Illinois High School Cross Country Weekend Highlights - August 31, 2025

The 2025 season starts with a boatload of meets this past weekend

By Michael Newman

This week has been one of the busiest weeks to start the season in recent memory. There were several teams that played it safe holding out top runners. There is a long way to go in this sprint of a cross-country season and we already in this first week see good performances. It did help that temperatures seasonably cooler than in the past.

The EIU Showdown Meet held at Neuqua Valley was the top meet of the weekend, We saw the emergence of Lenox Szymonik of Jacobs, who in her first high school race who ran 17:29 to win over a good field that included all state runners Marlie Czariewski and Macy Ermitage, The Boys rave came down to Grayson Meek outkicking Aidan Connors winning by hundredths of a second.

EIU Showdown Recap/Videos/Photos

The Trial on the Trail race was a two-mile rustbuster race but put out some great performances. 2A top retuning runner from last year’s state meet Thomas Jochum of Glenbard South ran 9:36.8 to win the race by 44 seconds. In the Girls Frosh/Soph race, Francesca Mora of Latin School ran 11:06 to claim the win with a margin of victory at 40 seconds.

York’s sophomore Patrick Hill followed up a good track season with a better start for the fall. Hill ran 14:51.7 on the three-mile course at Berens Park in a small dual meet against Oak Park-River Forest.

Here is a look at highlights that took place on Saturday throughout Illinois. You can view the 8/30 Saturday results HERE,

Normal West Invitational @ Maxwell Park, Normal – Bryce Counihan of Lincoln-Way Central won his second race of this week Saturday in perfect conditions at Maxwell Park. Counihan was in control throughout running 15:19 to claim the win by 26 seconds ahead of Ben Gorsage of Washington (15:45) Zach Born of Metamora (15:59), and Lincoln-Way Central’s Mekhai Wright (15:59) and Cian Scanlon (16:02). #19 Lincoln-Way Central scored 35 points for the team win. #5 Plainfield South did not run their top seven in this meet but still scored 73 points to finish second. #18 Minooka scored 81 points to finish third.

It was a great race for Normal West’s Renee Warren to open her senior season. Warren ran 18:04 to win the Girls race by 46 seconds ahead of Natalie Nahs of Minooka (18:50). Morgan Coker of Pekin (19:00), Lorelei Hulsing of Bloomington (19:02) and Sophia Ramirez of Washington (19:05). #8 Minooka edged 2A #4 Washington 55-58 for the Girls team title. 2A #3 Normal West scored 87 points to finish third.

Clinton Light It Up Invitational – 1A #20 Shelbyville had runners in two of the first three places as they won the Girls team title with 104 points. 2A #7 finished with 133 points ahead of 2A #6 Rochester (142 points). 2A #5 Normal University and 1A #6 Pleasant Plains both scored 158 points finishing fourth and fifth. U-High did not run all-state runner Natalie Bierbaum in this race. Klaire Eighner of Maroa-Forsyth dominated this race by running 17:07 for the win 28 seconds ahead of Tessa Bowers of Shelbyville (17:35). Bowers’ teammate Leah Shoaf, a freshman, ran 17:48 to finish third with Ashley Zeibert of Rochester (17:56) and Macie Owens of Monticello (17:59) finishing fourth and fifth.

2A #8 Mahomet-Seymour dominated the Boys race placing 5 runners to win with 51 points. 1A #11 Clinton scored 106 points to finish second ahead of 2A # 28 Richland County (195 points), Monticello (208 points), Moline (215 points and 1A #6 Gillespie (225 points). The finish of the race came down to kick tactics as defending 1A champion Chaz Oberkfell of Gillespie ran 14:41 to edge Quaid Berger of Richland County (14:42) for the win. Johnathan Jacobbazzi of Sullivan finished third (14:58) ahead of Cayden Bostic of Clinton (15:09), Augustus Gaudio of Mahomet-Seymour and Corie Green of Delavan who both ran 15:15. Mahomet Seymour ran just a 30 second spread on their top five that included Gaudio in fifth, Henry McMurry (9^th), Tate Bode (10^th), Adam Smigielski (15^th), and Tayten Gergen (16^th).

Bethalto Civic Memorial Twilight Invitational – One of the best races of the weekend came Saturday night with four runners under 15 minutes. Max Weber on his home course shattered the meet record by almost a minute as he ran 14:28 to win ahead of Marion’s Gabriel Greer (14:36) and Raphael Greer (14:40) and Landon Harris of Granite City (14:44). The four were more than a minute ahead of the rest of the field by more than a minute. 2A #26 Marion put their first four runners in the top eleven to win the Boys team title with 50 points. 2A #7 Bethalto Civic Memorial scored 54 points to finish second with 2A #15 Highland finishing third (70 points).

Emberlie Goins of Troy Triad, a freshman, ran 19:38 to claim the win in the Girls race. Katie Fenton of Highland ran 20:03 to finish second. Troy Triad edged Highland 43-46 for the Girls team win.

McHenry County Meet @ Emricson Park, Woodstock – Emaline Foster pf Prairie Ridge started out her high school cross country career a year late after missing last fall to an injury. Her first race was a win as she ran 18:45 to finish ahead of her teammate Anneke Dam (19:01). Huntley took the next three places with Isabella Ciesla (19:12), Morgan Sauber (19:21), and Cori Klivinger (19:40). #16 Huntley scored 37 points for the Girls team win ahead of Prairie Ridge (75 points) and 2A #9 Crystal Lake South (82 points).

Jameson Tenopir of Cary Grove pulled away from the field and running 15:59 for the Boys championship ahead of Ellery Shutt of Woodstock (16:10) and Nate Martin of McHenry (16:17). Crystal Lake Central scored 62 points for the Boys team win finishing ahead of McHenry (69 points) and Prairie Ridge (87 points).

Elgin City XC Classic @ Elgin HS – A 1-2 finish for St. Charles North helped the @6 team in 3A to win this ten team Boys race scoring 26 points. Mundelein (53 points) and Bartlett (99 points) finished second and third. Samuel Hill led the North Stars running 14:04 on the 2.9-mile course to win with teammate Matthew Russell running 14:36 to finish second. Santiago Conte of Niles Notre Dame finished third (14:46). St. Charles North only ran five runners in the varsity race placing all their runners in the top ten. Running an 85 second spread off Hill and a 53 second spread from their second through fifth runners.

The addition of three freshmen have given South Elgin a boost at least for this meet. Luna Pozos ran 16:58 to win ahead of freshman teammates Kayleia Lindsay (17:12) and Irma Jimenez (17:20). South Elgin scored 32 points to win ahead of Willowbrook (53 points) and St. Charles North (63 points) who did not run their full lineup.

Kane County XC Meet @ Settler’s Hill XC Course, Geneva – Carson Kaiser and Evan Whidlin of Kaneland pulled away from the field to take the top two places in the Boys race, Kaiser ran 15:22 for the win seven seconds ahead of Whildin (15:29). 2A #20 Kaneland won the Boys team title (58 points) ahead of #16 Batavia (85 points) who did not run some of their top lineup in this race. 2A #11 Marmion Academy (96 points) and St. Charles East (109 points) finished third and fourth.

Avery Hacker of Batavia pulled away from the field to run 17:51 to win the Girls race. Adley Wilson of St. Charles East (18:10) and St. Francis runners Margaret Andrzejewski (18:13) and Elena Mamminga (18:17). 2A #2 St. Francis scored 42 points to win the Girls title. St. Charles East placed second (56 points) ahead of #29 Geneva (66 points) and #4 Batavia (77 points) who did not run three of their top five runners in the race.

Aurora City XC Championships @ Metea Valley HS – 2A #6 Aurora Central Catholic placed five runners in the top nine to win the Boys City title with 24 points. Host Metea Valley was the closest team to ACC scoring 24 points. Jack Swiatek of Aurora Central Catholic ran 15:37 to win ahead of teammate Ben Bohr (15:39) and Nathan Gehrmann of West Aurora (15:44). Cecilia Hilby was dominant in the Girls race with a time of 18:18 for the win with Kaylee Russell of Metea Valley (18:59) and Katherine Heap of Waubonsie Valley (19:35) finishing second and third. Waubonsie Valley edged Metea Valley 47-56 for the Girls team title.

Harvest Westminster Fall Classic – Five teams scored in this early season meet as 2A #17 Montini scored 23 points placing five runners un the top eight. Host 1A #13 Harvest Christian Academy finished second with 53 points. Luca Bryja of Harvest Christian Academy ran 17:15 on his home 5k course for the win. Montini’s Sean Buckley (17:31), Adriel Garcia (17:37), and Owen Ferris (17:42) took the next three places. Montini had a 67 second spread on their top five runners.

2A #21 St. Viator scored 28 points for the Girls team win place their five scorers in the top nine spots. 2A #22 Montini finished second (46 points) by a commanding win from Sydney Gertsen. The senior ran 18:28 to win by 110 seconds ahead of St. Ciator’s Emily Walberg (20:18) and Allie Long (20:27).