Your Letter - Our Book

KXC Families and Fans,

Please use this link for a special project with a deadline, this week.

Your Letter - Our Book

Remember that any and all entries are guaranteed to be in the book, if submitted by noon on Thursday.

Regional Championship for the Knights

The poise and strength of this collective team is superb. Riding momentum from a conference title the week before, the Knights claimed a narrow victory over a surging Benet Academy team. Daniel Occhipinti claimed his third consecutive individual win by outlasting a tough pack of All State runners. Occhipinti’s 15:42 was a :40 PR on the BC course.

Austin Adams continues to climb up the ranks of 2A competitors, working from a solid sixth place, past two, to a medal position at 4th overall. Adams ran a career best 15:55 time on the spongy course filled with turns. Ethan Walker also ripped his career PR to pieces by surging up into the scoring pack of Knights and Redwings of Benet. Walker ran a :56 course PR, finishing 12th at 16:17.

Aidan Lodwig and Jacob Wielgos extended their senior season another week when they trailed Walker’s lead by just :05. Once again, the seniors ran identical times, ending the day just ahead of BA’s #5, at 16:22. Lodwig’s time was a :23 PR over last year’s Regional effort. Wielgos was better by :31. This is particularly impressive as the weather was much more of a factor in times this year.

Ethan Neal also had a career PR on the BC course, running 18th (16:43), and finishing just behind BA’s #6, but ahead of Burlington’s #3 and 27 other scorers in the field. 

Isaiah Dallal entered his first IHSA State Series race with no pressure and an open chance at building on his momentum from conference. Dallal ran a :22 course PR (:01 career PR), and was ahead of BC’s #5, as well as 24 other scoring runners from the field.

The last time a Kaneland team hoisted a Regional plaque, it was 1995. The challenge ahead of us is cleanly running our home course, and surging into position versus a motivated Benet team. Expect their best at the Sectionals.

KXC Volunteers Needed for Final Home Meet of the Year

KXC Families,
We are looking to close out our home meet schedule when we host the Sectional this coming weekend. We really need your help! In addition to seeing our programs run two great races, we are hopeful that we can enlist the help of our biggest fans in making this a meet that new schools (to us) will be talking about and thankful for in the next few weeks.

Please use THIS LINK TO SIGN UP FOR A SPOT.

In advance, your coaches and meet manager, thank you for the efforts you put forth to help make our program and Kaneland shine.

If you have questions, please use the numbers on the links to reach Karen and Tom Richtman, or Sheila Albano.

Varsity Claims First NIB XII Title in Last Championship Meet for the Conference

The meet was a close as we thought it would be, with 21 points separating the top four teams. Our varsity runners stepped up to the challenge, and when we surged, we took advantage.

Daniel Occhipinti became just the fourth Kaneland harrier to ever win an individual conference championship. He was shadowed through much of the first lap of the course by a pack that included teammate, Austin Adams who was back from a layoff to lend critical support. Adams placed 7th overall, in 16:21, nearly a career PR.

Lodwig and Wielgos teamed up once again to help make history; locking down 10th and 11th places, separated by just :00.5 seconds. Walker closed out our scoring, coming across the line 10 seconds later, in a strong 15th place; also good for All Conference honors.

Ethan Neal fought through adversity on the hilly course to secure 23rd place, and pushed the critical scoring on  Dekalb’s fifth runner. Isaiah Dallal took his first turn in the varsity Top 7 lineup, and raced to 26th overall. He beat scoring runners on five teams in the varsity race. The last time Kaneland’s varsity boys hoisted a conference team title award, it was 2001.

The frosh soph team fired off the line and out onto the hilly course with ferocity. The unrelenting course proved a formidable foe, in addition to a loaded field. The Knights took fourth, highlighted by Top 18 performances by Aaron Lodwig and Christian Phillips, who crossed one second apart.

Fountain was next to cross the finish line, :18 later to grab 25th. Allen was our next finisher at 26th, at 18:20. Popovich completed a stellar pack split of :30 (1-5), in 18:24. Fitts flowed in five seconds later in 29. Malone was our next Knight to the chute, in 32nd, bettering 16 scorers of four teams.

In the final race of the NIB XII Conference, it was Kaneland who had their name at the top of the standings. Our mixed group of young and experienced Knights showed their depth, and shined for the last time in a league meet. Our senior leadership shined bright on this otherwise gloomy looking fall day.

Blake Finn captured the individual title in the Open when he chased the Gator for a career 3-mile PR at 17:24. Petrik took second at 17:31, with another fine  run. Klingensmith took home a seventh place ribbon at 18:22. Orczykowski matched up with a runner from Yorkville, and used his character to help both that runner and himself to a Top 10 finish.

More teammates building momentum through the race, and working together included Cunz and Scherden. Both ran :52 PRs for three miles, and Cunz finished with 27 points to help the team outlast  YHS by a score of 45-59.

Huber raced to 40th overall, running 20:13. He was followed by Brazee, with a blazing kick to notch a 1:38 PR at 20:20. Sussland repeated the PR effort, knocking :32 off his previous best, on this hilly course. Fiedler didn’t want to be left out of that group, so he set a new career PR too, knocking :14 off his previous best.

Rovinsky kept the PR train rolling, and bettered his best by :20, ending at 21:20. Hwang took more time off his best, finishing ten seconds later. Webster showed great toughness despite the aches to complete the run in 21:38. Johnston also had a big PR run, knocking 1:20 off his career best. Walters was relentless in his pursuit of the competition and was rewarded with a new PR time of 27:59.

Big time effort displayed to close out a very tough regular season. State Series, next!

Knights Rock the River in Sterling

With nearly identical team totals, the varsity and frosh soph teams demonstrated poise, confidence, and strength.  Occhipinti raced to a runner up finish, and a :50 course PR. Wielgos also smashed his course best by 1:14 en route to a sixth place performance, and a career PR. Aidan Lodwig wound up with a :16 course best time as our #3, and was trailed shortly after by Nosek in a career best 16:38. Right on Seth’s heels was Walker, running 22nd overall (16:39)who completed our pack split at :61, and a team point total of 67.

Ethan Neal rolled an ankle and still kept racing hard, managing a 16:55 on a course that runs about :20 slower than Detweiller. Finn served as our seventh runner and pushed the scores on 9 teams, finishing in 17:44 (:14 course PR). Klingensmith set a career best, breaking the 18:00 barrier for 3 miles.  Petrik was next to cross the blue mats at 18:11, and a course best. Orczykowski raced with much more power, having a season’s best mile pace at 6:09. Holder kept close to his season’s best at 20:29. Webster was next across the finish line, working hard for his mile pace despite the aches of “Peak Week,” which we are all experiencing. Alex Johnston raced to a career best for three miles, when he finished our varsity team performances off with his 23:29. As every man counts in our program, the TEAM should be proud of its collective efforts.

Our frosh soph team nearly  matched the same number of points (68) and looked powerful in their field. Dallal nearly eclipsed the coveted 17:00 mark, and earned third with a career best. Aaron Lodwig also put up a stellar point total, finishing 13th (17:35) and leading a 7-second barrage of “diamonds” across the line. Allen finished two seconds later for a :14 career PR. Fitts (:21 PR) and Phillips (:06) ran matching times of 17:42, each running career bests. Their scoring pack split was just :42. Fountain was on the cusp of the 18:00 barrier and managed a :21 career PR to finish 31st. Parker Malone ran his best race ever, with an 18:23 to finish in the Top 40. Popovich was both enthusiastic and valiant in his approach to the race, running through injury, finishing in the top third.

Cunz set his 3-mile PR at 20:24. Scherden and Sussland paired up and crossed right at 21:00, Trevor nearly breaking his career best. Fiedler as also knocking on the door of his best, impressive on a more challenging course than ours. Rovinsky put up a :54 improvement on his career PR, biggest drop of the day. Brazee returned to the course where his career began, finishing with a mile pace that was more than a minute faster than the two mile race from a year ago. THAT is improvement! Walters found company for three miles and then turned on the burners at the finish to complete the run in 28:59.

We continue to chase our own jerseys, which is equating to great team results.