Yorkville junior Owen Horeni is the Record Newspapers boys cross country Athlete of the Year

Owen Horeni’s season, like a hilly cross country course, was marked by peaks and valleys.

It finished on a record high.

The Yorkville junior, already a three-time state medalist in track and field, had a career run at the Class 3A cross country meet in November at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.

Horeni finished an All-State 17th with a career-best run of 14 minutes, 28.6 seconds over 3 miles, and in doing so broke the Yorkville High School record.

“That’s always been a goal of mine, to get to the top of that board,” Horeni said. “Now that I’ve done it it’s a great feeling.”

Capping off his season with a record run, Owen Horeni is the Record Newspapers boys cross country Athlete of the Year.

There were times this season that Horeni could have questioned himself.

He started feeling sick right before the Minooka Flight Invitational Sept. 21, and eventually was diagnosed with COVID. He didn’t run great at the meet, and it threw a wrench in his training.

But with help from his coach, Horeni kept his focus on the ultimate goal.

“It definitely was difficult but my coach ingrained in me and emphasized that fact that state is the most important meet,” Horeni said. “It didn’t make me feel great with how I was doing, but it didn’t matter.”

A turning point to Horeni’s season came two weeks later at the Portage Invitational, where he took 21st in 16:04.2 over 5,000 meters. Four days later, Horeni finished 11th at the prestigious Twilight Invitational at Naperville North in 14:59.99, at that point in the year a season best.

“That Michigan meet [in Portage] opened my eyes to different competition from different states and how they run outside of Illinois. It was fun,” Horeni said. “After that we had a stretch of running, ran two races in four days, it was upward from there.”

Horeni took ninth at conference, second at the regional meet and sixth at sectionals, consistently shaving seconds off his times in the low 15s.

Horeni and his coach had a plan for state, before all the weather hit. Once it did, he had to throw it out the window and do what he needed to do.

And indeed, Horeni hit the first mile at state in 4:35, the halfway mark at around 7:10 and the two-mile at 9:30.

“I felt awake the whole time, didn’t feel distracted or falling asleep,” Horeni said. “I definitely felt like I was moving fast the whole time. “I felt great about it, felt good on my legs. I was feeling sore coming into it but I trusted myself to perform.”

That second mile, that midpoint of the race where the legs get wobbly and the mind starts to drift is an area Horeni feels he’s made great strides.

“I had a really big issue of falling asleep or drifting off during the second mile,” he said. “That second mile is where you dog it out. It’s really difficult to keep your head on, struggling to keep your eyes facing forward. That is where I have improved for sure.”

Horeni’s state mark broke the previous record held by the Hoffert twins, Jake and Luke, from a decade ago, legends in Yorkville running circles who went on to run collegiately at Bradley.

“My goal the entire time was our school record,” Horeni said. “Once that little block hit where I wasn’t running well I kind of lost my motivation for that, I thought I’d just finish the season the best I could. Once I saw that time as I was crossing the finish line I was in disbelief.”