Recently in Cross Country Category

Bolingbrook Raiders boys cross country coach Art Pahl had this to say about his team's performance at the Class 3A Reavis Sectional on Saturday after his Raiders finished 20th in a 21-team field.

"Team ran all right," Pahl wrote in an email. "Matt Gutierrez has been sick and is only now recovering from his illness. With everyone but Jesse Stanford returning next year, we hope we can use this as a stepping stone for improvement next year."

On the girls side, Bolingbrook advanced to the sectional for the first time in more than 20 years, according to coach Brian Zeglin. The Raiders placed 14th out of 20 teams.

Other notes that Zeglin passed on about the race: Mariana Hernandez, Zuri Carbajal and Shelby Manning dropped more than a minute from their usual three-mile time; Briana Certa ran her best race of the year; freshman Jahnell Horton was not at 100 percent.

Now that the girls and boys cross country teams have been eliminated from the playoffs, that leaves the football team as the lone Bolingbrook Raiders team alive from the fall sports season.

Soon enough, we will speak about hoops, rasltlin and picking up the spare. But for now, it's all bout foosball.

The top-seeded Raiders will play at Hinsdale Central next week in the second round of the IHSA Class 8A playoffs. Maybe it will be on Friday. Maybe on Saturday. We don't know, we have to wait, just like the winter sports.

Boys bowling starts first on Nov. 11 at Plainfield North. Then comes the big shooter of the group -- girls basketball -- with its debut on Nov. 22 at Parkland College. The boys basketball teams tips it off on Nov. 25 in Decatur on the same night that the wrestling team gets going at Bradley. The last squad to get in motion is girls bowling, which will begin its roll on Dec. 4 versus Lincoln-Way North.

The Bolingbrook Raiders cross country teams did not advance to the IHSA Class 3A state championships on Saturday at the Reavis Sectional.

A top-five finish as a team or a top-10 finish as an individual was necessary to qualify for state.

The girls were 14th in a field of 20 teams.

Freshmen Mariana Hernandez and Jahnell Horton finished a half second apart to pace the Raiders in 77th and 78th place, repectively. Hernandez crossed in 19 minutes, 58.1 seconds. Horton clocked in at 19:58.6.

The boys were 20th in the 21-team field.

Junior Jesus Hernandez was the top finisher for boys in 64th place in the 164-runner field with a time of 16 minutes, 44 seconds.

Girls Results (14th)

77th Mariana Hernandez (Freshman)
78th Jahnell Horton (Freshman)
91st Zuri Carbajal (Freshman)
94th Shelly Manning (Junior)
108th Briana Certa (Sophomore)
127th Monica Daugherty (Freshman)

Boys Results (20th) 64th Jesus Hernandez (Junior) 94th Stephen Garrett (Freshman) 107th Ricardo Rodriguez (Junior) 120th Mark Carlson (Junior) 122nd Jesse Stanford (Senior) 138th Matt Gutierrez (Junior) 144th Eric Casey (Junior)

Bolingbrook Raiders boys cross country coach Art Pahl expects fast times at the Class 3A Reavis Sectional on Saturday.

"The course at Reavis is flat," Pahl wrote in an E-mail to The Brook Blog on Thursday. "It is 2 laps in the fields behind the school. It should be very fast. Our goals are just to try to run the best that we can and finish on a positive note. We will not be expected to advance, so we will try to end the season running the best times of the season."

The Raiders advanced out of the Bolingbrook Regional with the fifth and final qualifying spot on Oct. 25. Of the 20 teams at Reavis, only five will qualify for the state championship meet.

The Bolingbrook Raiders girls cross country team took a trip to Burbank on Wednesday to check out the course for the Reavis Sectional so the first time they see the course won't be on Saturday at the meet.

"Unlike the regional course that did not repeat itself, Reavis' Sectional will require extra focus as the athletes run the same loop several times," Bolingbrook girls coach Brian Zeglin wrote in an E-mail to The Brook Blog.

While unexperienced -- the Raiders have five freshmen on the varsity roster -- experience is not that big a factor in running. Either you have the the goods or you don't. That explains why freshman Jahnell Horton has been the top finisher for the Raiders this year.

Horton, who qualified for AAU nationals in several events last summer, placed ninth at the Bolingbrook Regional.

The Bolingbrook Raiders boys and girls cross country teams both advanced to the IHSA Class 3A Reavis Sectional on Saturday.

Bolingbrook's boys team grabbed the fifth and final qualifying position at the Bolingbrook Regional.

Jesus Hernandez was the top finisher for The Brook, crossing in 12th in 17:08. Ricardo Rodriguez placed 19th in 17:22.

Freshman Jahnell Horton placed ninth in 19:49 to pace the girls team, which advanced with a fourth-place finish.

The next three for the Raiders packed up with freshman Mariana Hernandez in 22nd, junior Shelby Manning in 23rd and freshman Zuri Carbajal in 24th.

The boys cross country team at Jane Addams Middle School finished as the sectional runnerup on Oct. 11, qualifying the Mustangs for the IESA Class AA state finals for the first time in school and school district history.

On the girls side, Sydney Banks qualified for state as an individual, placing 11th at the sectional.

The state meet will be held on Oct. 18 Maxwell Park in Normal. Here is a report from Jane Addams coach Adam Thas.

After watching the Jane Addams girls make District history last season by becoming Valley View's first Cross Country team to qualify for the State meet, the boys were on a mission to equal this feat. After a tough season, and a tougher Sectional, Jane Addams did it again by qualifying its first boys' Cross Country team for the State Meet. The IESA's Sectional Cross County meet was held Saturday October 11th at Central Park in Bolingbrook where the Mustangs were one of 12 teams competing for an illustrious top 3 finish, guaranteeing them a spot in next weekend's State meet.