Downers Grove North, boys cross country seniors Philip Cupial and Will Surratt finally first met following a little confusion.

As freshmen, Cupial arrived as an Illinois Elementary School Association 3A state champion from Jefferson Junior High. Surratt came from Herrick Middle School, excited to seek out Cupial at practice.

“I actually thought his friend was the state champ the first few days of running because they would always run together,” Surratt said. “We actually got acquainted pretty quickly and we’ve been super close since then.”

The returning Class 3A all-staters may be seen together again among the top finishers at the state meet Nov. 8. They’re trying to lead the Trojans to a third consecutive team state championship as their lone returnees.

“We’re looking really good and I’m super excited. We’ll just have to see. We can control what we can control,” Cupial said.

“The last four years (Surratt and I) have been together almost every since that day (we met). We see each other, even in the offseason, at least three times a week. I work tremendously hard in practice along with Will and I feel like that really motivates (teammates). They kind of just learn from example.”

Downers North would become the first 3A team to win at least three consecutive state titles since York’s last title streak with legendary coach Joe Newton from 2002-06.

Cupial is a state title favorite after taking fourth last year (14:12.70 for 3.0 miles) behind three seniors and just .9 behind graduated second-place teammate Grant Schroder.

Surratt was 12th (14:26.20) as the fourth highest-finishing non-senior. For the 2023 champions, Cupial was an all-state seventh and Surratt 30th.

The Trojans were No. 2 or 3 in the pre-season rankings by ILXCTF.com MileSplit IL and Illinois Running News along with unanimous No. 1 Plainfield North and Lake Zurich. Plainfield North was second at state the past two seasons.

Juniors Stephen Cox, Isaak Stein, Luke Figliomeni and Dylan Wood and seniors Tyler Lynch-Goff, Josh Farrero, Brennan Hardy, Matt Novak and Kiran Krishnan are among the Trojans’ varsity candidates.

“We were a pretty deep team and super competitive at all levels these last two years, too,” Downers North coach John Sipple said.

“With Will and Phil up front, that gives us a big advantage. We’re starting off with two great returners and a bunch of guys who will be learning, which will be fun. There’s a lot of room for improvement and hidden potential.”

Cupial and Surratt are coming off winning the 4x800-meter relay with Schroder and graduated John Courtney at the 3A state track meet May 31 and Nike Outdoor Nationals June 21 (7:34.76) with Cupial’s memorable come-from-behind final lap.

“Even though the other team had (roughly) 50 meters on me, there was not one moment in my mind that I gave up,” Cupial said.

Surratt said he was disappointed with his 2024 cross country season until his best time at state. Now Surratt hopes to complete a powerful duo with Cupial as Schroder did.

“We’re going for that 1-2 finish at state, no matter what the order is,” Surratt said.

“We had such strong bonds with our previous teams. What is so super important is getting really close with each other and caring so much in each other’s success.”

On Aug. 30, the Trojans finished second to Plainfield North 30-48 at the EIU Showdown at Neuqua Valley. But Cupial didn’t run and the fifth-place Surratt and Trojans’ lead pack ran together the first 1.5 miles.

The Trojans won Lyons Township’s Mike Kuharic Invite Saturday. Cupial (14:58.42 for 5,000 meters) won by 10 seconds.

“There’s so much sacrifice in this sport and if you’re not willing to do it for your teammates, doing all of the little things, you’re not going to have a championship team like we’ve been having,” Cupial said. “That’s what I’m trying to hammer to the younger guys.”

York and Hinsdale Central received top-10 pre-season rankings and Lyons and Morton were among the top 20. Morton seniors Alex Rodriguez (30th) and Orlando Sandoval (46th) and junior Miguel Flores (51st) and York senior Carter Olsen (37th) were top 60 at 2024 state.

In 2A, Glenbard South junior Thomas Jochum is the top state returnee after taking second (14:31.90). Hinsdale South senior Wojtek Gilarski was 57th. Montini moves up after a program-best seventh-place 1A state finish in 2024 led by junior all-stater Nino Pesola (10th). ILXCTF.com ranked Montini and Glenbard South No. 17 and 27.