Riverside Brookfield High School senior boys cross country runner Brady Norman finished just 2.03 seconds from top-10, all-sectional honors over 2.9 miles at the Class 3A Hinsdale Central Sectional Saturday.
Norman hopes the time is on his side as he goes for top-25, all-state honors at the state meet Saturday, Nov. 9 at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.
“Normally, there’s kind of a switch inside of you that flips and you just go. You start kicking,” Norman said. “Today, I didn’t really that but hopefully I can find a way to have that [at state] and I can hopefully kick my way to an all-state finish.”
Norman finished 13th (14:39.60) and earned an individual state berth as the first of the 10 highest finishers not among the advancing teams.
The Bulldogs were 15th (377) after four consecutive team trips to the IHSA state meet, the first three in 2A that included their 2022 state championship.
Senior Asa Kahle (31st, 14:55.02) was the 11th individual candidate, three places and 3.25 seconds from the final qualifier. Other RBHS finishers were sophomore Aiden O’Brien (105th, 16:16.38) and juniors Emmitt Olson (132nd, 17:05.07), Clayton Dusek (136th, 17:24.13) and Quinn Hendricks (138th, 17:48.57).
This will be the third state trip for Norman, who in 2003 (106th, 15:28.51) was the Bulldogs’ No. 2 state finisher behind graduated three-time all-stater Cooper Marrs.
“Today was more about executing and saving it for state, which is where all of the marbles are,” Norman said.
Top-10 rated Lyons Township (112 points) earned its 16th consecutive IHSA state trip by finishing second to No. 1-ranked and defending 3A state champion Downers Grove North (38).
Seniors Ben Wuggazer (14:16.62 for 2.9 miles) and John O’Halloran (7th, 14:31.97) were all-sectional, followed by junior Tyler Gantt (25th, 14:50.42), senior Charles Ciesla (40th, 15:06.88), junior Patrick Collins (45th, 15:13.49), senior Tate Pavelka (48th, 15:19.46) and freshman Brennan Monohan (80th, 15:41.24).
Wuggazer (67th), O’Halloran (99th), Ciesla (151st) and Pavelka (70th) return from last year’s state lineup, which finished fourth (207) but graduated two all-staters.
“Our goal is definitely top five. We’re hunting for a trophy (top three),” Wuggazer said. “I think it’s in sight, especially after today.”
Wuggazer was beaten only by Downers North junior Philip Cupial (14:07.37) and senior Grant Schroder (14:10.76), who were seventh and 10th at state last year. They did not run at the LT Regional, where the Lions won 53-57 over the Trojans.
“I was going to go out there and try to stay as close to them as possible,” Wuggazer said. “Hopefully [at state] I’m going to prove what I could have done last year for this year.”
O’Halloran also has made strides since 2003. He even led at the start of Saturday’s race for roughly 150 meters.
“I’ve never been in the lead like that so I was a little bit thrown off. And then Ben comes over and he’s like, ‘Let’s go Johnny.’ That really boosted me, helped me keep position,” O’Halloran said.
“I’ve been running for so long. Finally to cap it off, going to state senior year and then on top all-sectional, that couldn’t mean anything without the team.”
In the girls race, LTHS junior Mya Coglianese (32nd, 18:20.23) qualified for her first state meet individually as the No. 8 finisher not among the advancing teams.
The all-conference performer sat out regionals to rest an Achilles injury.
“I told myself no matter how much pain I’m going to be in, I need to run sectionals. I just needed to fight through it and I did,” Coglianese said.
“I feel like I’ve worked really hard all season so I’m really glad I was able to qualify. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, but I did it so I feel real accomplished.”
As an individual qualifier, RBHS junior Addie Vaia was 62nd (19:02.54) with a huge time drop on the same course from Sept. 7 (19:34.90) in her first full cross country season.
“That’s what I was aiming for, early 19:00s. I went out very hard and maintained that for the majority of the time. Very happy with how I did,” said Vaia, who last year split competing with sophomore volleyball.
“I was kind of nervous because I haven’t really done a full cross country season. I love it. I kind of feel like I’m in my element now.”
The LTHS girls were 10th (240), 56 points from seventh, with other finishers junior Annika McDonnell (45th, 18:36.41), sophomore Amelia Ludden (51st, 18:49.42), junior Addison Powers (71st, 19:13.96), freshman Evelyn Thomas (73rd, 19:16.06) and juniors Ainsley Grove (79th, 19:25.44) and Grace Rhoten (106th, 20:10.31).
Nazareth/Fenwick
Nazareth Academy junior Dan Lewis (21st, 15:24.50 for 2.9 miles) qualified again for state individually in the boys race and the Nazareth and Fenwick girls teams qualified as teams at the Class 2A Hinsdale South Sectional Saturday.
Lewis, a Brookfield resident, was at 160th (16:27.15) state in 2023.
Nazareth (6th, 153) and Fenwick (7th, 176) were the last two girls teams to advance.
Fenwick sophomore Juliana Gamboa of Riverside (7th, 17:33.18) and Nazareth freshman Kathleen Hardy (9th, 17:38.24) were all-sectional. Gamboa was an all-state 14th (17:47.33) in 2023.
Other Nazareth finishers were sophomores Allie O’Halloran (28th, 18:47.24) and Sophia Towne (29th, 18:51.80), senior Sarah Owen (41st, 19:38.50), sophomore Julia Parkes (51st, 19:55.57), senior Alayna Plahm (61st, 20:15.69) and sophomore Ashley Kenna (67th, 20:27.97).