Loaded sectional called 'a joke'
Three weeks into the regular season, the IHSA eliminated at least 12 top boys cross country teams from going to the state meet in Peoria.
The regional and sectional assignments were announced last Friday. The results included a Schaumburg Class 3A sectional that contains 17 of the Illinois Prep Top Times' top 25 teams, leaving some coaches pretty upset.
"That sectional pairing is just a joke with what they did," Lake Park coach Lance Murphy said. "There are going to be 15 quality teams that should be downstate that are going home while other teams that are jogging three miles are going to be down at the state meet, which isn't really fair."
The Schaumburg sectional contains the majority of the top teams in Illinois.
Second-ranked Naperville North is joined by Waubonsie Valley, York, Wheaton North, St. Charles North, Geneva, Lyons, Hoffman Estates, Hinsdale South, Schaumburg and Naperville Central.
"Our sectional's going to be brutal," Saxons coach Jim Macnider said. "The Schaumburg sectional has 11 of the top 15 teams in the state in it. So they're going to leave a lot of good teams home. We better be ready."
With six more ranked teams potentially qualifying for the Schaumburg sectional, there should be fierce competition for the top five advancing spots. Murphy believes there will be a better race in Schaumburg than Peoria and the state champion will be decided Oct. 27.
"The IHSA wants regional representation. They don't care about excellence. They don't care about getting the best kids to the state meet," he said. "Schaumburg is going to have the state meet a week before state. They're going to have the best teams in the state there."
Ron McGraw, assistant executive director with IHSA, compiled the assignments and said he has received several angry e-mails in response.
While he said he understands the frustration, and conceded that some of the best teams might be eliminated before Peoria, McGraw added there wasn't much that could be done.
McGraw explained he isn't allowed to assign teams based on their win/loss records or rankings, instead assigning them based simply on geography.
"I realize that some good teams will be left behind," he said. "One of the things that (critics) may or may not agree with is the state series is not intended to advance the best teams to the final. It attempts to bring representatives from around the state."
With the Northwest suburbs of Chicago containing a disproportionate concentration of cross country talent, some good teams will always be eliminated prematurely.
However, this year's move to a three-class system with only four sectionals -- down from five -- has made it even tougher for teams to advance.
"It's almost like you took a bad system and made it worse," Conant coach John Powers said, adding that teams should be seeded to avoid situations like the Schaumburg sectional.
Within the Schaumburg sectional, the Aurora East regional contains seven top-25 teams with Naperville North, Waubonsie Valley, Naperville Central, Wheaton Warrenville South, Downers South, Benet and Downers North competing for the five qualifying spots.
One potential alleviator would be the addition of another 3A sectional. McGraw said a fifth sectional had been proposed before the season, but the IHSA wanted to wait at least a year before making any further changes.
Kwak's improvement bolsters Pirates: Palatine is off to another strong season, with most of the credit going to top-three runners Mat Smoody, Kevin O'Brien and Alex Mourousias.
However, as coach Chris Quick knows, the difference between winning and losing often comes down to your fourth and fifth finishers.
Senior Paul Kwak joined the team as a freshman and it was quickly apparent he needed a lot of improvement to become a productive member of the team.
Kwak worked extremely hard this past summer and the results were evident when registered a 16:08, fifth-place performance for the Pirates on Sept. 5 in their dual win over Barrington.
"(Kwak is) a kid that was the slowest kid on our team at one point when he was a freshman," Quick said. "This kid was running 90-to-100 miles a week this summer, and he is just incredibly improved.
"I'm shocked that he can run as fast as he does. He has a lot of heart. Guys like that are what makes our team go."