Cross country: Plainfield South boys, Yorkville girls win Southwest Prairie Conference titles

CHANNAHON – Dylan Maloney raised his arms above his head in triumph and flashed a wide smile beneath his curly blond hair.

“That was freaking awesome,” the Plainfield South junior said.

Awesome indeed.

On a dreary Friday afternoon, moments before the sky opened with rain, Maloney was simply brilliant. Maloney ran a Community Park-record 14 minutes, 26.9 seconds on the 3-mile course, leading four runners in the top 10 for boys team champion Plainfield South at the Southwest Prairie Conference Meet.

[ Photos: Southwest Prairie Conference cross country ]

Yorkville won the preceding girls race, beating out two-time defending champion Minooka.

Maloney set the pace throughout Friday’s race, running well ahead of runner-up and Plainfield South teammate Camyn Viger, the defending conference champion who finished second in 14:37.6. Plainfield North’s Thomas Czerwinski was third in 14:38.70.

“I just wanted to break the course record, which I did,” Maloney said. “I wanted to push myself to my limits today. I knew I was capable of it.”

Plainfield South, led by Maloney and Viger, scored 35 points to just edge Plainfield North’s 38. West Aurora (110), Yorkville (111) and Minooka (132) were a distant third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

“Plainfield North is a great team for sure, one of our biggest competition,” Viger said. “It’s awesome that we got the win. All of my teammates did an awesome job carrying the weight. We were confident before this race, but this is definitely a confidence booster going into the rest of the postseason.”

Viger was expecting a big race from Maloney, noting that “he went and did what he said he would do.” Maloney’s time Friday was a 3-mile season-best by almost 15 seconds.

“I feel like my times are just going to keep falling,” Maloney said. “I feel like this is the best I’ve run in my life. I’ve been recovering well, I’ve been going to bed really early at night, which I know sounds silly, but sleep is a very big component of running.”

Plainfield North’s Owen Stahl was fourth in 14:54.3, Yorkville’s Owen Horeni sixth in 15:14.3, Plainfield South’s Riley Fink seventh in 15:40.4, Plainfield North’s Aidan Connors eighth in 15:17.2, Plainfield North’s Quinn Davis ninth in 15:19.8 and Plainfield South’s Joaquin DeAlba 10th in 15:21.40.

On the girls side, Yorkville put four runners in the top 11 to edge Minooka 47-52 and win the Foxes’ first SPC championship since going back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.

Junior Sophia Keeler led the way for the Foxes, finishing third in 17:59.3.

“Everybody has certain goals they set, and I think for the most part they achieved them,” Keeler said.

Keeler admitted to being concerned with the course conditions with rain throughout the week and expected Friday, which reset her approach going in.

“My main focus was the people I’d be around because we knew the times wouldn’t be as low as maybe usual,” Keeler said. “I was really worried about the course because of the weather, but I think I was more prepared that way. It had been raining all week, this course is usually muddy, so I was expecting it to be worse. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

Oswego East senior Morgan Dick emerged in the final mile as the girls winner in 17:54.4 to pace the Wolves, who were fourth in the team finish behind Yorkville, Minooka and Plainfield North.

“I piggybacked a Plainfield North [runner] and the girl from Yorkville. We were running in the pack most of the time, and the last half-mile is when I started to push,” Dick said. “That last half-mile I just gave it my all and knew it would count at the end. That last stretch I just kept finding a new gear and pushed.”

Minooka’s Maya Ledesma was second in 17:55.6, leading three Indians in the top nine.

“I really liked my last mile,” Ledesma said. “I said to myself, ‘You know what you can do,’ and I passed a lot of people at the end. I was proud of myself because I was behind people. I wanted to see what I could do at the end.”

Plainfield North’s Marlie Czarniewski was fourth in 18:01.5, Yorkville’s Ashley Schraeder was fifth in 18:09.3, Plainfield North’s Tessa Russo was sixth in 18:13.4, Yorkville’s Annabelle Reeder was seventh in 18:27.1, Minooka’s Taya Gummerson was eighth in 18:30.6, Minooka’s Natalie Nahs was ninth in 18:31.3 and Plainfield North’s Elsie Czarniewski was 10th in 18:32.6.