Marklund Challenge Accepted!

The Kaneland boys and girls cross country programs are teaming up to help their long time friends at Marklund Home in Geneva. The grade level groups are trying to collect basic needs items and money donations to help support the clients and staff of Marklund. For more than a decade, Kaneland runners have been getting out of their comfort zones to assist our friends. Covid has prevented us from doing what we usually do, sharing time playing games, taking nature walks, and spending time in their classrooms. Now, we have a mission to help them with important essentials for a quality living.

Please help support our programs by donating to your local KXC runners, either with items off the list below, or monies to purchase gift cards at Walmart or other supplies. While we are competing against one another, the true winners will be the clients that need our help. If you have any questions, please contact Coach Clarey at 10965@kaneland.org. 

 

FOR MORE DETAILS, CLICK THE LINK BELOW:

Marklund Challenge Link 

2022 Season: Parent Meeting Slides

 

Click on the 2022 Season logo (right above this) to view our slides and notes from the Friday night meeting with the coaches. We look forward to supporting your son this fall as we work to be a highly optimistic and accountable program. We are grateful for your partnership, support, and excellence as we ROW together. Don't forget to connect to our Remind texts and Google Classroom, with the details at the end of the slides.

Knights Take 4th at State Finals, Nosek Earns All State

 

Entering Finals, we had the depth and strength to land in the Top 5 at Detweiller. We did that and more on a fantastic day for racing.

Freshman Evan Nosek mingled with the top tier 2A runners early, and the rest of the pack stuck close to one another to afford a fourth place team finish at the State Finals. Nosek found familiar runners that he knew would pull him to the final mile where he would need to hang on for 25th place or better. Evan ran a career best 15:17 to earn 21st overall and an All State medal.

Seniors Christian Phillips and Nolan Allen made up ground on the field, and history, by racing just :04 apart through the three mile course. Phillips finished his high school career running 15:46 for 45th overall in the Finals. Allen crossed the finish line at 15:50 (53rd overall) to surpass his career best time by :10.

Sophomore David Valkanov continued to show progress all season long, and kept his eyes on familiar jerseys to reach a career best mark on the finals course. Valkanov broke 16, running 15:59, to place 70th overall in 2A.

Junior Trevor Neal grabbed the final scoring position for the Knights when he crossed the finish line at 16:08, which was our fifth career best race of the day. His finish also completed the tallying of our score at 185 points, which was a fantastic finish in a very balanced field of teams.

Senior Logan Cunz closed out his final race of his high school career with a course best time of 16:24. This time was good for 134th overall. Logan was the fifth fastest #6 in 2A at Finals, and he bettered 50 scoring runners from other competing teams.

Junior Brady Babka battled allergies and more throughout the week and ended his season running a course best time of 16:44. He finished 166th for the Knights. Babka pushed past 26 scoring runners from other state qualifying teams.

The 2021 season marked the first time since COVID that a State Finals would be held. Battling to stay healthy and prepared for a full season on a truncated schedule in the offseason proved to be quite a challenge. We were up to the challenge!

Since 2018, there have been hundreds of teams qualify for the State Finals on both sides of the ledger. In that time span where three Finals were run, Kaneland is the only program to place in the Top 4, three times in a row at Detweiller. Our seniors did a fantastic job of harnessing the role of the pack, and striving to help our team stick together.

Nosek’s All State performance was the 23rd in program history. Evan’s time of 15:17 was the sixth fastest All State race by a Knight, and the fastest race by a Kaneland freshman, ever, at Detweiller Park.

The team made its own history all season long by sticking together throughout their races. The 23rd chapter as a team at State was epic!

 

Kaneland Squishes to Second at Fenton Sectional, Advances to State Finals

 

The road to State is never an easy one for Kaneland teams. For the 23rd time in program history, the Knights jerseys will be worn by a full seven lineup.

Meeting up with multiple Top 10 programs, we found a greater challenge with not the runners, but the saturated Fenton course. Runners won’t love the times on this course, but they’ll remember the challenges in the mud.

Evan Nosek wasted little time finding the front runners in this race, splashing into the top 5 for much of the run. In the final turns, Evan finished as an All Sectional runner with an 8th place medal, and an uncharacteristic time of 16:50.

Christian Phillips found himself working from the 30’s up to a teen position and held his own at about 15th for much of the run. Phillips cemented his important #2 scoring position at 16th overall in the meet, in a time of 17:21. Every single finisher at Fenton had at least a minute of extra running on this muddy morning.

Nolan Allen ran just like a senior would in the Sectional meet. Nolan worked his way from the 20s in the first half of the race up to high teens. In the final quarter mile, he turned it up a few notches to net 17th, running just :06 back of Phillips at 17:27. This is the type of push to the line that only a senior running at the end of a season makes.

Trevor Neal proved yet again that we have an arsenal of talent where there are no specific scoring places that our runners must fulfill. This week, Neal took aim at a top 5 scoring spot, and led David Valkanov through the muck for much of the race. Trevor kept pushing forward and held a spot in the low 30s through most of the race. In the final 800m, he moved up to score 27 points with his finish at 17:40, and just 13 seconds back of Allen. This was such a pivotal performance for our pack.

David Valkanov, also competing in his first Sectional like Neal, showed great valor and toughness while using everything in his tank to net our final scoring tallies. David maintained his position in the 30s to grab 36th overall at 17:49. He lay in an exhausted heap at the finish line, mud or no mud.

Logan Cunz found joy in the fact that he helped us earn another chance to run next week on drier grounds in Peoria. Cunz wasn’t pleased with his 49th/18:10 day, but he is grateful that he gets a chance to give this another shot in Peoria. Logan was able to push the score up on every single team below us on the final results including 7 other ranked teams.

Brady Babka also gave every  bit of his energy for the team on a very tough course when torn up with six sloppy loops of long spikes on long grass. Brady raced to 58th overall (18:29), and was ahead of 38 scoring runners from other teams in the Sectional. We remember that not every day is going to be a “10” like it felt at the Regional.

 

Knights Use Power of the Pack, Net 2nd Behind #2 Fenwick

What a difference a week makes. We took full advantage of our home course and matched up very well with #2 Fenwick’s elite team. MileSplitIL came out to watch our Regional because it was the most loaded field in Illinois for 2A. That being said, we had our work cut out, and we responded very well from Conference to Regionals.

Our seniors stepped up to match the hard charging freshman in our lineup, and our juniors and sophomore did exactly what they intended to do, racing to their strengths and finding the pack to shore up a phenomenal split for 1-7.

Evan Nosek jumped right into the top 5 with Fenwick’s powerful 1-2 punch. The pace through the mile was very manageable, and helped Evan secure a career best time for three miles at 15:42, with a 5th place medal.

Christian Phillips dropped :40 from his Regional race a year ago. He took solid control in a loaded field and secured 7 points for our score, and a pumpkin as well.

Nolan Allen moved up to a top 10 position as well, and was less than a half second from hitting Sub 16 for three miles. Allen’s 9th place effort was a career best time of 16:00. What better motivation than to have another week to hit that coveted Sub 16 mark?

Logan Cunz was waiting for the perfect time to drop both a new career PR and course PR. He delivered today by racing to 18th in the field, and boasting a new PR of 16:18. Cunz found company when he looked over his shoulder as Brady Babka steadily worked his way up through the mid pack to reach the finish at 20th in 16:20. Brady notched a career PR by a few seconds and bettered his course PR by nearly :20.

David Valkanov and Trevor Neal kept excellent pace with their peers and each finished off course best times. Trevor edged David by less than a second, with Neal getting a :36 course PR, and Valkanov dropping his best time at home by 1:02.

 

 

COME JOIN THE ZOMBIES!! Treat Race and "Run for Your Life" on October 8

 This Kaneland HS Cross Country program tradition, our Zombie Run, will have our student athletes play the kind and scary roles of Zombies. Of course during the first run of the evening, they are very kind to our younger runners by offering sweet treats ahead of Halloween. Runners as young as kindergarten are welcome to participate, but may want an older sibling or adult to guide them through the course. All these treat runners are encouraged to wear their favorite Halloween costumes as well. The run is short and walking is absolutely fine!

The "Run for Your Life" is an absolute blast! Our Zombies get a little hungrier from the first race and will be prepared to chase brave flagged runners who might escape with all three of their flags. Awards for this 1.2 mile run are available to all runners who survive!

Please go to the LINK TO THE RIGHT AND DOWN to find details pertaining to our Oct. 8th Zombie Run. If you're a minor, your guardian will need to sign a waiver in order to participate. Parents of participants can sign up the day of the event.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Zombie Run this year! Registration opens at 4pm. DON'T MISS THIS fantastic event that supports our program.

Third Consecutive Top 5 Finish for Both Levels at CLS Invite

 

While we went a little longer, we achieved something terrific at the varsity level this week. Running flag to flag as instructed, our team showed resilience and commitment. We lost places in the final results, but we gained an understanding that our pack is really alive and  strong. Christian Phillips was first to notice runners streaming off the path, but he held to his convictions. Phillips was 11th in the results at 18:04. Neal came into the chute just 8 seconds later at 18:12 for 15th. Allen turned in 17th for points, running the only course PR of the day (and he ran longer!) at 18:23. Brady Babka was next in, just 6 seconds later to make the pack split of 1-4 stand at :25. Brady finished 21st overall.

Scoring needed to be complete, and Lechocki was up to the task. He finished the day in a medal position at 63rd overall. Bruhl was the next Knight to place, finishing as a pusher at 70th and a time of 20:34 on the long course. Fielder was just out of the medals, but still ran a solid effort, finishing 74th (20:40). Nolan  Hosking, not feeling 100% still came to run and put up sub 7:00 mile pace to grab 91st (21:17). Brayden Farmer was closing on Nolan, and finished up his run two places later at 21:26. Smith also broke 7:00 pace, to end the day at 21:46. Scherden ended our varsity competition when he crossed in 23:42, for 131st. While the results said we finished 5th, we have a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks if we stay healthy, hungry, and humble.

Our frosh soph squad took to the rocky trails next and used some very fine grouping up to show they will be a force for the whole season. Evan Nosek clocked in at 11:56 on the rolling hilly course to take home a bobblehead award and 2nd overall. Teammate Zach Murdock was just into the chute ahead of a solid pack of Knights. Murdock ran 15th (12:49) followed by Brennan (16th, 12:52), and then Reutimann at 17th with a 12:59. Ten seconds between those finishers is just awesome! Keep making that pack “unbreakable.”

More solid and close placement for scoring came from Polloway, who ended scoring in 34th place at 13:52. Jack was quickly followed by Ramos at 14:04 (37th), and then Blickem just four seconds later (14:08, 42nd). Lentz was chasing diamonds all day, and closed to just :06 back of Blickem, earning the 46th place medal (14:14). Ben Broz didn’t want to go home empty handed, so he emptied the tank and finished strong at 14:25 for 54th. Neville was on Ben’s heels at the finish and also crossed to earn a medl at 56th (14:29). This pairing and packing up in racing is so powerful in results.

Jude Mullins rocked 7:07 mile pace on the 2.15 mile course of hills, rocks, and occasional pavement to end his day in 81st place, overall. Ryan Moreno had the absolute finish of the day, coming from behind to outlast a Rolling Meadows finisher at 127th, and 17:08. Lucas Fiedler kept up his pace and dropped his mile pace to 9:04, and finished 144th at 19:31. Lucas continues to work hard like his teammates, showing grit and guts.

If we are intentional about pack running, we will become “unbreakable.”