Steven W. Chidester Scholarship

Boys, please use the following LINK to reach the questionnaire for the scholarship. It is awarded at the Senior Athletic Awards Night on June 6. If you have questions, please contact Coach Clarey.

Submissions should be received by Wednesday, May 23. Candidates are those seniors graduating from the 2017 cross country team.

Your Letters... Our Book

We’ve had a tradition for about 10 years… and for the fifth time in seven years now, after BOTH teams qualify, the coaches are proud to organize a book for the runners to read and enjoy on their trip down to Peoria.  It contains information about the meet, a puzzle or two, and most importantly, letters from their families, friends, Kaneland alumni, community members and others who felt inclined to share. 

We solicit these letter attachments to email, offering a chance to share advice, thoughts, quotes and inspiration to ALL of the runners on the team.  If you know of anyone who may enjoy the chance to send something along to the TEAM, please have them do so.

·        There will be ONE BOOK with letters to both the girls and boys teams.

Parents:  ALL parents of runners on the State Teams should make a two-fold letter.  First, please address your letter to your athlete.  Let them know how proud you are of them.  Write what is in your heart.  They will likely save this book for years to come.  Second, please add another section dedicated to the team(s).  Advice, thoughts, inspiration or otherwise would be appropriate.

Guidelines:  We will be assembling this book on Thursday.  ALL LETTERS TO THE TEAM MUST BE RECEIVED VIA EMAIL ON THURSDAY at NOON.  If you do not make the deadline, there will be no guarantee that your letter will be included in the bound edition.  ALL EMAILED LETTERS SHOULD BE SENT TO:  kanelandxc@gmail.com

Letters should be kept to one page in length, if possible (small font). 

As always, we appreciate the support that our extended Kaneland Community provides us.  If you know of someone who would like to offer something to make this book even more special, please pass along the guidelines and details here.

Thank you for your help in making this special KXC tradition a reality.

Address for emailing letters:   kanelandxc@gmail.com

Warriors.... Something to Bring You to the Moment You ARE Ready For

WARRIORS...

Knights JV Opens Regional Course with 11 Career PR's

Coming on strong at the end of the season seems to be the theme for many runners on the ledger today. Introducing themselves to a brand new course, the Knights took it to the competition and earned a final "un-scored" team win for the season in Burlington.

Ethan Walker earned a top finish for the Knights with a 4th place showing overall, and running a :28 career PR. Petrik was next into the chute, just 7 seconds later, also running a new career PR of 17:20 (:31 PR). Dallal crossed just behind at 17:21, :25 into a PR. Seth Nosek was just a few clicks off of his personal record time, when Finn joined him at the yellow finish line with a new PR of 17:37, also completing the pack split at just :24 for potential scoring runners. 

Dalton Klingensmith just outlasted Drew Occhipinti with an equal time of 18:10, which was Dalton’s career best. He surged through the last mile in order to achieve this. Drew caps a terrific first year of running in the program. Aaron Lodwig also  completed his season in great form, running a new career best at 18:16. Abruzzo chipped a few more seconds off his career  best just 7 seconds later. Fitts nabbed a top time as well when he crossed the line at 18:24, while Scotty Dunne blasted a big :31 PR in his final run of the year.

Senior Ben Purcell ran his best time of the season on his final race, finishing just ahead of Orczykowski, who has battled hard all season and led by example.

Huber capped his freshman year with a PR on the last day, racing to a 19:04 PR. Fountain also matched that feat by running his best, 19:28, at Plato Park. Parker Malone gave great chase to the runners of Sycamore and BC, coming across the line next at 19:48. Girolamo ended his senior year with a season PR, and Kyle Konrad fought through cramps putting down a blazing kick to  tie Holder at 20:28. More runners should take note of the courage that Kyle Wells runs with despite the pain an discomfort his own body affords him when the gun goes off. This is another senior, whose example of grit, courage, and intelligence have shown brightly.

Sussland completed this new course in 22:13 after a career day at conference. Matt Konrad was on the cusp of another PR for the year at 22:46. Jablonski was in obvious pain from the first mile, but never gave up, and with great fortitude he completed the day at 25:02.  Brazee was our last Knight into the chute at 25:14, completing a brief but strong freshman campaign.

To our seniors who ran in a high school meet for the very last time, it is with sadness that the season’s schedule has closed. It is also with sincere thanks that your coaches extend to you for the leadership you have provided the entire team along this journey. Some of you came into the program just six months ago, others since the summer of 2014, but all of you have left an indelible mark on our history, and we are better for it.

Sectional Volunteer Sign Up HERE!

We have one final task this season, as a KXC Family, and it's a big one. We need our KXC families to sign up for one or both races this weekend, as well as to consider assisting with parking cars and buses on the campus.

PLEASE USE THIS LINK

We are hopeful that all KXC Families will consider lending a hand to this important endeavor. We cannot do this without you! Thank you very, very much for your dedication to our athletes, the program, and to Kaneland Athletics.

Longer, Slower Course Doesn't Stop Kaneland Momentum

After substantial rains caused the meet to be canceled on Saturday, the course was modified in order to get the meet in. The course got longer, softer, and ultimately slower; but it didn’t dampen the scorching efforts of our Knights.

At the varsity level, Richtman took home second overall with a  new course PR at 15:13. Occhipinti moved up 16 places from ‘16 to net 6th overall in a course PR. Webster earned All Conference honors, placing 15th, with a :17 PR at home. Heiser was :00.4 away from All Conference, placing 19th with a new personal best at KHS. Aidan Lodwig sped to a :29 course PR, in 22nd place. Wielgos ran to 25th to complete our milestone split of 2-6 at :59, and knocking 4 seconds off his best race.  Henry Nosek needed to get his diphtheria shot today, but still managed to earn 29th overall at 17:19.  The runner-up finish for the Varsity puts them in a great position to build momentum for the post season.

When the frosh soph toed the line, they were getting their first glimpse of a talented Yorkville squad and a deep NIBXII. Ethan Walker took home the first ribbon of the day for Kaneland, running a career best 3 mile race at 17:41, for 11th. Dallal was next in the chute at 12th, also running a career PR for three miles. Seth Nosek earned the last ribbon, running 17:55 overall. Ethan Neal demonstrated courage in suffering through cramps, and raced to 19th. Popovich managed a Top 20 performance at 18:13, also running a :30 course PR on the day.  Abruzzo and Fitts raced together throughout, and Tony (24th) had a :29 course PR which Charles (25th) managed a :22 course PR.

The Open team threw down a huge team effort to put 5 runners in the Top 18 overall. Blake Finn cracked the Top 5 in a career best 17:44 for three miles. Petrik came across the line next with a :29 PR at home, as well as a career best time for three miles.  Drew Occhipinti net a 12th place ribbon in a career PR for the distance, as Orczykowski was on his heels 2 seconds later to also net a career best for three miles.

Klingensmith equaled his career best at 18:38, while Aaron Lodwig ran to a new :10 PR in 18:57, good for 22nd.  Scotty Dunne earned a new PR for three miles at 19:07 (25th). Purcell ended his senior year with a PR run on the longer course, improving by :03. Malone paired up with Fountain to run back to back finish places and times at 38 and 39. Running with a teammate is a strong motivator for success. Holder was next in 41st place, earning a 1:06 career PR for three miles. Kyle Konrad was able to put up a new career best at home, running a :13 PR at 20:14. Will Huber knocked down a :20 PR on the home course at 20:22. Girolamo, running for the final time at home in his career also had a PR race on the campus course.

Trevor Sussland had the biggest drop of the day when he smashed a 2:15 career PR for three miles. Kyle Wells followed the lead of his senior teammates by running to a career best at home (:25 better). Jablonski was next to the chute, finishing strong at 21:09. Matt Konrad net a course PR of 22:42, and was just a few seconds off of his career best. Freshman David Brazee smashed his previous best from Freeport to earn a solid 22:50.

Next up, we travel with our full team to Burlington Central for a preview of the Regional course on Thursday at 4:15.

KXC PARENTS: Volunteer Sign Up

USE THIS LINK

Kaneland XC Families, we hope that you will find it in your hearts to volunteer for as many positions as you can this coming Saturday when we host the NIB XII Conference Championships. Our five races will run from 10am until about 12:30pm. It is critical that we get help with key positions on the course as well as at the finish line AFTER we run a smooth performance in the parking lots.

This meet is a great dress rehearsal for the IHSA Sectional which will be hosted on the Kaneland campus on October 28th. We are most hopeful that you will join us again that weekend in similar roles.

If you have questions related to volunteering, please contact Tom and Karen Richtman, whose number is located on the linked document. Additionally, we are in need of early morning help with bus and spectator parking, as well as possible last minute course set up.

Busy weekend ahead! Looking forward to showing how well we run our home meets.