By Bobby Narang –
After entering the season as a prohibitive favorite to capture the Class 3A boys State cross country championship, Wheaton Warrenville South High School lived up to that billing Saturday.
Paced by three runners who finished in the top 15, the Tigers captured the 3A State championship with 116 points at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
On an unusually nice early November afternoon, the Tigers received all-state performances from William Hauenstein, eighth place at 14:30; Scott Maison, 13th at 14:40; and Jacob Kluckhohn, 15th at 14:43, to win the program’s first State championship.
“They all ran really good races and we just have a great pack,” Wheaton Warrenville South head coach Chris Kuntz said. “Our top three guys were right near the top, but our strength all year has been our pack.”
A year ago, the Tigers set the stage for a memorable showing at the 2018 State tournament, when they took third place at State for the program’s first State trophy. The Tigers finished this season with an undefeated record, including winning the inaugural DuKane Conference championship.
“We’re just a really close group, like a family and we kept building for this moment to win a State championship,” Hauenstein said. “We all ran really well today. This is such a special feeling, to win State.”
Neuqua Valley claimed third place with 159 points, while State powerhouse York notched fourth place with 185 points. St. Charles East was fifth, Glenbard West sixth, Downers Grove North eighth, Oswego East 10th, Hinsdale Central 11th, Downers Grove South 14th and Naperville North 15th.
• On the girls side, Naperville North, another DuKane school, set the tone for a memorable day in school history by winning the 3A cross country State championship with 80 points. Several hours later, the Naperville North boys soccer team defeated Libertyville, 1-0, at Hoffman Estates High School. The girls won their third straight Class 3A State championship.
Yorkville took second with 87 points and Downers Grove South was third with 127 points. Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West won the individual championship in 15:59.82, Batavia’s Katrina Schlenker was second in 16:07.30 and Naperville North’s Alex Morris claimed a third-place medal in the State cross country with a time of 16:10. Teammate Maggie Gamboa notched 19th place in a time of 17:01 and Audrey Mendrys took 32nd place in 17:17. Helend Kleronomos of Yorkville was fifth in 16:35.50.
Wheaton Warrenvile South was sixth, Oswego eighth, and Batavia ninth. Lianna Surtz, a Batavia resident, took second place in Class 2A for Rosary.
• Warren decommits from Michigan:
West Aurora High School junior defensive tackle Denver Warren made some headlines Monday. Warren announced on Twitter that he’s decommitting from the University of Michigan, “due to the University not having enough room for me on the D-Line roster for 2020.”
Warren, a four-star recruit, is the fourth-ranked player in Illinois.