YMS Cross Country

2018 YMSXC Alumni

December 19, 2017

Each year we recognize the graduating Yorkville High School seniors who ran cross country at the high school and also participated in Yorkville Middle School's cross country program. We consider these runners to be our All-Time Greats. They committed to run on one of the most competitive teams in the state, and whether they were the fastest runner on the team or the slowest they deserve to be recognized for their commitment. While most runners have not officially committed to run in college at this point, we will always update our All-Time Greats page to indicate athletes who go on to run cross country in college.

Alyssa Edwards

Alyssa didn’t join cross country until eighth grade. She gained a lot of ground on eighth graders who had run in seventh grade, however, and set a P.R. of 14:03 at Tiger Trails. She just missed making our state roster, though. Alyssa made up for this in high school where she became the team’s top runner. Alyssa was an All-State runner her senior year when she ran a 17:03 for a 12th-place finish for her first All-State finish in 3A State. Alyssa had previously run a 17:38 for a 13th-place All-State finish in 2A State as a sophomore while the team won their fifth-straight championship. Alyssa is the only graduating senior on the girl's side to have run at State for all four years and she helped lead the girls to Nike Cross Country Nationals for the first time in team history. Alyssa will be running cross country at the University of Toledo after she graduates.

Ben Summers

Ben improved quite a bit during middle school. He won the Coaches Awards in seventh grade and ran a P.R. of 13:09 at the Troy Invite. In eighth grade, Ben led the team as a captain and ended the season by running P.R.’s in three out of his last four races, finally running his fastest time of the year at State with a time of 12:06 as the team’s seventh runner. In high school, Ben ran on the past two boys State teams as they dealt with the increased difficulty of moving up to class 3A. The boys made State both years, and Ben was the top runner on the team his senior year. At State, Ben finished in 110th place while running a time of 15:32. Ben went from the team’s seventh runner at State in eighth grade to the team’s top runner at State his senior year of high school.

Chase Dexter

Chase joined cross country in eighth grade after a lot of convincing from Coach Miller during Endurance Camp. Chase made a huge impact on the team and ended up helping the boys team finish fifth in the State while running a P.R. of 11:31 as the team’s fourth runner. As a senior, Chase came close to breaking 17 minutes, but ended his cross country career with a P.R. of 17:09 at the Blackhawk Stampede hosted by West Aurora.

Emily Berge

Emily was the was the sixth runner on a State middle school team that finished fourth at State. This was one of only two years where the fourth place team at State did not receive a trophy. In seventh grade, Emily ran a 20:24 for her first two-mile time trial, but ended the season with a 15:36 P.R. at Conference. In eighth grade, Emily continued to improve and went from running a 16:12 time trial to a P.R. of 13:12 at State. In high school, Emily broke 20 minutes a few times for three miles and ended her high school career with a third-place finish in the open race behind teammates Kimberly Batdorf and Maggie Klemm.

Eric Naumann

Eric joined cross country in eighth grade and earned our “Most Improved” award by running a 19:03 at our time trial and improving to a 13:47 P.R. at the Fox Trot Invite at the end of the season. Eric improved even more when he got to high school. So much so that he ran on both State teams during his junior and senior years, running 16:00 flat his junior year at State and 16:10 his senior year.

Kimberly Batdorf

Kimberly, continuing our trend of runners in this class, did not join cross country until eighth grade. She probably had the biggest impact of any of our late joiners, however, earning a place on our State roster and running an All-State performance at State with a 12:01 for 23rd place. Kimberly ended up running a P.R. of 18:47 in high school and will be continuing her academic career at Stanford in the fall.

Maggie Klemm

Maggie is the only member of this class who was a captain in seventh grade and eighth grade. Maggie was one of the middle school team’s strongest leaders and qualified for State both years of middle school. Maggie even earned All-Sectional honors in seventh grade with her time of 12:28 in seventh place. Maggie was also voted team MVP and earned the Recruiter of the Year award in eighth grade as she helped the team to a fourth-place finish at State as the team’s fourth runner. Injuries hampered Maggie in high school, but she still had a fantastic P.R. of 17:57 at the Blackhawk Stampede. While she did not run at State the past two years, Maggie did run at State her freshman and sophomore years, and just missed All-State honors as a freshman with her 30th-place finish in 18:05.

Matt Cox

Matt joined cross country in eighth grade and was the fifth runner on a strong middle school team that finished fifth in the State in 2013. Matt ran a P.R. of 11:32 at State that year, and went on to run on two State teams in high school while running a P.R. of 15:24 at the IHSA Sectional his senior year. Matt was such a strong presence on the middle school team in eighth grade that he was the only boy who joined in eighth grade to earn the prestigious Coaches Award.

Patrick Black

Patrick almost played soccer in seventh grade, but instead joined cross country and ended up with a successful six-year cross country career. Patrick is one of only 12 boys to have a P.R. under 11 minutes with his 10:55 run at State in eighth grade. Patrick finished in 33rd place in that race, and ended up running at State for the high school in three of his four years at YHS, including the team’s third-place finish during his sophomore year. Patrick improved a lot in high school, and dropped his time from the 16-17 minute range his freshman year to a P.R. of 15:38 as a senior.

Rio Lara

Rio ran a 19:56 at his first two-mile time trial in seventh grade. From there, he improved to a 14:06 P.R. at Conference that helped earn him the “Future Potential” award. He lived up to that potential as an eighth grader when he made the State roster and even earned All-Sectional honors for his 10th place finish at Sectionals with a time of 11:19. In high school, Rio started his freshman year running over 20 minutes for three miles, but he quickly broke the 20-minute mark at the First to the Finish Invite with a time of 18:31. Rio continued to improve throughout high school and ended up running a P.R. of 16:41 during his senior year at the Naperville Twilight Invitational.

Zack Price

Zack was the only All-State runner on the boys side in 2013 when he finished in 19th place with a P.R. of 10:48. Zack currently has the fifth-fastest P.R. in Yorkville Middle School history with that time. Zack is the only boy from this class to run at State all four years of high school. He was the fourth runner on a State championship team as a freshman and was the top freshman in that race. He was the top runner on the team as a sophomore when the boys finished third and was also the top runner as a junior when the boys joined 3A for the first time. Zack battled through some injuries his senior year, but still ran at State and ended a high school running career where he was constantly running in the 15:00s for three miles.