It was a trial run that couldn’t have gone much better.
The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams from Herget Middle School both won Class 3A Illinois Elementary School Association State Meet titles at Maxwell Park in Normal.
The IESA is the middle school counterpart to the IHSA, conducting statewide competition in 19 sports and activities. Its membership doesn’t include quite the same percentage of students as the IHSA.
The Herget teams were one of two programs from West Aurora’s District 129 in IESA competition. Jewel was the other.
“It’s the first year for District 129 in cross country or any sport,” Herget coach Mark Banholzer said. “Some of our sport’s schedules aren’t compatible with the IESA, but cross country was.
“It worked out real well. We’re not going to win it every year, but this was pretty neat. I hope we continue.”
Herget’s cross country season usually ends with the annual citywide City of Lights meet.
The boys’ team was led by the eighth place individual finish of Nate Hodge, who ran the 2.0-mile course in 10:44.1. Herget finished with 118 points. Troy Middle School of Shorewood was second, 61 points behind at 179.
The finish of the top five of seven runners is added to determine a team’s total. The lower the score, the better the finish.
In the girls’ race, sixth grader Olivia Kunio finished 10th in 11:45.1 to lead the Herget girls to the title with 84 points. Minooka was second with 102, Yorkville fifth at 202 and Batavia Rotolo seventh at 233.
Herget’s other boys were: 16. Ryan Watts 10:56.5; 30. Jay Jenkins 11:06.1; 50. Aiden Hobson 11:19.2; 77. Ty Rogers 11:28.8; 96. Brandon Ngosong 11:35.4; 132. Brock Beatus 11:48.8. All are eighth graders.
Herget’s other girls’ finishers were: 12. Megan Sporny 11:47.6; 33. Devon Tomas 12:06.7; 34. Jenna Stuck 12:07.2; 35. Kate Ochsenschlager 12:08.4; 43. Tori Lopez 12:16.4; 114. Ella Henry 12:48.0. Lopez is a seventh grader, the rest are in eighth grade.
At-large individual qualifiers are removed from the final standings to determine team totals.
Both Herget teams won sectional titles the previous week at Jane Addams Middle School in Bolingbrook to qualify for state.
Eighth grader Seth Kunio, Olivia’s older brother, takes part in a gifted program housed at Jewel and qualified individually. He finished second at state with a time of 10:18.7.
Katrina Schlenker, an eighth grader from Batavia Rotolo, was the girls’ individual winner in 10:57.7.
