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Sports

Middle School Runners Preparing for Cross Country

Student can join the Yorkville Middle School team through Tuesday.

A special thanks to Derek Miller for providing the following article and photographs.

The competition portion of the Yorkville Middle School cross country team's season is getting closer. New runners can still join the team through Tuesday, August 21, but the season officially started on July 30 and many runners also ran at Endurance Camp during the summer so many of them are prepared to run some of their best times this season.

The team spent the past few weeks participating in some fun activities such as a photo scavenger hunt, a mini-golf trip, and volunteering at a 5K in Aurora supporting Special Olympics. Now, however, the team is starting to focus on the season ahead of them.

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The IESA split cross country into three divisions this season because of the growth of the sport and YMS finds themselves in the division with the biggest schools. The team looks to be one of the strongest in their sectional. The boys hope to return to state for the second time in three years while the girls hope to improve upon their 10th place finish at state last season.

The top runner for the boys right now is Alexx Nauman, who missed qualifying for state as an individual last season by just a few seconds and spent time training with the varsity high school runners over the summer. Alexx leads a strong group of returning runners from last season who will be competing for a spot on the sectional team. Dawson Diederich and Triston Robb spent a lot of time over the summer training with the high school team and Darien Ramos will also be a strong returning 8th grader as he just missed making state in the mile during the track season.

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Karson Manukas, Jacob Love, and Evan Jaros are also returners from last year who will be in the competition for the sectional team. Newcomers Trent Richmond, Patrick Black, Eddie Kilgore, Brett Stauffenberg, Andrew McKee, and Mike Fernatt will be pushing hard to be a part of the sectional team as well.

The girls' side has three returning runners from last year's 10th place state team. Maddie Dearborn looks to be the top runner right now, but Nicole Doles and Julia Megazzini also bring state experience. Alexis Grandys and Dominique Anderson are new 8th graders on the team, but both look strong enough to compete for the best time on the team. Look for 7th grade captains Maggie Klemm and Lindsay Harrison to also make a push for the sectional team as well as newcomers Sydney Anderson, Tayla Van Leeve, Catelyn Peterson, and Piper Buyansky.

The team is excited for their first major meet on September 1, which will be their own Fox Trot Invite. This is the first time the middle school has hosted an invitational, and the team can't wait to show their stuff on the course at Hoover and, eventually, at Maxwell Park at the state meet in Normal.

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