Sports
OPRF Boys' Cross Country Finishes 11th at Sectional Championship
Huskies are paced by Jack O'Sullivan, while two freshman runners, Brady O'Connor and Liam Newhart, foreshadow bright outlook for program
The Oak Park and River Forest boys’ cross country team placed 11th in the sectional championship on Saturday, November 2, falling short in its bid to secure a spot in the Class 3A state championship. Of the 21 teams that competed at Lake Park High School in Roselle, the top five advanced.
Senior Jack O’Sullivan topped all Huskie runners, and was 33rd overall, with a 16:03 time in the three-mile race. He was a mere three seconds, and three spots, shy of qualifying individually to compete in the state race on November 9th in Peoria. [Update: Jack O'Sullivan was able to advance to the state finals, after all, after more wrangling between the IHSA and Cook County courts, related to the inclusion of Chicago Public School runners. His 15:40 time in Peoria was good for 143th out of the 213 competitors.]
Two other OPRF competitors finished in the first half of the field: junior Eamon Cavanaugh’s 16:28 was good for 61st place and freshman Brady O’Connor’s 16:43 was #71 overall, but second among all frosh runners. Fellow Huskie freshman Liam Newhart’s 16:52 was 82nd overall, and third-best among all freshman competitors in the field.
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Other Huskie runners included sophomore Wes Morrison (16:57, 87th); senior Paul Raducha (17:05, 92nd); and senior Jack Blatchford (17:15, 98th).
Winning the boys’ sectional championship was perennial powerhouse York High School (40 points), followed by Wheaton Warrenville South (62), New Trier (79), Maine South (98), and Wheaton North (164).
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Just out of the running to qualify for Peoria were Loyola Academy (167), Glenbard West (170), and Jones College Prep (172). Jones was the top-performing Chicago Public School of the six schools that fielded teams. The night before, a Cook County judge ruled they should be able to runafter the conclusion of the CPS teachers’ strike, which had prevented them from competing in the regional competitions the prior weekend.
As with the boys’ competition on Saturday, five girls’ teams advanced from their cross country sectional competition. One of those squads was the OPRF Huskies, who placed fourth en route to earning their second consecutive berth in the state final.
For the top boys’ cross country teams’ results, click here.
For complete results, including all individual runners, click here.