Riley Newport heading to first state meet as Barbs qualify as team for first time since 1977

DeKALB – Coming off a 2020 cross country season in which he would have qualified for the Class 3A State Cross County Meet, Riley Newport was shooting for his first actual trip down to Peoria this year.

But it won’t be just him heading down there - the DeKalb boys team will be joining him as the team qualified for state for the first time since 1977.

“It’s definitely a goal for a while,” Newport said. “To put our heads to it and get it, it just feels amazing. It’s really special to be a part of it.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic there was no state meet last season, just regionals and sectionals. This year, the full tournament is back on for the first time since 2019.

In addition to the DeKalb boys, both the Sycamore and Kaneland boys qualified in the 2A race, while the Kaneland girls also qualified as a team. Sycamore’s Lily Baker in 2A and Indian Creek’s Caroline Bend in 1A qualified as individuals.

For the Barbs, coach Mike Wolf said his team is trying to keep things relaxed.

“We kind of take these Saturday meets, keep them in the frame of mind that it’s another Saturday,” Wolf said. “We really try to perform on Saturday, raise our level of performance. They’ve been able to do that most of this season. So we’re going into this Saturday, it’s kind of a big meet, but it’s where we want to be. We’re in the mindset to take it like another Saturday. Let’s not get too worked up over it, go in there and do our best, like we have all season long.”

The Barbs were fifth in the Class 3A Lake Park Regional, punching their first ticket to state in almost five decades. Newport paced the squad with a second-place finish in 15:17.3, less than 14 seconds behind St. Charles East’s Micha Wilson.

Alex Boyden was 20th in 16:15.4, freshman Jacob Barraza was 32nd in 16:34.3, and senior Zander Ward was 39th in 16:44.1.

“It was really fun just knowing all our hard work paid off,” Boyden said. “We sacrificed a lot, like getting up really early and doing morning runs. Honestly, the biggest thing was all that hard work paying off.”

Boyden said the Barbs are looking to shock some teams on Saturday. Wolf said that runners excel when they put their minds to things.

“These guys are really determined,” Wolf said. “They really like challenges. We saw that earlier this season. We got beat by Belvidere North pretty good early in the season at the Sycamore Invite, then came back and beat them at Kaneland. And Plainfield Central, on paper we shouldn’t have won that meet but we came back and won it. ... They get a goal in their head and they really go after it.”

Sycamore earned its trip to Peoria with a sixth-place showing at the Class 2A Woodstock North Sectional, finishing with 203 points – just seven points out of ninth place. The top six teams advanced to state.

Coach Mike Lambdin said it was a roller coaster of emotions for the Spartans on Saturday – they were looking like sure qualifiers until the last quarter mile. Then they fell to seventh in the first results released immediately after the race.

But a couple errors were found, and after two hours of sorting things out Sycamore ended up in sixth place.

“It looked like we were a lock to make it, then in a minute-thirty things might have slipped away,” Lambdin said. “The results came out, announced us seventh, then they found an error. ... It took two hours before we knew and we were on the edge of our seats hoping things would break our way.”

Sophomore Naif Al Harby posted the best time for the Spartans on Saturday, taking 15th in 16:53.4. Ethan Solfisburg was right behind him in 17:01.4 in 20th. Two members of the defending state champion 3,200-meter relay team also run for the Spartans, Nicholas Koker (40th in 17:26.1) and Caden Emmert (93rd in 18:16.8).

Lambdin also said seniors Jordan Wilkerson (57th in 17:46.4) and Aidan Farrell (107th in 18:33.3) were big factors in the team’s success this year, leading summer workouts and weekend runs.

The Spartans will be reunited with Interstate 8 rival Kaneland, which competed in the Fenton Sectional. The Knights were second with 98 points behind Fenwick’s 59. Freshman Evan Nosek paced the Knights in 16:50.8. Christian Phillips (16th in 17:21.7) and Nolan Allen (17:27 for 17th) were also in the top 20 for Kaneland.

The Kaneland girls also qualified out of Fenton, led by junior Alli Gonnella’s 18th-place finish in 21:067. Juniors Lindsey Andrae (24th in 21:15.2) and Rose Dallal (27th in 21:19.6) were also in the top 30.

Coach Doug Ecker said the team ran well on one of the slowest courses he can remember.

“The girls are pretty excited,” Ecker said. “It’s not something we expected at the beginning of the season. We took advantage and got the last spot as a team. It’s especially great for the seniors who haven’t run at a state meet before for cross country or track. So it’s interesting and good for them.”

Baker, a senior for the Spartans, will head to Peoria after taking 25th, clocking in at 19:49.3. Bend, a junior for the Timberwolves, will compete in the 1A tournament. She was 12th at the Oregon Sectional in 20:25.47.