Inside cross country

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

Athletes of the Week

Boys

Torben Hoffmeyer

Marengo, sr.

Hoffmeyer took second Saturday at the Big Northern Conference Meet at Byron Forest Preserve.

Burlington Central’s Clint Kliem won the race on the 2.8-mile course in 14:11.51, Hoffmeyer was next in 14:40.92. Hoffmeyer was 29 seconds ahead of the next competitor.

Hoffmeyer also finished second to Kliem at last year’s BNC Meet.

Girls

Katie Adams

Marengo, jr.

Adams repeated as the BNC champion in the conference meet at Byron Forest Preserve.

Adams ran the 2.8-mile course in 17:08.71 to win the race. Teammate Allie Sprague was second in 17:40.00 as the Indians also repeated as team champions with 22 points. Rock Falls was second with 91.

Noteworthy

Tough road: Yorkville and Crystal Lake Central, the two top-ranked girls cross country teams in Class 2A by Illinois Prep Top Times, will see each other the next three weeks.

The two will battle Saturday at the Kaneland Regional, then at the Belvidere Sectional, which could be the toughest in the state. Dixon (fifth) and Marengo (15th) will compete at the Sterling Regional, and Lakes (11th) will run at Antioch, which also feeds into the sectional.

Yorkville’s Ali Hester and Central’s Sami Staples are two of the state’s top-ranked runners in Class 2A.

“Our sectional is going to be interesting,” Central coach Shannon Schroeder said. “Dixon will be there too. I don’t know how I feel about that. We’ll get to know [Yorkville] well.”

R-B’s effort: Richmond-Burton’s boys cross country team won its third BNC Meet title in four years Saturday at Byron Forest Preserve.

The Rockets finished with 63 points to edge Burlington Central, which had 71. R-B won even though coach Keith Forth’s strategy did not quite pan out as planned.

“We knew we couldn’t catch [Burlington’s Clint] Kliem, so we wanted to get two or three guys in front of their No. 2 man,” Forth said. “We were behind after the first three runners, so our fourth and fifth runners really picked us up.”

Aaron Spivey led the Rockets in third place, followed by D.J. Wolfram (seventh), Mike Bland (15th), James Kaht (17th) and Ryan Garrett (21st).

Harvard, led by Timmy Wiltshire (14th) and Jorge Pichardo (18th), took third as a team.

This week’s top meets

Class 1A Winnebago Regional

10 a.m. Saturday, at Winnebago

Local teams competing: Harvard, Marian Central.

Class 2A Sterling Regional

10 a.m. Saturday, Woodlawn Arts Academy

Local team competing: Marengo.

Class 2A Antioch Regional

11 a.m. Saturday, Fox River Park in Wilmot, Wis.

Local teams competing: Johnsburg, Richmond-Burton.

Class 2A Kaneland Regional

10 a.m. Saturday, Elburn Woods Forest Preserve

Local teams competing: Crystal Lake Central, Hampshire, Woodstock, Woodstock North.

Class 3A Palatine Regional

10 a.m. Saturday, Deer Grove Forest Preserve

Local teams competing: Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake South, McHenry, Prairie Ridge.

Class 3A Guilford Regional

10 a.m. Saturday, Rock Valley College

Local teams competing: Dundee-Crown, Huntley, Jacobs.

SEnD Joe Stevenson
joestevenson@shawmedia.com