Riverside Brookfield High School senior Brady Norman saw any top-25, all-state hopes at the Class 3A boys cross country state meet Saturday fade quickly.
“I could tell 400 [meters] into the race I was not in contention,” Norman said. “I fought and left everything out there. Senior year, I gave it all I had. Not the result I wanted but I’m proud of my effort.”
Norman’s persistence over the 3.0 miles at Peoria’s Detweiller Park did earn a personal-best time of 15:03.50 and 77th place.
Norman improved upon his best pace of 14:39.60 for 2.9 miles, which was 13th at the Hinsdale Central Sectional, Nov. 2. He also made big time strides from 106th at state last year (15:26.81) and 69th (16:46.96) as the last remaining member from the Bulldogs’ 2022 2A state championship lineup.
Even with rainy conditions, Saturday’s race was blistering fast. The all-state cut for 25th was 14:37.1, believed to be the fastest ever.
“I’m definitely a little bitter at not breaking 15:00, after coming so close,” Norman said. “I never envisioned, even on a perfect day, ever running in the 14:30s. You can’t be mad. It is what it is.”
LTHS cross country
After seeing three teammates earn top-25, all-state honors over the past two years, Lyons Township senior Ben Wuggazer knew his time had come Saturday.
Wuggazer delivered a personal best by more than 20 seconds to finish 22nd (14:31.0).
“Today I was like, ‘I need to be where I need to be.’ I knew who I needed to be with to be there. And then in the end I just kicked it down,” Wuggazer said. “We got out really fast so just being able to stay with it and get all-state, it means a lot. It was great.”
Wuggazer continued the momentum from the Hinsdale Central Sectional Nov. 2. He finished third behind Philip Cupial and Grant Schroder from state champion Downers Grove North. They were fourth and second Saturday.
He easily beat his state performance from last year (67th, 15:10.87). That lineup graduated all-staters Nick Strayer and Cillian Henning, who also were all-state with 2023 graduate Aidan Collins in 2022, the Lions’ first season with three all-staters.
“Nick and Cillian, they’re great mentors and Aidan two years ago. They’re really great leaders,” he said. “They influenced me a lot. They’re texting me before the race, telling me what I need to do. I really appreciate that. They’re really supportive.”
Going for another top-five finish, the Lions (280 points) were seventh, 11 points from fifth-place York and 16 from fourth, after taking fourth in 2023 (207).
Senior John O’Halloran (34th, 14:43.3) was top 40, followed by junior Tyler Gantt (88th, 15:08.1), senior Charles Ciesla (101st, 15:14.0), junior Patrick Collins (136th, 15:27.4), freshman Brennan Monohan (173rd, 15:42.0) and senior Tate Pavelka (190th, 15:50.0).
All four seniors returned from the 2023 state lineup with O’Halloran (99th) and Ciesla (155th) improving their spots. With one mile left, the Lions were contending for third.
“We were in it,” LTHS coach Mike Danner said. “That’s the state meet in Illinois. You’ve got to close, fight for every spot. If you lose 10-20 points in that last mile, you’re slipping back. I think for who this team was a year ago, this is still a really incredible performance. We had a lot of guys who came a really long way. We almost pulled it off.”
In 3A girls, LTHS junior Mya Coglianese was 98th (16:14.0) at her first state meet in the final season for retiring LTHS coach Eric Simon.