CHILLICOTHE - Sophomore Riley Knoyle led the way for Edwardsville with a top-20 finish in the Class 3A race, Civic Memorial's Hannah Meiser ran well in Class 2A, and sophomore Riley Doyle led Roxana to a 10th place finish in the Class 1A team standings in the Illinois XC Championships, which were run on two consecutive weekends at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, a southern suburb of Peoria.

The Championships served as the unofficial state meet, and was sponsored by ShaZam Racing of Peoria, a timing and race organizing company, and was not sanctioned by the Illinois High School Association; therefore, no coaches were allowed to guide their teams during the races. The meet still brought together the best talent and teams in the state.

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In the Class 3A meet, held on Sunday, Elmhurst York won the team championship with 58 points, with Naperville North coming in second with 71 points, Yorkville came in third with 159 points, in fourth place was Oak Park-River Forest at 172 points, Batavia was fifth with 194 points, St. Charles East was sixth at 241 points, seventh place went to Wilmette Loyola Academy with 246 points, coming in eighth place was Minooka at 249 points, Lake Zurich was ninth with 267 points, and Oswego East was 10th with 268 points.

Normal Community was 11th with 270 points, LaGrange Lyons was 12th at 286 points, the Tigers came in 13th with 293 points, in 14th place was Naperville Neuqua Valley with 298 points, Lockport Township was 15th with 306 points, Orland Park Carl Sandburg was 16th with 365 points, coming in 17th was Wheaton-Warrenville South with 390 points, and Oswego was 18th with 409 points.

The individual champion was Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest, with a time of 17:25.64, with Katrina Schienker of Batavia second, coming in at 18:00.05, Naperville North's Maggie Gamboa was third at 18:02.90, Aly Negovetich of Fox Lake Grant was fourth, coming in at 18:11.84, with a pair of Elmhurst York runners --- Brooke Berger and Michaela Quinn --- came in fifth and sixth respectively, their times being 18:12.28 and 18:17.11, Normal Community's Allison Ince was seventh at 18:22.80, eighth place went to Kate Dickman of LaGrange at 18:27.02, coming in ninth was Brooke Johnston of Lake Zurich, with a time of 18:28.77, and completing the top ten was Audrey Mendrys of Naperville North, who had a time of 18:31.26.

Knoyle was the Tigers' leading runner, coming in with a time of 18:42.10, with Maya Lueking having a time of 19:47.72, Olivia Coll came in at 20:08.21, Dylan Peel's time was 20:40.37, Whitney Dyckman was clocked in 20:51.62, Kaitlyn Loyet had a time of 20:55.54, and Makenna Lueking came in at 20:59.72.

In the Class 2A race, which was ran on Saturday, Chatham Glenwood came away with the team title with 125 points, edging out runner-up Grayslake Central, who had 127 points, and third place Vernon Hills, who had 128 points. Lake Villa Lakes was also close behind in fourth, with 131 points, Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge was fifth with 159 points, in sixth place was Chicago Latin, who had 183 points, Morton came in seventh with 206 points, Peoria Notre Dame Catholic placed eighth with 262 points, Geneseo was in ninth place with 277 points, and rounding out the top ten was Washington, who had 306 points.

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Coming in 11th place was Metamora, with 322 points, Mascoutah finished in 12th place with 329 points, LaGrange Park Nazareth Academy was 13th with 330 points, Wheaton St. Francis Catholic was 14th at 341 points, Mahomet-Seymour came in 15th with 349 points, Chicago Payton was 16th with 351 points, Crystal Lake Central was 17th with 363 points, in 18th place was Oak Park Fenwick Catholic, who had 393 points, Chicago St. Ignatius Catholic placed 19th with 403 points, Mt. Zion was 20th with 410 points, and Highland came in 21st with 457 points.

Ava Parekh of Chicago Latin was the individual champion, coming in with a time of 17:39.12, Brooke Stromsland of Lake Villa Lakes was second at 18:01.40, two other Latin runners --- Olivia Syftestad and Marianne Mihas --- were third and fourth, with respective times of 18:39.20 and 18:39.78, Bella Domier of Grayslake Central was fifth at 18:41.88, Kaitlin Skeate of Bloomington was sixth with a time of 18:48.90, Reina Hill of Vernon Hills came in seventh at 18:54.21, with Isabella Gonzalez of Crystal Lake South placing eighth at 18:54.28, Colleen Zeibert of Rochester was ninth at 18:58,19, and Prairie Ridge's Rachel Soukup completing the top ten with a time of 18:58.45.

Meiser, the area's lone representative for CM, finished 67th, with a time of 20:56.03.

The Class 1A race was held on Nov. 1, and Winnebago took home the team title with a score of 43 points, well ahead of second place Aurora Rosary Catholic, who had 86 points. Third place went to Elmhurst Immaculate Conception Catholic with 115 points, West Chicago Wheaton Academy was fourth with 214 points, St. Joseph-Ogden was close behind in fifth with 217 points, Stanford Olympia came in sixth with 238 points, seventh place went to Eureka with 246 points, Rock Island Alleman Catholic was eighth with 251 points, McLeansboro Hamilton County was ninth with 252 points, and the Shells finished out the top ten with a score of 288 points.

Shelbyville was 11th with 301 points, in 12th place came Urbana University with 310 points, Champaign St. Thomas More was right behind in 13th place with 311 points, Knoxville was 14th with 319 points, Auburn came in 15th place with 339 points, Benton was in 16th place with 345 points, Rockford Christian was 17th with 386 points, Freeburg came in 18th with 387 points, and Elmwood was 19th with 440 points.

Anna Perry of Eureka was the individual winner with a time of 18:11.74, with Lianna Surtz of Aurora Rosary second at 18:17.95, Mabry Bruhn of Monticello was third at 18:21.66, the fourth place runner was Hailey Heiar of East Dubuque, with a time of 18:43.08, Savannah Beavers of Stanford Olympia came in fifth at 18:49.65, in sixth place was Urbana University's Kate Ahmari at 19:02.48, Carly Manchester of IC was seventh with a time of 19:10.03, two runners from Winnebago --- Natalia Martino and Grace Erb --- came in eighth and ninth, with times of 19:11.41 and 19:14.10 respectively, and Gabriella Moreman of Bismarck-Henning was 10th with a time of 19:14.87.

Doyle was Roxana's leading runner, coming in with a time of 21:18.99, with Janelynn Wirth next in at 21:23.28, Jennifer Palen was the Shells' number three runner with a time of 21:41.49, Zoey Losch came in at 21:52.27, Gabrielle Woodruff was clocked in 22:47.09, Macie Lucas had a time of 23:16.36, and Jessi Ponce came in at 25:14.44.

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