Burlington, Hampshire send runners to state
Two points.
That’s all that separated Burlington Central’s boys cross country team from a berth in next weekend’s state finals in Peoria.
The Rockets finished sixth as a team Saturday at the Class 2A Belvidere sectional. Their 210 points was 2 behind fifth-place Grayslake Central, and only 4 points behind fourth-place Kaneland.
So the Rockets’ only representative at state will be senior Clint Kliem, who finished fifth in 15:24.3 to grab one of the individual berths. Kliem, who will be after his third straight state medal, finished 10th at the state meet last year and 25th as a sophomore.
“We knew this was a tough sectional, with the first four spots pretty well set,” said Kliem. “So there were a number of teams battling for that fifth spot.”
The Rockets were nearly in shock after the near-miss.
“Our goal was to get to state as a team, “Kliem said, “And it didn’t happen.”
Although clearly disappointed that the team didn’t make it, Kliem was satisfied with his own time and the way the race developed up front, as he stayed with the lead pack consistently.
Belvidere North ran away with the team title. The Blue Thunder scored 60 points to 89 for runner-up Yorkville. Crystal Lake Central was third at 129.
The Blue Thunder and the Tigers traded off the top four individual spots. North’s Tyler Yunk won in 15:05.3, finishing about 20 yards in front of the nearest competitor. Teammate Paxson Menard took third, while a pair of Tiger runners, Alex Baker and Chris Alvarez, finished second and fourth, respectively.
The Rockets’ next best effort was by junior Dan Morgan, who finished 36th, 7 spots ahead of Mike Gulik.
Kaneland’s runners were well-bunched. The Knights had only one runner in the top 20, Kyle Carter who finished 19th, but had four others in the top 55.
Grayslake Central was paced by Will Brewster, who finished 9th overall in 15:38.6.
In the girls’ race, Hampshire’s Cassie Kruse secured another trip to state. The Hampshire senior, who finished sixth in this sectional last year, and eighth at state, took third individually Saturday with a time of 17:57.1.
Yorkville and Crystal Lake Central dominated the team standings. The Foxes took first overall with 67 points to 70 for the runner-up Tigers.
Central freshman Sami Staples finished first in 17:39.4, 3 seconds ahead of DeKalb’s Kelsey Schrader.
Dixon, Kaneland, and DeKalb also advanced to state.
“It was a good race,” said Kruse. “Definitely a really strong field here, which I was thrilled about, because its great to see all the competition before the state meet.
“My goal was just to stay with the leaders.”
Kruse broke with the lead pack early on and pretty well stayed in third place. Staples and Schrader started to pull away near the end, but Kruse held on for third.
Freshman Victoria Clinton was Kaneland’s top finisher, taking ninth place overall.
Lakes finished seventh as a team, but qualified two individuals for state in seniors Kathryn Dean and Hannah Wittman.