Downers Grove North’s Cupial looks to cap cross country legacy in style — in Oregon

Downers Grove North boys cross country coach John Sipple called senior Philip Cupial the most accomplished athlete in program history.

That is saying something for a school steeped in distance running.

Though he’s got a full track season to go, Cupial looks to add to his prep cross country legacy one last time, Saturday at the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) in Portland, Oregon.

“I’ll stick my head out there and make sure I do all in my power to represent the Midwest and my team and all of Illinois,” Cupial said Tuesday.

He’s done that before. After his top-seven finishes helped Downers North win the 2023 and 2024 Class 3A cross country titles, this Nov. 8 Cupial won the individual title, the first for a Trojans boy. He followed that with a first-place finish at the NXN Midwest regional Nov. 16 in Terre Haute.

On the track Cupial’s highlights include running on 3A 3,200-meter relay champions in both 2024 and 2025 — the former following his individual 1,600 title, the latter setting a state-record time.

The foursome of Cupial, John Courtney, Grant Schroder and Will Surratt then gave Downers North a repeat 3,200 relay win in June at the 2025 Nike Outdoor Nationals (Hinsdale Central won it in 2022-23), with the seventh-fastest time in the nation, according to Track & Field News.

Cupial said this fall’s individual cross country title “was definitely a special moment.” Still, he pointed to his sophomore year — seventh in Class 3A cross country, titles in the open 1,600 and the 3,200 relay — as proof of his progress and also of his enjoyment of running with teammates, which Cupial seems to prefer.

“It really made me realize, kind of, how bright my future is,” Cupial said. “Those moments with the guys on the four-by-eight team made it so much more special.”

He’ll decide on his college team, probably between Notre Dame and Virginia, after Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals. Westmont senior Kyla Babb is running in Portland, too. Plainfield North’s boys are the sole Illinois team at NXN.

Not really pleased with his NXN results the past two years, Cupial looks to get off to a faster start. He believes a top-10 finish is a realistic goal but if things go south, as they can quickly in this sport, he said he’d be happy with a top-21, All-American finish.

“But if I’m in the pack I’m going to do everything I can to win. That’s the standard for every race,” Cupial said.

It’s not the only standard Cupial brings into Saturday.

“Enjoy my last-ever cross country race for high school. That’s kind of the goal.”

Big day for the Hawks

Emerging from the tunnel the Chicago Bears use, Maine South’s girls flag football team ran onto the Soldier Field grass at halftime of the Nov. 23 Bears game against the Steelers.

Coach Carlos Panizo’s Hawks were being honored for the state championship they’d won a month earlier at Willowbrook High School.

Highlights of Maine South’s 26-6 win over Whitney Young played on the Soldier Field Jumbotron. The Bears recognized the flag football season’s nine players and coaches of the week, including Panizo, Hawks receiver-safety Emerson De La Cruz and quarterback Aribella Spandiary, who is headed to Purdue University Northwest on a full scholarship.

“It was spectacular,” said Panizo, a Park Ridge police officer and Maine South school resource officer in his second year as head coach of the varsity Hawks. Jarizza Martinez, now junior varsity coach, established the program in 2023.

The Bears, huge supporters of Illinois high school girls flag football from the start in 2021, had set up a mannequin in the concourse dressed in a Maine South uniform, Panizo said.

Throughout the day the organization celebrated girls and women in sports, including female Bears employees, he said.

“It was really great, and on top of it the Bears won (31-28) in a thrilling victory. You couldn’t ask for a better day for us,” said Panizo, an honorary captain with Spandiary.

And yet, it got better. Named coach of the year, Panizo received two tickets to the 2026 Super Bowl in California. His wife, Lisa, will use that second ticket.

“Plenty of assistant coaches presented applications for that spot,” the coach said.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com