On Saturday, Nov. 3, both boys and girls cross country competed in the state meet. The meet took place at Detweiller Park in Peoria, and the boys finished 11th while the girls placed 17th.

The top performance on the boy’s team came from Matt Kusak, senior, who finished 32nd. The rest of the varsity team consisted of Piyush Mekla, sophomore, Alec Hill, senior, Carter Mccarroll, junior, Keegan Caveny, senior, Will Ricker, senior, and Mike Ward, senior.

“We performed our best when it mattered, and we left the state meet feeling good,” Kusak said. “For a while, we were unranked, so 11th place is good for us.”

For the girls, the fastest runner was McKenna Revord, junior, who finished as all-state in 14th place. The rest of the girls top 7 was Kayla Byrne, senior, Bella Pisani, senior, Caitlin Chval, senior, Melanie Chafin, senior, Taylor Wagner, junior, and Diana Denmark, sophomore.

Wheaton Warrenville South took first place for the boys, and Naperville North took home the title for the girls.

In order to make it to state, teams had to be top five in the sectional meet. The girls finished in a comfortable third place at sectionals, but the boys barely made it, coming in fifth place, one point ahead of coming in sixth place.

“We almost didn’t make state, so I’m happy we finished in 11th,” said Chinmay Amin, junior.

Although the IHSA season is over, the cross country season is not finished. The boy’s varsity and junior varsity team will be racing on in the annual Nike Regionals Meet, which will take place on Sunday, Nov. 11 in Indiana. Revord will also be racing

“Overall, state was a super fun experience. My team gave it their all, and we even had an all-stater.” Chval said.

Results for the state meet can be found here.