Scouting Tri-Cities area boys cross country
A year ago Batavia's cross country team sent out retiring coach Mike DiDomenico in style - with the school's first trip to the state meet.
Bronco Meeks takes over this fall for DiDomenico well versed in the Batavia cross country program.
Meeks is a 2002 Batavia graduate who ran cross country and track for the Bulldogs.
After competing in those two sports at Illinois State University, Meeks returned to Batavia. He's spent the last seven years coaching cross country at Rotolo Middle School in Batavia. He also has been the distance coach for the Batavia High School track team.
Meeks is excited about the opportunity and the team he has.
"The team is doing very well right now," Meeks said. "We have around 50 guys out this year. They have all been working very hard through the summer."
Last year Batavia finished second in conference, fifth in regional and fifth in the sectional to grab the last qualifying spot for state, where they placed 23rd.
"This year our goal is to win the school's first conference title in boys cross country," Meeks said. "Our team also hopes to return to the state meet and improve on the overall finish from last year."
Three runners are back from that state team - seniors David Morrison, Ryan Wieties and Patrick Redmond. Morrison and Wieties also have been state qualifiers in track in the 3,200 relay, and Morrison also took 15th in state last year in the 3,200.
Joining those three is junior Shea Bastian who has been running fourth. Meeks said the final three spots in the top seven will be a battle between sophomore Keaton Keller, junior Zach Choffin, junior Jimmy Roach, sophomore Quinn O'Brien, sophomore Drew Pellico and freshman Sean Adams.
"Overall our top two are very strong," Meeks said. "They are probably the best 1-2 punch Batavia has ever had. Patrick Redmond and Shea Bastian provide a very strong supporting crew, and work very well together. Patrick has been working harder than he ever has in his life. We are very excited to see what he can accomplish this year. Our success as a team will depend on the growth of the younger guys. If they continue to push one another and stay healthy, they will surprise some people at the end of the year."
To get to the top of the Upstate Eight Conference River, Batavia will have to unseat St. Charles East.
The Saints are coming off one of their best seasons in memory. They won the conference championship for the first time since 2001, and their frosh-soph team also won the River title. They won their first regional since 2001 and placed seventh at the sectional - a jump from 16th the year before.
Even better, 10 of the Saints' top 12 return, among them the following who coach Chris Bosworth expects to make up his core: junior Mark Sciurba, junior Michael Gerkin, senior Mike Skora, senior Will Muckian, senior Nick Hauptmann, junior Jack Rezpecki and junior Alex Thomas.
Campbell Koch, Rohon Patel and Cole Addesso are freshmen who Bosworth said "can play a big role on our team."
"Our goal is simple," Bosworth said. "Qualify for the state cross country championship. We want to repeat as conference champions on all three levels in the River division. We also want to repeat as regional champions - all while enjoying the process the season brings us. We have a good group of guys that are hungry and determined. They are ready to race well at the end of the season."
While 2013 brought plenty of highlights for Batavia and St. Charles East, it didn't go as well for St. Charles North whose run of three straight River championships came to an end. So did a streak of eight straight teams that qualified for state.
"Last year was a disappointing year in cross country," North Stars coach Kevin Harrington said. "While I know that you can't win them all, we did not run to our potential."
Harrington said that disappointment already has led to some positives - like the 3,200 relay team qualifying for state and taking 12th last spring.
"Some of our guys became quite a bit more focused and motivated," Harrington said. "This has continued into the summer training and the early season."
The North Stars bring back seniors Max Markowicz, Hayden Joyce, Steve Lewandowski and Danny Obernesser, and they add senior Chris Suda who ran on the 3,200 relay last year.
"Right now I am not sure if we have any true front-runners," Harrington said. "But it is a definite possibility that we could get five kids under 16 minutes by the end of the year - which is at least in the competitive realm."
Joining the senior group are juniors new to varsity: Carter Stibgen, Joey Rangel, Tyler Carera, Michael Boone and Tyler Tomich. Sophomore Brett Lee could break into the top seven.
"We should not be on the top of anyone's list right now," Harrington said. "St. Charles East is returning a lot of quality runners from a conference and regional championship team. That being said, I believe that we have the capability of packing a bunch of good athletes together in a way that could be impressive in the right meet."
Geneva finished fourth in the UEC River last year. The Vikings will look to junior Julian Desens, junior Jake Tracey, senior Jake Kaufman, sophomore Brian Kuehl and sophomore Tyler Dau to lead the team, along with newcomers Mitchael Deamantopulos, a senior, and junior Brian Caskey.
"We should see some improvements over last season," Geneva coach Bob Thomson said. "We had some growing pains last season and some graduation loss."
The Northern Illinois Big XII has featured some of the state's best cross country teams lately. Kaneland is coming off a third-place finish in the conference, and the Knights went on to take fourth in the Class 2A Belvidere sectional and 22nd at state.
Senior Brandon Park, junior Sean Spaetzel and senior Andrew Lesak all ran on last year's state team.
"These boys bring some big meet experience and will help set a foundation for a large crop of new juniors coming to our team," Knights coach Chad Clarey said.
Clarey also likes the leadership from James Walker and Mitch Reger, and junior Will Kuipers.
Twenty new runners join the program including the following who Clarey said could make a bid for a top-seven spot: juniors Austin Kintz, Tanner Robertsen, Brandon Cruz and Zach Kurz, senior Jared Murri, and sophomore Anthony Messina. Murri is a move-in from Texas.
"With more than 60 percent of our roster new to the sport of high school cross country, we certainly lack experience," Clarey said. "This large group of runners is not short on effort or dedication. Many of these boys ran much of the summer, and they're eager to put their miles to the course. Our leadership has been outstanding, attitudes are terrific, and our work ethic has been solid. We will take some lumps early, as we learn how to race. But if we can stay healthy, get some development out of the junior class, we could make things interesting in October."
Clarey said Yorkville is the clear favorite in conference while Kaneland hopes to finish in the top three competing against Sterling, Sycamore, DeKalb and Geneseo.
"We have a very deep 2A cross country conference, which helps us set the tone for a competitive finish in the state series," Clarey said. "With only four of our 12 returning from the state series roster of 2013, we have our work cut out for ourselves. There's some great potential with this group, it's just a matter of time in the process of development. We are patient and excited about this team for this season, and for years to come."
West Aurora coach Tony Rizzo returns five of his top seven. Junior Connor McCue and senior Sergio Rios both qualified as individuals for the sectional last year.
Also coming back are sophomore David Castillo, senior Jason Zak, junior Rordan Stanton, junior EJ McLaren, junior Fernando Romero, junior Tomas Dominguez and sophomore Griffin Morrill.
"We look to qualify as a team for the sectional and state meet," Rizzo said. "We are far more experienced and composed compared to last season where we were green and very unsure."
Marmion and Aurora Central Catholic are no longer in the same conference, but they both have high hopes heading into the season.
The Cadets are coming off a conference championship and sixth-place finish in the sectional.
Senior Brady Bobbitt leads seven returnees.
"Excellent leader," Cadets coach Dan Klatt said. "Great example for teammates and has committed to high level training."
Klatt also is expecting big things from junior Andrew Burroughs and sophomores Charlie Zimmer and Andrew Lifka.
"Best summer of training and is ready to make a big jump," Klatt said of Burroughs. "Charlie is responding well to training after a difficult injury last spring and is a very good competitor."
As far as Lifka, Klatt said: "Steady progress has him ready to contribute on the varsity level on a consistent basis."
Senior Paul Bancroft, freshman Michael Ronzone and senior Matt Milder also should be in the core group of runners.
"Our team goal is to glorify God by doing the best we can every day in an effort to become the best version of ourselves," Klatt said. "There is no greater goal for us than that. In striving for that goal, our team is focused on the process of grinding day in and day out."
Klatt also knows it won't be easy in the postseason in Class 3A.
"We understand our history in 3A, and want that to change," Klatt said. "We had a solid level of commitment from the boys this summer and they are banding together for a promising season. We have excellent veteran leadership and a large number of guys, but the quality that has the team feeling confident is the commitment the men have made to each other. If we continue to commit to running for something greater than ourselves, we will be very pleased with our standing at the end of the year, and more importantly, we will have become better men."
Troy Kerber's Aurora Central Catholic Chargers finished fourth in the Suburban Christian last year, second in their own Charger Nation Invite, and seventh at the Wheaton Academy regional.
Returnees include senior Daniel Aquino, a state qualifier in 2012 and state track qualifier on the 3,200 relay last spring; senior Gabe Boebel, another member of the 3,200 state team, senior John Eastwood, senior Tyler Garcia (who ran on the state 3,200 in both 2013 and 2014), and sophomores Henry Feldhaus and Josh Jerwers.
Adding to that group are newcomers Rueben Franco, Scott Becker, Patrick McNulty, Thomas Dewaste, Austin Dickson, John Montelongo and Josh Malanyan.
The Chargers will see some new teams this fall in the Metro Suburban including Glenbard South and Fenton.
"The Metro looks pretty strong," Kerber said. "We feel we are a top four team that can challenge by the end of the year. We are charting some unknown waters, even though some former SCC schools have followed us to the Metro.
"The team dynamic looks to be a pack team. We will have to pack attack by committee this season. We have four pretty solid seniors led by Aquino, and we have a pretty good frosh-soph group with some of those kids coming up to contribute to the varsity by early October. For us to excel, we need to split one to five at about 35 to 40 seconds, which is something they can do."