Knudsen father-son cross country titles an IHSA first

Jim Knudsen briefly lost sight of where his son, Soren, was late in last Saturday’s Class 3A boys cross country finals at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.

But when the 1981 Class AA champion from Lockport located him, a brief lead had greatly expanded and Soren, a senior at Minooka, was on his way to joining Jim as the first father-son state champions in the 70-year history of the sport. It’s believed that only four other father-son duos have won championships in the United States.

Knudsen posted a time of 14:02 to beat Lyons Township’s Danny Kilrea by six seconds to become the Indians’ first individual champion in the sport. His time was the 10th-best on the course dating back to 1971. Jim Knudsen’s time in the 1981 race was 14:22.

“This was the fruition of all of the work that I’ve put in during the last eight years,” Soren Knudsen said. “The last two years have been completely up and down, a roller coaster. Winning it was a big relief. It feels really good to say that I’m a state champ after all of the problems that I’ve had in the past.

“Once I realized how fast I was moving, I thought that no one was really with me, but I wasn’t sure. With about 500 meters to go, I heard something over the loudspeaker that said that I had a big gap, and that’s when I said, ‘Alright, don’t let up, and go full steam ahead, charge into that line and don’t hold anything back or let anyone nip me at the line.’ ”

“In the first few minutes after I won, I didn’t have any thoughts. I was completely speechless. The moments after that were ones that I’m never going to forget for the rest of my life. Sharing them with the people who mean the most to me was the best moment of my life.”

Knudsen admitted that he was unusually worried about this race, where he also was challenged by Sandburg’s Dylan Jacobs (14:10), York’s Charlie Kern (14:12) and Lake Zurich’s Brian Griffith (14:14), who placed from third to fifth.

“I don’t really get nervous, it’s been a solid six years since I really freaked out about a race,” Knudsen said. “I was nervous the night before and the day of, which was totally foreign to me. And then about an hour before the race, I started coming to terms with what was ahead and I realized that I probably had a pretty good chance.

“There were five of us who all had an incredible shot and were really good runners and were faster than most state champions are. With all of us not knowing who would win, it made us so much more competitive and it was such a fast race because of that.

“The five of us who were in the mix ended up finishing 12 seconds apart. We all have incredibly different running styles, so you didn’t know where each person would play his strength. You had to think about all four of these guys and what their strengths were. When it looked to be my chance, I just had to take it with complete confidence and go for it.”

Accomplishing the same feat as his father and becoming the first father-son champions in the sport in Illinois obviously is something special to the younger Knudsen.

“Two state champions in one family really speaks to our character and the passion that we hold as a family and the discipline that we’re aware of,” Soren Knudsen said. “It definitely adds a hint of uniqueness to our accomplishments and it’s something that’s going to stay in the history books forever, so it’s really cool.

“Once I got to that level in my junior year, I really realized what it took to become a state champion. He came at it 35 years ago with the same or very similar passion that I did. So to share that, it’s really special. It was definitely the most memorable day of my life.”

Much as Soren improved from 11th as a junior to state champion as a senior, Jim went from ninth in 1980 to first place the next year.

“In my junior year, I came up a little short, much like Soren did,” Jim Knudsen said. “I took second in track (3200 run) my junior year, while he got third (1600 run). In my senior year, I made the commitment, just like he did. We went right into our summer training and kept our fitness level high. And we both stayed injury-free for the first time.

“He’s a great student of the sport so there’s not much that I ever had to say to him since he’s on top of his game. He believes that he’s going to be successful and accomplish great things. I thought about him winning a state title but the experience was completely surreal. Athletically I knew he had what it would take, but in his sophomore year his work ethic kicked in and I saw the passion in his eyes and the mindset he had and that’s when I knew.”