There will be a volunteer meeting on Thursday evening (9/15) to share details on posts and responsibilities. We will begin this meeting at 5:50, at the finish line of the course.
PICNIC FOOD ORDER FORM (send cash Wednesday, if at all possible... will take $ day of event)
**The Subway that we are ordering from does NOT have gluten free items at this time, so for families where that is a need, please plan accordingly. Sorry for this inconvenience.
If you have questions, please contact Coach Clarey.
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:
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!
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.
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.
