Sectional Champs!
October 9, 2016
For the first time since 2012 both the boys and girls teams are Sectional champions! 2012 was the first year we hosted a Sectional and it was a much weaker Sectional than we've had the past few years. Those two teams went on the finish in the top ten at State, but this team has even higher aspirations.
The girls were visibly nervous before their Sectional race, but those nerves appeared to go away once the gun started the race and their training and experience took over. Helena Kleronomos stuck with Batavia's stud 7th grader Katrina Schlenker for the first mile, but Schlenker pulled away for a victory in 11:16. Helena still finished in second with a time of 11:26, which is the third-fastest time ever for a YMS girl. Helena now has three of the top five fastest two-mile times run by a Yorkville Middle School girl. Hailey Simmons and Sara Klemm ran together for most of the race, but Hailey, who is the only returning State runner from last year's girls team, pulled away to finish fourth in 11:49. Sara finished fifth in 11:59 and was nearly caught by seventh grader Sydney Peterson, who gained three places in the second half of the race to finish in sixth place with a time of 12:04. All four girls finished with All-Sectional honors, and held off Minooka's strong pack of seven runners. Nikki Vergara was Yorkville's final scorer and although she finished behind Minooka's pack, her 16th-place finish in 12:24 was good enough to secure a 33-45 win for Yorkville over Minooka. Yorkville's varsity girls have not lost a race all season. Batavia Rotolo was the third state-qualifying team with a score of 60. Burlington Central missed out on qualifying in fourth place with a score of 113. Brooke O'Carroll (22nd, 12:34) and Jinnaea Richardson (29th, 12:50) were the sixth and seventh runners for Yorkville.
The boys came in with confidence having not lost a race since coming in third at the Parkside Invite nearly a month ago. Ivan Westcott has been the team's strongest runner and he won a wire-to-wire race to become the first Yorkville Middle School boy to win an individual Sectional championship with his time of 10:32. Cade Grimaldi had another strong race in a season full of them and finished in second place in 10:39. Austin Popplewell made it under the 11 minute mark for the second time this season with his time of 10:50 in sixth place. Matthew Angerame earned All-Sectional honors along with Ivan, Cade, and Austin with his tenth-place finish in 11:06. Danny Harker completed the team's scoring and just missed out on All-Sectionals with a 12th-place finish in 11:10. Jack Brucher (14th, 11:18) and Colin Kachlic (34th, 12:00) finished sixth and seventh for the Foxes, who turned in a dominating 31-56 victory over second-place Minooka. Batavia also finished third in the boys race with a score of 78 points. Oswego Plank missed State with their score of 142 in fourth place.
The boys will be competing at State for the fifth year in a row and the sixth time in seven years. The girls missed State last season, but will also be competing at IESA State for the sixth time in seven years. The State meet is this Saturday, October 15 at Maxwell Park in Normal. The girls will run at 12:30pm and the boys will run at 1:15pm. Awards will be held at Normal West High School at 2:45pm.
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