High school boys cross country: Matt Richtman returns to lead the way for Kaneland

MAPLE PARK – While there are lots of questions for the Kaneland boys cross country team to answer this fall, there is no question as to who will be leading the way – senior Matt Richtman and sophomore Daniel Occhipinti.

Richtman is a five-time state medalist in cross country and track and field distance events. Last season, he won three regular-season cross country invites, the NIB-12 conference title and a regional title, and placed fourth at the Class 2A state championships, the highest state meet finish by a Kaneland runner.

In the spring, Richtman took second in the 3,200-meter run and seventh in the 1,600 run at the 2A state track meet to help Kaneland finish third as a team. He finished the season owning Kaneland school records in six indoor and outdoor events, and he went on to be named the 2016-17 Kane County Chronicle Male Athlete of the Year.

Occhipinti is a rising young star who qualified for the sectional cross country meet as a freshman last fall. On the track, he was the fourth-fastest Class 2A freshman 800 runner in the state at 2:04.50.

But two good runners do not a cross country team make. Cross country is a team distance-running sport over natural terrain. Each team’s top-five finishers score the same number of points as their place, with the sum being the team score. The low team score wins.

So the questions for the Knights this fall are who will be their Nos. 3, 4 and 5 runners, and can they run close enough to Richtman and Occhipinti to make Kaneland competitive as a team?

“Our team is going to be a lot like last year, with Matt out in front and our 3-4-5 runners trying to stay within sight of him and close to each other,” coach Chad Clarey said. “We’d love to be back on the starting line at the state meet as a team this year, but our runners behind Matt and Daniel will need to step up and help us challenge our competition.”

The contenders to round out the lineup figure to be junior Aidan Lodwig, who was a sectional qualifier last year, and seniors Sam Webster, Henry Nosek and Peyton Heiser.

Junior Jacob Wielgos, who was one of the Knights’ frosh-soph stars last fall and a varsity contributor on the track last spring, and sophomore transfer Ethan Neale from Oswego could be key varsity contributors by the end of the season.