackson Collman, Evan Nosek, Will Gelon, Mohamed Abdullahi and Muhiyadin Ali, Ritvik Viniak, Joe Schwartz, Karson Hollander, Aaron Hendron, Forberg, Ishan Patel, Dylan Cohen, and Orlando Hernandez.