York Boys Fall Short of Another Cross Country Trophy

Perennial power and defending state champion York High School gave a great team effort at the Class 3A boys cross country state meet Saturday at Peoria's Detweiller Park.

The Dukes, however, fell just seven points shy of another trophy for the first time since 2001.

The Dukes (151 points) were a close fourth to Neuqua Valley (144). Palatine (114) captured its first state championship and second-place O’Fallon (120) its first trophy ever.

Since Joe Newton became head coach in 1960, the Dukes have collected 43 trophies, including 27 state championships. The Dukes also were fourth in 2001 in Class AA, 19 points from third place.

York junior Scott Milling (15th, 14:45) and sophomore Nathan Mroz (21st, 14:56) earned all-state honors for the first time with top-25 finishes. Milling was the lone returnee from last year’s state championship lineup who competed Saturday.

York sophomore Kyle Mattes was 30th (15:05), four seconds shy of 25th, followed by juniors Jack Libert (59th, 15:20) and Chris May (80th, 15:28) and seniors Carlos Vega (128th, 15:45) and Billy Clink (150th, 15:58).

The Dukes’ top-five finishers Saturday were all underclassmen, followed by seniors Vega, who returned from the regional lineup, and Clink, a transfer student who competed at state with St. Charles North’s team the past two seasons.

St. Charles North (9th, 300) also finished among the top 10, followed by Lyons Township (15th, 374), Hinsdale Central (16th, 378), Wheaton North (17th, 387) and Wheaton Warrenville South (23rd, 473).

In Class 1A, Timothy Christian (510), making its first team state appearance since 1989, was 22nd.

Senior Ryan DeGroot was 66th (16:10), followed by senior Alex Sweatman (103rd, 16;35) and juniors Philip Stanton (165th, 17:30), Clarke Doig (167th, 17:31), Jimmy Larkin (173rd, 17:46) and Christian Rasmussen (185th, 17:59).

The Trojans hadn't been represented at state since 2006, when Ben Dykema was a Class A individual qualifier.