Cross Country: Jed Wilson, St. Charles East team captures boys DuKane Conference title

ROSELLE – Jed Wilson didn’t seem bothered, much less fazed, in a blustery rain.

Running his own race – regardless of the conditions in front of him – is just a sliver of what makes the St. Charles East senior an admirable cross country and track athlete.

That and maintaining the “best mindset” he can have: Having fun and running for his team.

“Just do the best I can do. ... Just keep running. Have fun out there. That was my goal,” Wilson said after his blazing 15:11.9 finish to capture the individual title Oct. 14 at the DuKane Conference meet in Roselle.

Wilson is writing his own story as a high school runner. His older brother Micah, a redshirt athlete at the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison and a former Kane County Chronicle Cross Country and Track Athlete of the Year, helped propel St. Charles East for years in both sports with plenty of conference titles.

It’s now Jed Wilson’s turn to add a few chapters with his own achievements.

“It just felt awesome. The whole time, all I could think about is coach [Chris] Bosworth was yelling another Wilson winning conference. That was awesome, that feeling, everything about it was great,” Wilson said.

St. Charles East placed first in the team standings, followed by Wheaton Warrenville South and Wheaton North.

The Saints were boosted by a fifth-place finish by Oscar Frontjes (15:38.7), seventh-place finish by Greyson Ellensohn (15:46.7) and ninth-place finish by Adrian Ahuatl (15:50.1).

“It’s a great group of guys. I really love them. Team-wise, we’re a lot better than last year – a lot closer,” Wilson said. “It’s just been great running with them. We have a saying: ‘For each other,’ so that’s really what I think about when I’m running. Running for the guys, being the best I can be for them.”

The Tigers were paced by Josiah Narayanan’s 15:23.8, which was good for second place, Aiden Noel’s 15:32.7 (fourth place) and Angelo Ruggio’s 15:41.8 (sixth).

Wheaton North’s Aidan Murphy (15:30.0) took third. Batavia’s Francesco Benelli (15:46.9) finished eighth and David Bednarek (15:56.2) was 10th to round out the top 10.

In the girls race, WW South junior Nicole Poglitsch took first place in 17:31.9.

Wheaton North took first as a team, followed by WW South and Batavia.

It marked the first time the Falcons girls won the DuKane Conference title. Wheaton North won the DuPage Valley Conference title in 2007, Falcons coach Peter Anderson said.

“Our best team race was First to the Finish [in September, where we placed sixth]. Since then, race conditions, course conditions, we just weren’t able to race those times, but we still ran well,” Anderson said. “The girls were looking at times, we start the week, we look at the weather forecast and we’re like, ‘Girls, we can’t think times this week. It’s all about place and fighting for place.’ So that was our focus all this week. They’ve trained well all season and raced competitively well against some good teams.”

Poglitsch, who placed second last season at conference, won the first conference title in her career.

“Honestly, today, I was just going to try and figure out what I was racing. I’ve had a little – not a mental block – but I feel I’ve been a little ... I haven’t had that breakthrough race where I feel confident enough,” Poglitsch said. “Today, I went out there, I’m going to run my race and I’m going to figure it out as I go.”

It was arguably her breakthrough race.

“It’s exciting. My team is so happy and it’s just such a good vibe. I’m so happy. It’s good because I’m strong. It’s good for our state series coming up,” Poglitsch said.

Geneva sophomore Sofia Borter (18:10.8) edged Wheaton North’s Emily Offutt (18:10.9) in a photo finish for second and third, respectively. Falcons teammate Maddie Romaine (18:38.1) took fourth and St. Charles East’s Marley Andelman (18:51.2) rounded out the top five individuals.

St. Charles North’s Camille Sabau (18:55.5), Batavia’s Gwendolyn Krodel (18:59.9), St. Charles North’s Norah Dorrance (19:00.4) and Gwen Hobson (19:01.6) and Wheaton North’s Ema Eissler (19:06.7) rounded out the top 10.

“She’s a natural runner. She’s competitive. She really wants to win,” Anderson said of Offutt. “She’s a good teammate with that and she’s brought a new energy into the team. We were a decent team last year. We [graduated] three seniors. But to have these four freshmen come in and Emily leading the team being our fastest girl [is great]. She just knocks out workouts. She’s a hard worker and she wants to win. That’s her mentality.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/kane-county-chronicle/high-school-sports/2023/10/14/cross-country-jed-wilson-st-charles-east-team-captures-boys-dukane-conference-title/