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Dyestat IL 2009 Cross Country Awards
Class A Awards
Girls
Runner of the Year
Kelly Curran
Senior, Bloomington Central Catholic
This girl just won all year long. She had a rough patch midway through the season but righted the ship and took the state championship over a very tough class A field.
5th Runner Award
Christy Trank
Senior, Winnebago
The Indians wouldn't have won sectionals and state without her performances. The senior finished 63rd at the State Meet.
Most Improved Team
Decatur St. Teresa
They went from 9th in 2008 to 4 points from 1st place in 2009
Coach of the Year
Joe and Janet Erb
They prove year in and year out why they are the best coaches in the state.
Team Spirit Award
Elmwood-Brimfield
They always had a lot of support from the school and their teammates.
Boys
Runner of the Year
Justin Rehfeldt
Junior, Rockford Christian
All he did all year was win. He took on all competitors and never backed down.
5th Man Award
Trenton Hopper
Senior, Canton
His finish at state solidified their second place finish as a team.
Most Improved Team
Canton
They went from 11th in state to second in state, one point out of a championship.
Coach of the Year
Valerie Gassman
Sterling Newman Central Catholic
Newman won the state meet by one point over Canton.
Class AA Awards
Girls
Runner of the Year
Kayla Beattie
Junior, Woodstock
After moving down from AAA in 2008, this junior was dominate all season long, beating defending AA Champ Margo Richardson and sister Elise (3rd in AA this year) along the way.
Most Improved team
Geneseo
After not qualifying in 2008, the Maple Leafs finished in 4th place this year.
Co-Coach of the Year
Dan Delvin
Springfield HS
Delevin took last years 7th place team to this years title ran. The Senators ran under pressure all season long and came through in the clutch.
Chris Muth
Yorkville
Coach Muth took last years 12th place team to this years runner up. The Lady Foxes ran a heck of a race at the state meet.
 | JD and Hope Fuller of Woodstock
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Team Spirit
Woodstock High School
Beyond the Beattie sisters (Elise and Kayla- both All-State runners), the Blue Streaks came out and supported their team excessively, dedicating their success this season to the sister of JD Fuller, a runner on the boys team. JD's sister, Hope, has been suffering with an inoperable tumor on her brain stem. Woodstock finished 7th at this years state meet.
5th Runner Award
Jessica Larson
Springfield High School
We had a tough time with this one for most teams it varied from week to week.
In the end, it came down to Jessica Larson of Springfield HS. She was #5 at state and without her, her team does not when the title.
Boys
Runner of the Year
Paul Zeman
Junior, Belvidere North
He listened to his body at the state meet. His heart was telling him to go after the hard charging C.J. Elward of Peoria Notre Dame, who had built a big lead at 2 miles. But the Belvidere North Junior stayed back waiting to make a move. When Elward started to struggle with 400 meters to go, Zeman zoomed past him and captured the state championship. They had faced each other earlier at the Peoria Notre Dame withe Zeman placing higher than Elward. With that, we believe that Paul Zeman is the runner of the year in AA.
Most Improved Runner
Johnny Crain
Senior, Dunlap
A year ago, he did not finish the 2008 Cross Country season suffering a leg injury. He came back strong in track building a foundation towards the Cross Country Season. He came on strong this season, finishing 9th at Detweiller at State. With that performance, this Dunlap senior has earned the most improved runner in AA.
Most Improved Team
Normal University
They started the season ranked 14th in the pre-season ratings. This team built up steam during the season, earning a #1 rating right before Sectionals. After a 2nd place finish at East Peoria, this team led by Juniors James Clay and Ryan Rutherford responded with a strong 2nd place finish at the state meet. They will be strong again next year with the nucleus. But for 2009, they are given the most improved team in AA.
5th Man Award
Carl Rapp
Junior, Belvidere North
The Thunder dominated the AA state meet...one reason was the performance of their 5th man Carl Rapp, which was better than 13 schools 2nd man.
Coach of The Year
Dan Devlin, Springfield
Close call here...but the one coach that we think deserves this honor is Dan Devlin of Springfield. Even though his team was ranked 3rd during the preseason, they were not considered one of the teams to get a trophy. With a strong 3-4 finish from Michael Simon and Justin Lee, this squad surprised with a 3rd place finish.
Class AAA Awards
 | Class AAA Runners of the year, Lavinia Jurkiewicz and Lukas Verzbicas
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Girls
Runner of the year
Lavinia Jurkiewicz
Senior, Whitney Young
Many people picked Jurkiewicz to finish in the top five, but few predicted an actual victory for the Chicago Public League senior. Jurkiewicz ran a very smart race and waited until the final 600 meters to pull away to a victory at this years state meet. This marks the first time a female from the Chicago Public League has won a state cross country championship, and the first CPL winner since Steve Murphy of Calumet won in 1950.
5th Runner Award
Laura Schweikert
Sophomore, Palatine
Schweikert is (or perhaps was) known for her exploits on the track as Palatine's true #1 sprinter as a freshman last season. Schweikert ran on three qualifying relays (4 x 100, 4 x 200, 4 x 400) at last spring's state track meet. However, this season, the former volleyball standout, joined the cross country team and solidified the all important #5 hole with solid 18:00 clockings and keeping the 1-5 split under 1:00 on a consistent basis during the team's state championship and national qualifying run.
Team spirit award
Sandburg
The Eagles managed to dress up for every meet and topped it off with their bunson burner hair do's at the state meet. Their sophs capped it off with their oompa loompa dance as the team recieved their 2nd place trophy down state.
Most improved team
Wheaton-Warrenville South
Coach Rob Harvey's team improved from 11th in '08 to 3rd this year at the state championship. Overlooked early in the season, the Tigers came together when it counted the most, winning the tough DuPage Valley Conference before obtaining the third place trophy in Peoria.
Coach of the year
Joe Parks
Palatine
Coach Parks handled enormous pressure of replacing the legendary Steve Currins who retired. Parks immediately etched his name in the legendary Palatine Cross Country history by winning the state championship in his first season.
Boys
Runner of The Year
Lukas Verzbicas
Sophomore, Orland Park Sandburg
Even though he only ran 4 races in the regular season, he was tops among all the other runners in AAA. His 21 second margin of victory was the largest since Donald Sage's win in 1999 and Chris Derrick's 20 second victory two years ago. And winning the FLMW Region and the FL National Championships puts him over the top. The question is whether Craig Virgin's record will go down next fall.
Most Improved Runner
Sergio Miranda
Senior, Romeoville
It was hard to distinguish who the most improved runner in this class would be before the state meet. But like a thunderbolt, along came this Romeoville Senior. 10th in the Bolingbrook Regional and 16th at the Sectional at Lockport made everyone think that this Cross Country novice would struggle to place in the top 50. But his 14th place finish at Detweiller shocked most onlookers. Things look bright for Miranda. He ran 4:22 last spring...the sky is the limit for him this coming spring.
Most Improved Team
Plainfield South
There were a number of schools that could qualify for this...Lockport, New Trier, and Wheaton North were all schools that did not make it past sectionals in 2008. But the one school that made the biggest jump was Jason Crowe's Plainfield South team. His squad placed 12th at the St. Charles East Sectional in 2008. In 2009, led by all-state runner Jake Ferris, they started out the season unranked. They did not enter the top 25 until after a strong performance at their conference meet where they were 3 ponts behind a rated Minooka squad. With 23 of the 26 schools ranked going into the state meet, this team surprised many with their 15th place showing. With that, this team deserves the honor of most improved team of 2009.
5th Man of the Year
Luke Verbus, Senior
William Klimczak, Senior
Andrew Tout, Junior
Carlton Folster, Senior
Jaffar Mahmoud, Senior
Naperville Neuqua Valley
I think the way that this team, and I use the word team strongly, performed this past season makes it hard to single out just one of these runners. Each meet, their pack ran within 30 to 35 seconds of Senior Aaron Beattie. The team ran traditional pack running all season making it tough for opponents to approach them. With that, this team deserves to have the 5th man of the year handed to them and deservedly so.
Coach of the Year
Paul Vandersteen
Naperville Neuqua Valley
Hard to argue with this choice here. Coach Vandersteen had a plan at the beginning of the year that the only way that this squad was going to win was with a tight pack. Senior Aaron Beattie would go out and challenge the leaders. The other 6 would stay within an arm reach of each other and work together. Their unselfishness towards one another made this team tought to beat, especially at the state meet where this team garnered their 2nd championship in the last 3 years. With this, We honor Coach Vandersteen as the AAA Boys Coach of the Year. |
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