Scouting: Fox Valley boys cross country
2007 team performances: Dundee-Crown (state qualifier), Cary-Grove (state qualifier), Hampshire (sectional), Burlington Central (sectional), Huntley (sectional), Crystal Lake South (sectional)
Top 2007 individual performers: Matt Drendel (Hampshire), Phil Fairleigh (Cary-Grove), Tanner Holman (Hampshire), Zach Holmer (Westminster Christian), Andrew Knapik (St. Edward), Ricardo Mancha (Elgin), Anthony Manfrin (Dundee-Crown), Nick Mangiameli (Jacobs), Kai Rikardsen (Cary-Grove), Josh Uvodich (Crystal Lake South)
What to expect: The biggest story line will be in the Fox Valley Conference where heavyweights Cary-Grove and Dundee-Crown figure to battle it out once again. Cary-Grove won the FVC last year with D-C finishing second. Cary-Grove bettered D-C by 10 points at the sectional, but D-C returned the favor with the 10th place showing at state. Cary-Grove finished 14th in the state. The Trojans return a number of their top 7 runners from the state team including, Phil Fairleigh, Kai Rikardsen and Adam Resseguie. Fairleigh was 55th in the state last year. "We expect to compete for a return trip to the state meet," said Cary-Grove coach Layne Holter. "Our guys are dedicated and focused and committed to success. We just need to focus on what we can control and let everything else work itself out. We are a family and believe in each other." Holter feels closing the gap between runners 1-5 will be key this season.
Area outlook: Burlington Central and Hampshire qualified for sectional action last year. Central was hit hard by graduation and returns Ryan Kohls and Nic Laggett. Hampshire returns key runners in Matt Drendel and Tanner Holman. Crystal Lake South, a sectional qualifier last year, was seventh in FVC last year and is led by returning regional champion Josh Uvodich. Prairie Ridge was a sectional qualifier and was loaded with sophomore runners last year. Jacobs returns sophomore Nick Mangiameli, who was a sectional qualifier last year. Huntley, a sectional team qualifier in 2007, has a quintet of top returning runners in Alex Beruscha, Tyler Leibniz, Joe Mollica, Aaron Bengston and Bubba Hafner. South Elgin has its largest team ever with 21 runners. The Storm is led by juniors Kevin Gianaris and Xavier Salazar. Larkin also has one of its largest teams in recent history with 25 runners. Freshman Francisco Gonzalez was Larkin's top runner to start the season. Five of the Royals' top 7 runners were freshmen at the beginning of the season. Streamwood lost eight seniors to graduation. The Sabres are paced by the quartet of Roger Klein (Jr.), Kyle Marshall (Sr.) and Ricky Zagozden (Jr.). Bartlett is led by the trio of Adam Brhel (Jr.), Josafat Gonzalez (Soph.) and Thomas Niewiara (Sr.). Ricardo Mancha was a sectional qualifier for Elgin last season, which also returns senior co-captains Kevin Eck and Dan Schmerber and benefited from a summer camp at Cuyahoga National Park. Senior Zach Holmer was a sectional qualifier for Westminster Christian last year. Andrew Knapik is a returning sectional qualifier for St. Edward. Sophomore Irfran Uraizee leads Elgin Academy.
New faces: The area is loaded with new boys coaches. That list includes Vince Neil (Burlington Central), Matt Kaplan (Huntley), Dennis Wozniak (Hampshire), Jeremy Bloomberg (Larkin), Tim Dovichi (St. Edward) and David Vogt (Elgin Academy).
- Mike Miazga