Illinois Valley Times

Both Hall High School cross-country squads have plenty of runners back from the sectional qualifying squads of last season.

The top returning boys' runner is junior Westley Schmidt, with freshman Daniel Yanez being in the second spot. Seniors Gage Ripka and Chris Enriquez and sophomore Zeben Parochetti and Ethan Cattani could shuffle among Nos. 3-5, head coach Tom Keegan said recently.

Other boys' team members are juniors Ben Aranda and Jonathon Hurtado, and sophomore Lorenzo Olivares.

“The goal of the team is to be healthy when regionals come and advance as a team to sectionals,” Keegan said.

Sophomore Jenna Parente leads the girls' team, followed by seniors Kaylee Olivares and Amelia Moreno, and sophomores Matti Heiden, Lainey Robbins and Lainey Hannon.

Senior Alyse Ruda, junior Liz Aldana and sophomore Paisley Dhesse round out the roster.

“There will be a nice pack with our (two through five) runners, which should be Heiden, Robbins, Olivares, Moreno and Hannon,” Keegan said. “Ruda has shown improvement from last year, as well as Aldana, and Dhesse is a newcomer to the sport this year.”

LAKE PARK

Each squad has experience back at the top of the lineup.

The boys' team has five runners back in seniors Owen Stoneking, Brendon Sebastian, Ryan Pijanowski, Ryan Porter and Alec Kessel. Meanwhile, the girls' team has three of the top five back, with senior Sarah Robinson,  and juniors Rachel Hickey and Gabby Sawin.

“I think both squads can win the county and regional meets if they work hard and stay uninjured,” head coach John Beatty said.

MENDOTA

The girls' and boys' programs have a total of five runners this season.

“This season will be different from years past,” head coach Sean Fox said. “With our numbers being so low, we are unable to have a complete team for scoring purposes. I still expect each of our kids to go out there and compete, smile and have a great time.”

Because of the low numbers for both squads, neither team will field a complete team at meets and will focus on individual scores.

Returning letterwinners are seniors Daniela McConville and Kianne Brown, and sophomores Alexus Furar and Tiffany Preston.

Freshman Noah DeLong is the lone member of the boys' team.

In the Genoa-Kingston Meet on Aug. 25 in Kingston, DeLong finished in 21st place. In the girls' division, Brown was 27th, Furar was 28th, Preston was 35th and McConville was 36th.

OTTAWA

Several runners with regional-meet experience return to lead their teams this season.

On the girls' side, senior Lisa Gibbs is back after finishing sixth at the regional. She is joined by juniors Hannah Schilling (14th), Bridget Carter (29th) and Rachel Mueller (35th), and sophomore Jessica Zebrauskas (37th).

The top boys' runner returning from the regional team is senior Nate Williamson, who finished 23rd. Junior Drew Klatt was 26th, while senior Jason Bessett was 37th. All placing information is from ihsa.org.

Note: Not all teams returned information requests for this preview by press time.