Oak Park and River Forest High school senior Liam O’Connor kept on coming at the end of the 2023 boys cross country season, all the way to earning his first all-state honors. O’Connor should contend for a top-25 finish again, Nov. 9, at Peoria’s Detweiller Park, and hopefully with his teammates.
The Huskies are going for their third straight team state berth — something that hasn’t happened since 1979-81 — with three returnees from last year’s lineup that placed sixth at state. In the pre-season rankings by the three online cross country websites, OPRF was No. 12 in ILXCTF.com, No. 14 in ILMileSplit and No. 18 in IllinoisRunningNews.com.
“We’re just hoping to put the pieces together,” OPRF coach Chris Baldwin said. “We’ve got the guys to make a strong run. We’ve got a lot to make that happen. I’m excited for what will come. I’m excited for these seniors and juniors.”
O’Connor finished 17th (14:39.92 for 3.0 miles) to earn top-25, all-state honors. At state track in May, he was 14th in the 3,200-meter run (9:16.32).
“He has run his best in October and November,” Baldwin said. “Liam has done an impressive job of putting together his biggest races at the best time. He knows what to do. He’s continuing to progress his fitness.”
Seniors Finn Kelly (179th, 15:58.19) and Andrew Harmon (194th, 16:05.24) were the Huskies’ No. 6 and 7 state finishers. Kelly overcame an injury to race last season and currently is sidelined.
In their first major invite Saturday at Fenton, the Huskies were fourth (85 points). O’Connor (16:08.5 for 3.0 miles) and Harmon (16:16.9) were sixth and eighth.
“We sort of treated it as a little bit of a tune-up. We’ve got some guys nursing injuries and it was hot weather,” Baldwin said. “Liam and Andrew ran a controlled first mile, moved up a little bit. [Otherwise] we had six more kids who ran their first varsity race.”
Senior James Nacke (24th, 16:48.0) and juniors Bennett King (25th, 16:48.9) and Yonny Rafter (28th, 16:52.6) were sub-17:00. Junior Julian St. Pierre (31st), senior Jack DeBeers (35th), junior David Schiff (36th), senior Connor Schupp (38th) and junior Finn Cascarino (43rd) also were top 50. Injured junior Brady Creel and senior Jack Gallery did not race.
In the frosh-soph race, sophomores Connor Harmon (16:42.2) and Nick Houghton were second and ninth. Gus Singer has been the top-finishing freshman in the first two races.
OPRF girls
The 2023 OPRF girls cross country season ended with a strong team race at the 3A Lake Park Sectional.
The Huskies have continued the momentum, taking second (49 points) at Saturday’s Fenton Invite after graduating their two 2023 individual state qualifiers, Katie Stabb and Lenny Sterritt.
“With the team that we have, we’re ahead of where we were last year,” OPRF coach Ashley Raymond said. “A lot of the girls maybe were not running [personal records Saturday], but if you think about the first weekend meet last season, they’re like a minute faster.”
Junior Violet Schnizlein and seniors Malie Cassel, Alana Gerona and Julia Chang were part of the sectional lineup that finished ninth, just two places and eight points from the last team state berth. Cassel, Schnizlein and Gerona were the Huskies’ No. 3-5 finishers and Chang No. 7.
At Fenton, Schnizlein (5th, 19:41.0 for 3.0 miles), Gerona (7th, 19:57.8), Chang (10th, 20:25.9), sophomore Isabella Crowe (13th, 20:30.8), junior Chloe Kozicki (14th, 20:35.5) and senior Nora Butterly (15th, 20:35.8) all were top 15. Cassel (21st) and senior Grace Layton (24th) were top 25.
This past spring, Butterly and Schnizlein qualified for state track with the 4×800-meter relay and Kozicki with the 4×400 relay.
Others to watch include senior Tea Dassinger, sophomore Emily Jones and freshman Eileen Easton, third in Fenton’s frosh-soph race (20:54.1).
“We’re really focusing on running as a pack and trying to get as many people up front with Violet and Alana,” Raymond said. “We want to progress every week and run our fastest and most competitive at sectionals, walk away feeling like they left it all on the line there.”