On October 28, the RBHS and Girls Cross Country competed at the IHSA (Illinois High School Association) 2A Sectional race at Kress Creek, West Chicago. The five lowest team scores advance to the State competition.

“We are always seen as the favorite in our sectional,” said the Boys team Head Coach Larry Forberg. “But that doesn’t matter, I always tell the boys, you gotta run the races.”

The Boys team competed with Illiana Christian (2nd-112 points),  St. Francis (3rd- 124 points), and Hinsdale South (4th-162 points). The Bulldogs only had one runner in the Top 5 finishers, senior Jacob Wardzala, who finished in 4th with a 16:00.4  3 mile race.

“He’s a great kid, I know he gave up his first love [baseball] in order to get faster for the season,” said Forberg. “I know the younger guys look up to him, he’s a great role model for the future of the program.”

Other Bulldog top finishers include senior Connor O’Brien (9th), senior Jack Sagan (11th), senior Jason Noel (16th), and senior Ryan Hahn (17th). With junior Chris Magno (55th) and junior David Keen (67th), rounding up the Bulldogs at their sectional meet.

“I’m seriously impressed with how the boys ran. They ran against some of the top teams and came out on top,” said Forberg. “I’m proud to be the coach of this great group of guys.”

The Girls team also competed at the 2A sectional at Kress Creek. Under first year Head Coach Blair Jensen, they competed against Wheaton Academy (1st- 77 points), Lemont (3rd- 122 points) and Glenbard South (4th- 140 points).

Riverside Brookfield and Wheaton Academy finished in the top 5 with the same amount of points. However, Wheaton Academy won the Kress Creek Sectional.

“We finished with the same amount of points (77) as Wheaton Academy but the IHSA breaks ties with the 6th runner. It just happened to be that their 6th runner was a little faster than ours,” Jensen said.

Top Runners for the Girls at Sectionals include junior Nadia Kaczmarz (2nd), senior Hailey Jurgens (4th), junior Tara Janney (5th), junior Cora Lutes (31st), junior Melissa Oliveira-Liz (35th), junior Niela Callanan (44th), and freshman Tess Bruno (56th).

Both the Boys and Girls teams have officially qualified for the IHSA State Competition at Detweiller Park, Peoria. Both teams will compete on November 4. The Girls run at 11:00am and Boys run at 12:00pm.

“We’re ready,” said Jensen. “We just gotta bring the intensity.”