Morris girls excited for first trip to state cross country meet

MORRIS – It was a few hours later than expected, but the Morris girls cross country team qualified for the IHSA Class 2A state meet Saturday by finishing seventh at the Metamora Sectional at Black Partridge Park, becoming the first Morris group to qualify for the state meet at Peoria’s Detweiler Park as a team. Because of the wet weather early in the day, the start of the race was moved back, and the course was still a muddy quagmire.

Not only did the girls team of juniors Joy Dudley and Moriah Mayberry, sophomore Abby Hougas and freshmen Mackensi Martin, Dani Martin, Joy Bertram and Leah Ortiz qualify for the state meet as a team, but boys runners Matt Clark, a senior, and Kaden Welch, a junior, finished in the top 10 and qualified as individuals.

“Any successful team has to deal with adversity,” Morris coach Joe Blumberg said. “Everyone ran in the same conditions, but the way our girls and guys dealt with not only the conditions, but the long delay and having to sit and wait so long when they were already anxious to get going, was something special.”

The Morris girls team will return everyone next year, and they are hoping to gain a wealth of invaluable experience at the state meet.

“I qualified for state as an individual last year, but there wasn’t a state race due to COVID,” Dudley said. “And I qualified for state in track. Still, I am excited to get to run in the state meet. We ran at Detweiler Park last year in sectionals, so I know the course.

“I knew we would have a pretty good team this year because there were all these talented freshmen coming in. My goal when I get there is to try to get my personal record and just gain the experience.”

“I am so excited to be going to state,” Mayberry said. “It’s going to be such a great experience. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs with some injuries, but we have been able to push through.

“To be the first team in school history to make it to state feels really good.”

For Blumberg, the joy is in seeing the results of a lot of hard work.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” he said. “As a coach, when you can get athletes to compete hard for each other, that’s as good as it gets. And the girls ran that way – for each other.”

On the boys side, Clark and Welch have been training together since the end of last year’s cross country season. They competed in track together in the spring and ran together during the summer.

“I would say we ran about 30-40 miles a week,” Clark said. “I almost qualified for state in track last year, so the goal in cross country was to qualify for state. We put in a lot of time during the offseason, but qualifying makes it all worth it.”

Welch qualified for the state track meet last year in the 1600-meter run and split his time this fall between the cross country and soccer teams.

“I have heard that it’s even louder at state cross country,” he said. “I am excited to be able to get down there. Matt and I trained together a lot and we push each other.”

Clark said his goal at the state meet will be to try to break the school record.

Welch’s goal? “Try to keep up with Matt,” he said.

“Cross country is a fall sport that is run in the summer,” Blumberg said. “Matt and Kaden put in the 7 a.m. runs in the summer and, really, from March until now, competing in track and running the summer. They use each other to improve and really feed off each other.”

While they are going to Peoria to compete, Blumberg wants his runners to enjoy the experience, as well.

“We are going down Friday,” he said. “I want the kids to absorb every bit of it. We know it’s a business trip, but I want to balance that out and for them to have fun. I want them to feel special and important, because they are very special and important to this program.”