Tolono Unity Three-Peats as Class 1A Team Champions

Isabella Keller starts new family streak winning individual race

By Michael Newman

Peoria, Ill – The first race of the day at iconic Detweiller Park showed what we would see for the rest of Saturday at the IHSA State Cross Country Championships. There were close races throughout the day starting with the first one.

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Indications during the season showed that incoming freshman Isabella Keller from Effingham St. Anthony showed promise. Her first race of the season at Chrisman winning on a rough course by more than two minutes showed what was still to come.

The freshman Keller came into what was supposed to be the best individual race of the day with so much talent that there was no way it would fail to disappoint. It did not.

Keller and Mia Kotler of Latin School traded the lead after the first mile not knowing which runner would prevail. Keller made the final move with 300-meters to go pulling way from Kotler to win with a 16:26.13 time. The Latin junior ran a personal best of 16:32.80.

It was the fifth state championship win in the Keller family. 10 years ago in this meet, Isabella’s older sister Anna Sophia ran 16:37 to win her first state title of 11 earned in Cross Country and Track & Field.

“I knew there were a lot of Girls that I had not raced against who were here,” Keller said. “There were a lot by me at the mile. I don’t like going out hard so I knew I would enough at the end to finish. I thought I would be one of the better ones at the beginning of the year. Somehow, I did it.”

Two more runners were under 17-minutes in this race. Kate Foltz of Tuscola ran 16:45.63 to finish third. Molly Farrell of Marshall ran 16:57.63 to finish fourth. Tessa Bowers of Shelbyville (17:09.15) and Elena Rybak of Father McGivney (17:09.78) came in together in fifth and sixth.

There have not been that many teams in either the Boys or Girls State XC Meets have won multiple state championships in a row. You add Tolono Unity to the list as they won their third straight title. They did have pressure from Anna-Jonesboro from the start. The Rockets had the lead after the first mile as they went on to score 109 points to once again the Class 1A title.

There were a lot of tears the night before the race as they met  as a team. When they stepped to the line on Saturday morning, it was confidence as the gun went off. The Rockets had two all-state runners in this race. Mackenzie Pound led the team finishing 10th. Erica Woodard followed her teammates six seconds later finishing 14th. Emily Decker followed placing 30 with teammates Ashlynn Denney (52nd) and Olivia Shike (55th) close behind.

Anna-Jonesboro made a charge on Tolono Unity in the final mile but ran out of course to catch. The Wildcats will return their top seven next year as they scored 157 points to finish second. Jadyn Gerardi earned all-state honors running 17:31.27 to finish ninth overall. Aleah Box was the team’s second runner finishing 34th. The rest of their top five included Liz Hammer placing 50th, Zoe Jones (65th), and Maggie Gooden (69th). The split from Box to Godden was 36 seconds.

It was close throughout the race for the third trophy spot. Eureka had a 27 point lead on Peoria Notre Dame heading into the final mile. The Irish gain advantaged moving in that last mile to score 224 points in finishing third. Peoria Notre Dame did not have any all-state runners but a seven second split on their first three runners and a split of 52 seconds on their top five sealed the deal for a trophy. Meghan Zopel led the team running 18:44.76 to finish 44th with Sarah Couri (46th), and Julia Mingus (48th) close behind. Maya Zopel (93) and Norah Gould (98) were the team’s fourth and fifth runners.

Eureka finished fourth (231 points) led by an all-state finish from Meika Bender finishing 20th. Knoxville finished fifth (270 points) moving from 11 after the first mile to fifth led by their front runner Alyssa Higgins finishing 26th.