The North cross country team is entering the homestretch of a successful season, boasting one of the top teams in the Midwest.
On Oct. 4, the team legged it to Naperville North for the Naperville Twilight Invite, where both the boys and girls squads ran away with their best finishes in school history.
“I feel like it was a ‘B’ race for us,” head coach Andy Derks said. “We still haven’t put a complete race together, but considering that we got 2nd still, it was really exciting for us.”
The meet was laced with PR’s and records for both the boys and girls. Among the PR’s were freshmen Ayla Czarniewski, Madeline Singh, Maddie Derks and Ireland Hockman as well as sophomore Tessa Russo and junior Ashika Anand for the girls. For the boys, freshmen Evan Patchett, Dom LaMontagna, Cameron Ring, Matt Damiani, Amaan Khan and Gavin Gunderson, sophomores Sean Jansen and Daniel Cisneros, junior Carlos Cisneros, and seniors Kwame Amoo-Otoo, Chase Bell, Colin Curless, Kyle Bledsoe and Matthew Naughton all notched career records.
“[Matthew] has done such a great job,” Derks said. “That’s the beauty of this sport, being able to jump right in. He was in the first race and PRed by a lot, and it really fired up our team and got the ball rolling.”
Naughton, who ran three miles in 19:34, shattered his previous PR of 20:50. Although he ran on his own before, he spent his final year as a Tiger as a rookie in cross country.
“I’ve had running experience in the past, but I’m really pleased with how I’ve done this season,” Naughton said. “The team has been really welcoming, and I’ve made some great friends in this sport.”
Coming into this season, the boys and girls, originally separate squads, combined to form one co-ed team. Derks, who led the boys last year, has taken on the responsibility of being the joined team’s head coach.
“The opportunity [to combine teams] presented itself,” Derks said. “There are great programs in the country that go co-ed and succeed, and we wanted to do the same. We all were on board with it, so we collectively decided to go for it.”
According to Derks, it took some time for the boys and girls to become acquainted with one another, but have since then settled in and become close.
It’s rare to see combined high school programs, so it was new to all of us at the beginning,” senior Kaitlyn Ward said. “I feel the combined program has allowed both the boys and girls program to so much. Both of our girls and guys teams are doing amazing this season, and I like to credit some of that to the new combined program.”
While most varsity rosters at North tend to be led by upperclassmen, with underclassmen on JV and freshman teams, the cross country team doesn’t follow this standard. Derks cited how every runner automatically makes varsity, and may be moved down over time depending on speed.
“I expected the team to be more senior-heavy, but I like that we’re not,” varsity sophomore Gavin Hall said. “All of the guys are really close, and we treat each other like family.”
After the successful meet, the team now has their eyes on the state championships.
“The team is happy with where they’re at and their progression, but they’ll be the first to tell you that the job’s not finished,” Derks said. “We know how high our potential is, and we want to find out where exactly our peak is.”
