York’s cross country teams repeated as Class 3A Lake Park Sectional champion in both the both and girls races Saturday.

Paced by Karlin Janowski’s third-place finish, the York girls took top honors with 90 points and will return to the state finals at Peoria’s Detweiller Park next Saturday looking to improve upon last year’s second-place finish.

Tallying 68 points, the York boys earned another sectional plaque for the storied program and will be looking to repeat as state champions. Led by Patrick Hill’s sixth-place finish (14:51.7), the Dukes placed four runners in the top 20.

Janowski, Batavia’s Avery Hacker, and Annika Swan and Allison Shutler, both from St. Ignatius, led the girls race as a pack for the first two miles. Swan and Shutler pulled away during the last mile to take the top two spots and earn third place (126) and a state berth for the Chicago school. Swan (16:26.1), a senior, finished five seconds ahead of Shutler (16:31.2), a sophomore.

Janowski, who finished second in last year’s state final, completed the 3-mile course at the Lake Park East campus in 16:37.1.

“It was very competitive. I think Illinois is one of the most competitive states and this is one of the most competitive sectionals,” Janowski said. “My strategy was to follow our team plan and just run hard.”

York is peaking at the right time.

“Karlin went out in the front, competed, did her job and then our pack just moved up. They’ve been moving up every single race and I think we are competing at the best that we’ve been all season and we’re ready to show up next week,” York coach Lauren DeAngelis said.

Hacker ran a personal best time of 16:39.6 to bring home a fourth-place medal. The junior took eighth place in last year’s state race. The Bulldogs (176) came in sixth as a team and punched their ticket for Peoria.

“I had a lot of competition. The girls from St. Ignatius, I haven’t raced against them before, so it was awesome being able to race against some new competition, and they’re both really good,” Hacker said.

The top seven teams qualified for the state race. In addition to York, St. Ignatius and Batavia, second-place Glenbard West (120), Lane (132), Huntley (142) and DePaul College Prep (179) will make the trip to Detweiller Park.

Senior Alexa Novak led Glenbard West with a sixth-place finish (17:13.3) while Isabella Ciesla (17:28.9) paced Huntley coming in 10th.

Geneva’s Sofia Borter’s fifth-place finish with a personal record time of 17:03 earned the senior a trip to Detweiller Park as an individual.

The boys race turned into a heated contest between St. Charles North’s Sam Hill and Lane’s Samuel Assefa.

For the first mile, the two juniors led the pack. During the second mile, Hill and Assefa pulled away together. Hill finally put some distance between him and Assefa during the last 300 yards to win the race (14:32.9). Assefa crossed the finish line two seconds later (14.34.9).

Hill taking first place coupled with three other North Stars runners finishing in the top 25 earned St. Charles North (93) a third-place finish. Assefa’s efforts led to a second-place finish for Lane (85).

“I really was pushing myself. I really wanted to win,” Hill said. “I’ve been trying to work on my kick in that last 300 yards. I really tried to practice that, and it ended up working out.”

Led by Edward Polaski’s third-place finish, Batavia took fourth place (158).

Matt King took top honors for sixth-place Glenbard West (184) by finishing in fourth place with a personal best time of 14:44.4.

“I was just staying with the front guys and that last mile, just kicking it in,” King said. “I really wanted to win this race, but those two kids really threw in a great performance.”

York followed its game plan to win the sectional.

“They had a plan, a goal of what they were supposed to do, and the boys went after it and achieved that,” York coach Charlie Kern said. ”We wanted to have a guy in the top 10 and we want to have guys in the top 20, and we were able to do that.”

In addition to York, Lane, St. Charles North, Glenbard West and Batavia, Peyton (fifth, 182) and Huntley (seventh, 208) will run at Detweiller next Saturday. Freshman Joseph Sittler earned top honors for Huntley, finishing 25th with a time of 15:19.6.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20251101/boys-cross-country/cross-country-york-girls-boys-sweep-crowns-at-lake-park/