Chicago Public League Sports Blog

IHSA considering changes to cross country regional format

Teams like UIC College Prep (above) made it to sectionals this year, but if the IHSA alters the regional format, borderline sectional schools like UIC will have to work a lot harder to get in.

According to a DyeStat IL message board posting:

IHSA Cross-Country Advisory Board Minutes

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The advisory committee met on Tuesday, December 1, and it appears the only moderately controversial issue discussed was the following:

1. There were no Proposed Changes to the Current Terms and Conditions. However a motion was passed to have Ron McGraw review options to possibly reconfigure the Regional structure. The committee feels that since the implementation of the three class system, the number of teams assigned to each regional results in most teams and individuals automatically advancing on to the sectional meets. It was suggested that the number of regional meets may need to be reduced (increasing the number of teams in each) so that the regional meets actually serve as a qualifying meet as they were originally intended to be. Options will be prepared and submitted to thecommittee for their review when they reconvene after the 2010 season.

It short, what they are looking to do is reduce the number of regional meets but increase the teams in each regional. What this will do, in theory, is make each regional more competitive to make it more of a qualifying meet. There were some regionals this year where there were only 5,6,or 7 complete teams. So it was relatively easy to qualify for sectionals. For example, the Riverside Brookfield boys class AA regional had only 5 complete teams participating in it. The last two complete teams Little Village and North Lawndale, got a free pass to sectionals just by having 5 guys. If they change the regional format, LIttle Village and North Lawndale would have to work at it more to advance to sectionals.

CPS City Cross Country Photo Album

Max Newberger (fr) of Whitney Young

CPS City Championship 2009 photo album

Phoebe Randall (fr) of Northside Prep

Whitney Young girls 10th out of 20 teams at Nike

Lavinia Jurkiewicz led Whitney Young by finishing 8th overall and the first girl from Illinois.  But, she missed qualifying for Nike Nationals by 5 seconds. Teamwise, Whitney Young finished in 10th place out of 18 teams. A team from Ohio and Palatine, IL qualified for Nike Nationals.

Complete Girls Results at Nike Cross Country Nationalas Midwest Championships

Jones Girls 18th at state meet!

Cade Yanowski (sr) finished her high school career for Jones with a 68th place finish over all.

Jones College Prep made it's state meet debut with an 18th place state finish. Jones placed 4 runners in the top 100 led by senior Cade Yanowski with a 68th place finish (49th team finish) with a time of 19:34.

I was expecting a top 15 finish but their 5th runner was just way too far back - finishing 156th overall (out of 171 runners) with a time of 22:00. Neverthless, just making the state meet was already a major step forward for the Jones College Prep program.

Here is how Jones performed individually:

1. Cade Yanowski (sr) - 49th - 19:34
2. Miranda Shaver (so) - 50th - 19:37
3. Beverly Krueger (sr) - 96th - 20:53
4. Lindsay Maas (jr) - 99th - 20:55
5. Katie Gerhart (fr) - 128th - 22:00
6. Megaly Green (jr) - 136th - 22:25
7. Sare Cuadra (fr) - 142nd - 23:54

The CPS also had two individuals.

Senior Adriana Ortiz of Lake View finished 54th with a time of 19:27.

Junior Jamie Hershfang of Payton finished 75th overall with a time of 19:45.

 

Adriana Ortiz of Lake View

STATE CHAMP!

Lavinia Jurkiewicz of Whitney Young takes girls class AAA state title!

I knew she had a chance, but I was still surprised to hear it. Whitney Young senior Lavinia Jurkiewicz won the Class AAA girls cross country individual with a blazing time of 17:11. She became the first CPS girl to take the title. Her time of 17:11 was six seconds faster than Rolling Meadows junior Christina Gastfield. Whitney Young placed 14th as a team.

CPS 2A Girls State Meet Preview

Jones girls have a realistic chance of a top 15 state finish.

The cross country state meet is this Saturday. At the beginning of the year if you told me that I would be writing Jones and state meet in the same sentence I wouldn't have believed it. But not only have they qualified but they have a realistic chance of a top 15 state finish. See, Jones is in class 2A. The IHSA decided to expand cross country to three classes last year. In the past, Jones and other smaller schools had to compete with much larger enrollment schools like New Trier, Evanston, and Niles West in order to qualify. Jones had little chance to qualify. Now that they are competing against schools their own size like Riverside Brookfield, Evergreen Park, and Oak Forest; class AA city school are getting much greater opportunity.

Top 15 likely for Jones

I looked at the class AA state qualifying teams and noticed that only 20 are running at the class AA meet. Jones has already beaten state qualifiers Lemont and Hillcrest at sectionals and finished only 19 points behind sectional champion U-High. So they should at the very minimum finish 17th at state. Then, looking at the other class AA qualifying teams I think they can beat Prairie Ridge, Champaign Centennial, and Galeburg. So, I feel that Jones will finish anywhere from 13th -17th at state with an outside chance of a top 10 state finish.

If Jones finishes better than 14th, that would even be better than Harlan's boys track 14th place state finish last year.

This may be the year Jones will have to do it. 2 of Jones's top 5 are seniors - Cade Yankowski and Beverly Krueger. Yanowski has led Jones all year. Yanowski finished 5th at sectionals with a time of 20:21. Look for Yanowski to challenge for a top 50 state finish.

 

Jamie Hershfang (left) of Payton and Adriana Ortiz (right) of Lake View

Hershfang -top 50 and Ortiz  top 100 are possibiliites

The CPS also qualified two individuals to the state meet. Jamie Hershfang (jr) of Payton qualified for her second straight meet. Adriana Ortiz of Lake View qualified for her first state meet. Hershfang is looking to improve on her 84th place state finish last year. Ortiz, 10th at the city meet earlier this year, is Lake View's first state qualifier in a very long time. I think if she finished in the top 100 it would be a great end to her final high school cross country state meet.

Pictures Now - Pat Savage Invite Photo Album

I know it's really late but I finally created the Pat Savage Invite 2009 Photo Album

Strides

Kyra Kimber (jr- right) of DuSable almost made school history when she missed qualifying for state in girls class AA by 21 seconds.

The CPS made some great strides at cross country sectionals:

Whitney Young girls- Their second place finish was the highest a CPS team has ever done in a sectional with suburban/private teams.

Jones Boys - First ever CPS boys team to qualify for state in a sectional with suburban/private teams.

Jones Girls - first ever CPS class AA girls team to qualify for state.

Jamie Hershfang of Payton, Adriana Ortiz of Lake View - Most number of CPS girl state individual qualifiers (2).

Joseph Laseter of Kenwood, Oscar Medina of Lake View, Jose Mora of Payton - Most number of CPS boy state individual qualifiers.

The close but no cigar categories:

• Eduardo Chavez of Lake View missed qualfying in boys class AA by 6 seconds.
• Masho Miluberhane of Senn missed qualifying in boys class AA by 17 seconds.
• Elin Erickson of Von Steuben missed qualifying in girls class AAA by 19 seconds.
• Kyra Kimber of DuSable almost made school history when she missed qualifying for state in girls class AA by 21 seconds.
  
  The good news is that Chavez, Miluberhane, Erickson, and Kimber are all juniors and are slated to return next year. Cross Country is not even the primary sports for Chavez and Miluberhane. Chavez plays soccer and trained for cross country for only two weeks before sectionals. Miluberhane stars for Senn's boys volleyball team.

Videos Now - AA Girls Cross Country Jones Sectional 2009

Jones Sectional Results

Jones Sectional Results