Re-Scoring the 3A Boys 2024 State Meet
Caleb Schulz was the star of the OPRF attack but was hardly alone in their state title run.
Automatic Qualifying Teams
There are two notable omissions from the state meet: Belleville West and Hinsdale Central. Belleville West was in the trophy chase late into the 3A meet and ended up fifth with 34 points (20 of those points from events with Troy McLean crossing the finish line). With 8 qualifiers, West was close to an at-large bid out of fourth place in their sectional and appears to be a team that could have successfully arranged a lineup to be at-large.
Hinsdale Central was 12th with 18 points. All 18 points came from races finished by Aden Bandukwala. The rest of 2024's top 10 are all represented in this format.
| Sectional | 1st Place team | 2nd place team |
|---|---|---|
| Metea Valley | Barrington | West Aurora |
| Glenbard North | DGN | Wheaton-Warrenville South |
| Bloom Twp. | Lincoln-Way E | Homewood-Flossmoor |
| Danville | Edwardsville | O'Fallon |
| Grayslake Central | Grayslake Central | Lakes |
| Huntley | Huntley | Dekalb |
| Joliet Central | Neuqua Valley | Naperville Central |
| Lyons | Kenwood | Lyons |
| Proviso East | OPRF | Whitney Young |
| Moline | East Moline United | Plainfield South |
| Loyola | New Trier | Hersey |
At Large Qualifiers
| Team | # of events qualified |
|---|---|
| Glenbard West | 12 |
| Oswego East | 11 |
| York | 10 |
Sample Event Scoring (4x100 Relay)
| Place | Team Name | Time | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenwood | 1:26.82 | 10 |
| 2 | Edwardsville | 1:27.00 | 8 |
| 3 | Grayslake Central | 1:27.08 | 7 |
| 4 | Dundee-Crown | 1:27.27 | -- |
| 5 | Loyola | 1:27.81 | -- |
| 6 | OPRF | 1:27.88 | 6 |
| 7 | Rockford East | 1:28.57 | -- |
| 8 | Huntley | 1:28.63 | 5 |
| 9 | East Moline United | 1:29.95 | 4 |
| 10 | Homewood Flossmoor | 1:28.62* | 3 |
| 11 | Wheaton South | 1:28.92* | 2 |
| 12 | Lincoln-Way West | 1:29.24* | -- |
| 13 | Oswego East | 1:29.24* | 1 |
*Preliminary mark
Final Team Scores and Commentary
OPRF pulls ahead out of the Edwardsville tie with a slightly deeper team including capitalizing on a strong 3:22.1 4x400 that gets 6 points despite missing the final by .4 seconds. The 73 point total for OPRF is a higher and more compelling point total, requiring scoring in 11 different events.
Really strong all-around teams East Moline United and Naperville Central get more recognition for their team efforts with big jumps in the rankings.
| Place | Points | Team | 2024 Place |
| 1 | 73 | OPRF | 1 |
| 2 | 71 | Grayslake Central | 3 |
| 3 | 66 | Edwardsville | 1 |
| 4 | 53 | Kenwood | 4 |
| 5 | 45 | Homewood-Flossmoor | 10 |
| 6 | 42 | Barrington | 8 |
| 7 | 39 | New Trier | 15 |
| 8 | 36 | East Moline United | 23 |
| 8 | 36 | West Aurora | 17 |
| 10 | 35 | DGN | 6 |
| 11 | 34 | Naperville Central | 34 |
| 12 | 33 | Neuqua Valley | 13 |
| 12 | 33 | Plainfield South | 8 |
| 14 | 30 | Hersey | 10 |
| 14 | 30 | O'Fallon | 7 |
| 14 | 30 | WWS | 17 |
| 17 | 28 | Huntley | 30 |
| 17 | 28 | Lincoln-Way East | 34 |
| 19 | 23 | York | 23 |
| 20 | 21 | Lakes | 30 |
| 21 | 20 | Glenbard West | 43 |
| 21 | 14 | Dekalb | 38 |
| 23 | 14 | Oswego (East) | 61 |
| 24 | 7 | Whitney Young | 55 |
| 25 | 4 | Lyons | 71 |