1999 KANELAND BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

Conference Champs, 2nd at Regionals, 1st at Sectionals and now Knights are 2nd at State!

Click here for Conference, here for Regionals, here for Sectionals, here for State
and read all about it!

Photos from 1999 Season

Kaneland Boys Cross Country Meet Aug 31, 1999 @Elburn Woods

Kaneland Boys Cross Country Results @ Oregon Sept 4, 1999

Meet Results:

Kaneland           58
Oregon               63
Bureau Valley      95
Rock River        103
Princeton           117
Byron                138
Putnam County   N/A

Comments from Coach Chad Clary: “We put four runners in the top ten. There were some good schools here. One other state qualifying school from last year was Bureau Valley. Also, Oregon is an excellent team that had a lot of depth today. Al Griffin probably had the best race out of the top four runners. I know Chris Clark can run with Henry and if they can do that consistently during the season then that “one two” punch is going to be a big help to our team scores to be lower. Conner Gibbons fought through the whole race, picked it up and surged in different parts to have an excellent top ten finish. Our 5,6 and 7^th runners had difficulties with the heat but still competed and ran to the best of their abilities. For them it’s a learning experience getting used to the varsity course because none of them have run varsity before, and it’s only a matter of time before they start dropping their times.”

Frosh/Soph Team Results

Kaneland               18
Bureau Valley          73

Comments from Coach Chad Clary: “Our frosh soph team finished 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th, and 7^th. We had a 52-second split. So they achieved their team goal for the year which was to run a sub 60 second split between the top five runners. Heckert was the individual winner and Aaron Etienne was right behind him. Kirkland had a stronger race from the middle to the end. Dustin Long wasn’t feeling well but finished 5^th in a real good time. Keith Kriglstein had an awesome race coming from the back and passing quite a few runners in the last half of the race to improve his finish.”

Kaneland Boys Cross Country Results @ Elburn Woods

Varsity Team Results:

Date:  September 7, 1999
Conditions:  No wind, sunny 78

Comments from Assistant Coach Eric Barron:  “The competition was good tonight. Burlington Central was the only other Class A school. All the other schools are Class AA programs. We took second to Batavia who has a very solid cross-country program and beat Burlington Central by two, which is pretty good. We had some kids that ran fantastic today. Henry Norris was 12 seconds from his personal best on this course and Chris Clark beat his personal best today. Conner Gibbons ran well tonight. Al Griffin was a little off because of back problems. Fred Gruber and John Zielinski just keep on improving and so does Pat Albrecht.

JV Results:

Comments from Assistant Coach Eric Barron: “The sophomore race I am really pleased with. We got first place. They ran really well today.  I’m really impressed with Jonathon Heckert’s run tonight. I think he might have been our most outstanding runner tonight.”

Varsity Team Results:

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: Henry Norris had a top 15 finish. He was fourteenth and ran a great race up front. He ran right where he needed to be the entire race. He had a good quick start, held on and placed well. He was the second Class A finisher out of the race today. Chris Clark also ran an excellent effort on a longer hilly course. Conner Gibbons was in the 50's about midway through the race but kicked it up and placed in the lower 40's. We were without Al Griffin today due to an injury but Fred Gruber picked up his fourth spot with probably his best performance of the season. Pat Albrecht had his best race of the season. John Zielinski had a good finish. Kurt Kneller had not run yet this year and he's having some problems with a heel injury, and he competed as well or as hard as anyone to get the job done did.

Comments from Junior Henry Norris: "We like to run with bigger schools. It makes us faster because it gives us better competition. Having ran this same course twice before, "We know where to surge and we know where everything is. We know where the miles are and how much farther we have to go. Our goals for the year are to stay healthy, and to be one of the top Class A teams at most of the Invitationals. Also we'd like to make it to state which I think we can."

Sophomore Results:

Comments from Assistant Coach Eric Barron: After a "killer" workout the night before the meet, Coach Barron was pleased with the way the team ran. "We talked to Henry before the race about doing 17:00 and he just missed breaking 16:00, and Chris Clark with 16:25 on a 3 mile course this early in the season are just fantastic times."

Comments from Assistant Coach Eric Barron: "By far the best performances of the season" said Coach Barron of his sophomore team. With 15 points being a shutout they came awfully close with 16. Dustin Long and Ben Kirkland got honorable mentions from the coach.

Varsity Team Results:

Individual Results:

Comments from Coach Chad Clary: We've never had a finish like this where we had 3 kids in the top 12 a happy coach Clary says. From this reporters view Henry and Chris had another exciting neck and neck race, but according to coach, Conner Gibbons had a "HUMONGUS" race.

Sophomore Results:

Individual Results:

Comments from Coach Chad Clary: After a hard week of practice both the Fresh/Soph and the Varsity teams ran incredible races says coach Clary. For four kids to place in the top 25 and get awards is excellent and the other two that didn't were right there. Special mention to Keith Kriglestein for stepping up a notch after running 5th and 6th all season against this competition was just great.

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: This is a race we just want to get through without any injuries and at the same time get a little exercise in, and that is just what we did. The course here goes through the woods and has some bad footing in places, so we're always worried about someone getting hurt.

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: Henry Norris was the first place finisher for our team and for the invitational. In recent memory this is probably the first race that Henry has won as a varsity athlete. It's a good place to do it against all Class A competition. Henry has been waiting a long time to have this thing. He is the best athlete that I have ever coached and I'm glad that he is going to have the opportunity to continue to put forth his best effort and hopefully have more finishes like this one.

There were some excellent athletes that competed today from other schools. To put four in the top fifteen and get trophies was a nice achievement for runners Henry Norris first place, Chris Clark fourth place, Conner Gibbons seventh place and Al Griffith fifteenth. Their times were all great. They had the opportunity today to use some depth that we had at the frosh/soph level. Dustin Long was our fifth runner today. His twenty fifth-place finish in 17:48 was about as good as I would have hoped at this point. It was nice adding Kirkland, Walgamotte, Heckert and Etienne to the Varsity roster, which I think helped push the other team scores up a little bit. The pace was fine and the race strategy worked out very well. Fred Gruber had an outstanding race today also and was only four seconds off from his personal best for his race career.

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: "I was very happy with the way we competed in ugly weather," says Coach Clarey after a cold, windy, rainy evening. With an abbreviated course due to standing water the times may be a little faster than usual. It was nice to see our kids running at some of the top spots, battling each other. Henry and Chris ran a good race for the 1 and 2 spots and Connor Gibbons outlasted Sycamores top runner for 3rd place. It was a hard night to run; everyone wants to get out of the wind and rain and get warm."

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: They all ran hard. They said that they were tired during the race but their performances seem to show that they can run pretty hard when they are tired. The course is only 2.9 miles, so their times are a little bit deceiving but at the same time I imagine their mile paces are pretty close to the best that they've had for the entire season thus far.

Henry Norris tried to go out and run with the leaders and he did a fine job of that, running in a pack that finished second through seventh. He was seventh in 15:38, which was a great time for him. Chris Clark was looking a little tired as the race wore on and in the second mile Connor Gibbons came by and picked him up. They ran together throughout the last part of the third mile and they finished ninth and tenth together within 2 seconds of each other.

Connor Gibbons really had a huge race today. Al Griffin and Dustin Long followed up with excellent performances. Al was only two seconds behind Chris Clark today which is going to be a huge boost for us if we continue to have our fourth and fifth runners run as strong and as close to our front three as they did today. Pat Albrecht had a great race today. He came on strong in the end and he really started to compete with other people. He held on to them and that allowed him to get away from the 20-minute barrier that he'd been running all season. He jumped the 19's and ran in the 18's today running 18:42. John Zielinski finished up in a nice race for him. He had a bit of a cramping problem in his upper body but he'll be fine. So over all the pack split for the varsity for the first time this season was 66 seconds, which is by far the best we've had all year. It was a different race but it was a great race for them.

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: We weren't sure if we were going to run a frosh /soph team today. We planned on having two kids that we thought might help us even more on the varsity run up, but decided to run them down on the frosh/soph team to give the two freshman an opportunity to compete with a full team, and it looks like it worked out pretty good for us. We scored eighty points, which landed us a second place finish. The times were good. They competed hard through the first mile, which is what they really needed to do. In the first mile there is a part where the course narrows and if you run slow at that point the leaders take off and make a bigger gap between them and the rest of the pack. Out kids were far enough up front where that didn't seem to matter too much. As it continued to unfold Aaron Etienne our freshman was out leading the pack through most of the first mile and second mile. The rest of the group was right behind him the whole way so they kind of keyed off of him today. It looks like the split between our top four runners was a mere eleven seconds

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: According to the race map, the course distance and the record time, the record time was 17:24 for this course. Conner Gibbons and the winner from Lemont both broke the course record today. I felt Al Griffin had a hard race but yet he struggled through his difficulties and ran well. Dustin Long continues to key off of Al the entire way and when Dustin is ready he may make a move to pass Al. We need to understand that if that happens it's only going to make our team better. Ben Kirkland stepped up into our fifth runner role. It was good to see Ben break away from the pack and not just wait till the end to pass people. He got out early and he went after that spot and earned it. Henry Norris was out due to an injury. We didn't have our best of days today and that's ok. You run into those during the season. We just have a lot of work to do before we go the Amboy invitational next Monday.

Comments: Kaneland's boys' varsity cross-country team finished third out of the 30 participating teams. Chris Clark led the Kaneland runners with a sixteenth finish overall, completing the race in 16:10, exactly one minute off the lead. Henry Norris finished in twenty-third place, running the race in 16:20. Conor Gibbons finished on Norris's heels, coming in twenty-sixth place in 16:21. Al Griffin finished forty-eight overall in a time of 16:50 and Dustin Long took fifty-fourth place in 16:53.

CONFERENCE CHAMPS!

Fifth Annual Suburban-Prairie Conference Championship Meet
Hosted by Kaneland High School @ Elburn Woods

Date: October 16 1999

Conditions: Cloudy, Light wind, 60

Course length: 3.0 miles

Varsity Team Results Team Scores Kaneland 37 Lemont 86 Sycamore 87 Yorkville 95 Westmont 113 Elmwood Park 118 Riverside-Brookfield 170 Ridgewood 201 Evergreen Park 260

Individual Results: Name Place Time Henry Norris 1st 16:33.8 Chris Clark 3rd 16:59.9 Connor Gibbons 4th 17:01.3 Al Griffin 14th 17:20.1 Dustin Long 15th 17:22.7 Fred Gruber 47th 20:04.6 Jon Zielinski 58th 21:30.7

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: "This is a good day for Kaneland cross-country," said a smiling Coach Clarey. "This is the fourth time in the 30 year history of running on this course and in the 30 year history of our cross country program that our school became conference champions. To do it at both levels is something special. Henry Norris, from about the mile and a half mark at the top of the hill made a decision he was going to win the race, and he did it in big fashion. Chris Clark and Conner Gibbons each passed five or more runners in the last 600 meters to finish third and fourth respectively overall. Behind them were Al Griffin and Dustin Long, also All Conference runners. Our pack split was 49 seconds, which is our best for a 3-mile race. We've run 2.9 mile races and not had that well of a split. We didn't know if Conner was going to be able to run because of some hamstring problems, so at the start instead of staying up with Henry and Chris he ran with Al and Dustin and that gave them that much more motivation to be there. But at the top of the hill we just decided we were going to win a race, and at both levels we able to do that today".

Also running varsity today was Fred Gruber and John Zielinski. For them to run 20:04 and 21:30 on this course was a great accomplishment.

"Coming into the meet we knew that Lemont was going to be extremely tough. We feared Sycamore and Elmwood Park, but I expected that if we going to be able to be in top position at the end of the varsity race it would only be by a mere margin of maybe two or three points.

When asked if Henry or Chris had run their best race yet Coach Clarey replied, "I hope not. We still have two, knock on wood, three weeks left of the season so I hope not. They ran their best race on the home course thus far, but with their times today I think there is still room for them to improve, and for the rest of them as well. We haven't changed much from what we've done for our training from the years past so the old adage if you always do what you've always done; you'll always get what you've always got. We're hoping that holds true for the remainder of the season".

Pat Albrecht ran probably one of his best races of the season. He ran in the boy's open. After taking the SAT test at school this morning he'd had a long day. But to finish in the top ten is an excellent accomplishment for him. We're proud of his season.

Fresh/Soph Team Results Team Scores Kaneland 15 Elmwood Park 61 Sycamore 68 Riverside-Brookfield 86 Evergreen Park 121 Lemont No score Had only 3 finishers Ridgewood No score Had only 0 finishers Westmont No score Had only 3 finishers Yorkville No score Had only 4 finishers

Individual Results: Name Place Time Ben Kirkland 1st 13:45.4 Scott Walgomotte 2nd 13:46.5 Jonathan Heckert 3rd 13:53.3 Aaron Etienne 4th 14:00.4 Keith Kriglestein 5th 14:01.2

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: In the Fresh-Soph race we amazingly went 1 thru 5 to finish. Our pack split was only 16 seconds between our 1st and 5th runners, which is almost unheard of. It was very encouraging to see them finish 1 thru 5, I didn't expect that.

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: The boys cross country team proved once again their ability to perform by placing SECOND in the Class A regional championship held at the Elburn Woods Saturday afternoon. "We had some good performances from people. Henry Norris improved himself by six seconds over last week's conference championship time. He had much better competition and he was only four seconds away from the overall champion. It was a good close finish. He hung right in there. Those are the people he needs to compete with every week from here on out.

Conor Gibbons improved himself by twenty seconds from last week's conference performance where he was fourth and finished sixth today. His last race on the home course was certainly a very good one. It was a very strong performance for Conor and we hope he can continue to stay as close to Henry as he did today. Chris Clark rounded out our top three. He finished in ninth place. 16:53 is about seven seconds faster than what he ran last weekend, which is good. It's nice to have the opportunity for kids to improve on themselves just a week after they competed here so well last weekend.

Wheaton St Francis put four runners just in front of our third runner. As far as team-scoring difference goes that was one big plus for them. But still for us to have three kids in the top ten is a very nice achievement. Dustin Long ran 17:32 was sixteenth place and he ran just a little bit slower than last week but I think he ran a better race than last week. He ran smart, he ran strong and he competed with Al. Al finished right behind him in 17:33. Both boys finished in front of Wheaton St Francis's fifth runner. So, we put five in front of there five which is a very encouraging sign for us going into next week where the meet is going to be a little bit bigger and a little bit tougher. If we can put five in front of their fifth and let that time gap fill up with a bunch of bodies then hopefully we will be a little bit closer to them in the scoring.

It was a nice race for our top five. They ran about what we figured they were capable of. Some of them weren't really satisfied and that's ok. They don't have to be satisfied every week; they just have to be focused and run stronger.

Scott Walgamotte who I thought was going to be our seventh runner ran 18:12 about thirty seconds faster than the last time he ran on our course a couple of weeks ago. Twenty seventh, that was a great race for him. He ended up getting just ahead of our thirty first runner today, Ben Kirkland in 18:16. Ben had been battling an injury, but I think he is ok. He just had to continue to stick with it throughout the race.

My expectations for next week are that they come in equally if not more focused and concentrate on the teams that they have to beat and to improve themselves.

Next week's Sectional meet will be held at Lisle High School. Please check with the athletic department for actual starting times. The top five teams of next weeks Sectionals and the top seven individuals that are not on qualifying teams will then advance to the State meet.

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: It was a heck of a field of competition. They call it a mini state meet because of all the good schools that are here. 10 of the top 20 teams in the state were here today according to the rankings. Honestly, we came in here just wanting to qualify for the state meet next weekend. Winning a championship was fantastic, but it wasn't what we were planning for. We ran as a solid pack. We practiced here on Tuesday and talked about where we needed to be. I said we could have 3 runners in the top 20 and our fourth and fifth guys could be in the top 45 and that's exactly how it panned out.

Conner was twentieth and Dustin was forty-fifth. We were fortunate that it was able to work out that way. Henry being the number 2 runner in the sectional is the obvious reason the team championship was there for us. But he didn't do it alone. Chris was eleventh. That was a heck of an achievement. Connor Gibbons was twentieth and he and senior Al Griffin were the tow that really got it done for us. Dustin our fifth runner just follows Al wherever Al goes. Al kind of took off a bit because of that senior pride kinda thing knowing that it could be my last race and I'm going to make it count. But Dustin stayed close, finishing about 10 seconds behind Al. Dustin Long ran an excellent race. This is a kid we stole from football who has never run competitive high school running-distance or track or anything like that. He was a football player in the fall and a baseball player in the spring until this year and the most competitive running he did prior to this was jr. high track. So for him to come out and be a part of this, an integral part, to have the guts and determination and ability to hang on through the season-that's pretty special. Connor, Henry, and Chris Clark are lifers. They've been in this sport since they were freshman, so they kind of built themselves up to get here. Al Griffin was kind of our hero last year. He was our fifth runner that forced a tie with ACC for fifth place to qualify for state. Al's kind of had an important role these past 2 years. He's come up big for us. He's kind of like a good slot machine- a lucky slot machine.

The IHSA Class A State Championship meet will be held Saturday November 6, at Detweiller Park, Peoria, IL. Directions are as follows: Take Rt. 47 South to Rt. 71. Turn right on 71 to 80 West. Take 80 West to 180 South. 180 South turns into Rt. 29. For further detailed directions click on www.IHSA.org go to Boys Cross Country and click on directions to course.

• 9:30 a.m. - Class A Girls Race at Detweiller Park
• 10:30 a.m. - Class A Boys Race at Detweiller Park
• 11:30 a.m. - Class AA Girls Race at Detweiller Park
• 12:45 p.m. - Class AA Boys Race at Detweiller Park
• 2:00 p.m. - Class A Boys and Girls Awards Ceremony at Peoria (H.S.) Gymnasium (located at 1615 N. North St.)
• 3:30 p.m. - Class AA Boys and Girls Awards Ceremony at Peoria (H.S.) Gymnasium (located at 1615 N. North St.)

The Kaneland Knight boys team earned a second place trophy in the Class A finals with 155 points. Kaneland boys had two all staters and nearly a third. Junior Henry Norris finished thirteenth (15:31) and Chris Clark twenty first (15:36). Senior Conor Gibbons, perhaps the state's most improved runner placed thirty third (15:53). Henry is the seventh and Chris is the eighth All State Runners in Kaneland's history. The top 25 runners in the finals are all staters.

Comments from Coach Chad Clarey: "Today was our day! This has been a dream season! "Runnin' Down our Dream" was an appropriate logo for our shirts." We are the only team in the state of Illinois to be in the top 10 in each of the past four years. That's with two different groups of runners. I'm really proud of them." "At sectionals, we were in box 11 and that is Coach Baron's lucky number. Today we were in box 5. That's my lucky number." Coach Clarey reflected. "Our team split was 53 seconds and that was our goal. Our total team time was the second fastest in Kaneland's history."

"We had a lot of peak performances today. Henry and Chris ran great races. They were back early, and they kind of fought their way through things. I have no complaints. Even our sixth and seventh runners had peak performances today and finished in the chute right next to each other. Ben Kirkland was our seventh runner and he past six people in the last fifteen yards just to get right on Scott's heels going into the chute. They all finished strong. Conor bettered himself by three or four places in the last fifteen yards also. Our assistant coach Eric Baron talked about that yesterday, how some people when they see the finish chute, they just let up and coast in. You can't do that. You have to give it your all, all the way to the post even if you slam into the post. You gotta get there. That made a difference for us. We picked up probably fifteen points between the third, fourth, and fifth runners in doing that. Dustin Long has also been a key to our success. I bet he won't go out for football next year!"

Chris Clark ran into a little difficulty part way through the race. He was pushed in a narrow part of the course. He sustained a gash but didn't miss a step. "When Chris came back the first thing he said was "Coach a tree bit me!" remarked Clarey. "I guess he'll have that battle scar for the rest of his life but I think he'll say it was worth it."

When Clarey was asked how it felt to take over the program after the late Larry Eddington he replied, "It's hard for me to describe personally how it feels. I've never felt pressure from the outside; from the faculty, or the staff, or the parents or anybody. It's always been inside. At certain points in certain meets in different years it's kind of an emotional release. (Today) when I went from the last time they were going down the hill, back up to the team camp up here to get my cooler to stand on, I had a little bit of tears in my eyes just thinking about how much these boys mean to me, how hard they've worked, and the fact that they believe in themselves. That's the most important thing that any coach can give any kid no matter what sport that they are in. That they believe in themselves.

Comments from runner Henry Norris: "We were all under 16:25. That was great. The mile was about 5-10 seconds faster than last week, but I kept up with leaders."

Comments from runner Chris Clark: "We were just pushing. There was a lot of competition. I don't know where Conor was. Usually he's pretty close. I'm always worried he'll come (past) me"

Comments from runner Conor Gibbons: " I had no idea I'd be this high up. I tried to stay right behind Hank and Chris. We've really stepped it up."

This page is provided compliments of Cathy Blatner with support from Pat Blatner and Debbie Reynolds.