Downers Grove North sweeps West Suburban Silver cross country titles – the girls’ first since 1997

ELMHURST – Senior Alayna Todnem and her Downers Grove North girls cross country teammates took great running back to the 20th century Saturday.

With five finishers among the top eight, the Trojans became West Suburban Conference Silver Division champions for the first time since 1997 by winning the Silver Meet at Berens Park in Elmhurst.

”It for sure was motivation. We weren’t able to achieve our race strategy last year and I think we did (Saturday),” Todnem said. “I think it was one of the things we needed to know we can perform well in the later races.”

York freshman Karlin Janowski (17:22.6) won the 2.99-mile race by 22.5 seconds. She’s the first York girls conference champion as a freshman since Mary Beth Driscoll in 1983.

”I’m proud of my teammates. I’m pretty proud of myself and glad I’m able to run for York. I think there’s no other school I would want to run for,” Janowski said.

In the boys race, defending 3A state champion Downers North had junior champion Philip Cupial (14:38.4) and seniors Grant Schroder (14:39.6) and Will Surratt (14:55.0) execute an impressive 1-2-3 finish to comfortably win a second straight Silver title with 26 points. Seniors Brady Travers and John Courtney also were ninth and 11th for top-16 all-conference honors.

Downers North has been ranked No. 1 by all three cross country websites (ILXCTF, ILMileSplit and IllinoisRunningNews) since the pre-season. Cupial was second at the 2023 Silver Meet to graduated Adan Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central, the individual state champion the past two seasons.

”Last year, that was not a great race. I wasn’t able to get Aden at the final straightaway,” Cupial said. “Just giving it my all, especially having a 1-2-3 finish, it means a lot to me and I’m really grateful for this opportunity.”

The 2023 Downers North girls were second in Class 3A, but York is the defending state champion and won the previous three Silver titles.

Three other teams also are state-ranked. Downers North prevailed 22-41 over York Saturday, followed by Glenbard West (95), Hinsdale Central (109), Oak Park-River Forest (111) and unranked Lyons Township (142).

Junior Lily Eddington (17:45.1), Todnem (17:45.6) and seniors Audrey Casten (17:47.8) and Kenzie Willard (17:50.8) were second through fifth. Senior Ava Gilley was eighth.Downers North and York again are state title contenders. At the 2023 Silver Meet, York dominated Downers North 18-47 after Casten and Willard were injured during Naperville North’s Twilight Invite 10 days earlier.

”(Saturday) really ties back how to we performed last year, which was not how we wanted,” Eddington said. “This is just a stepping stone for the bigger goals we have.”

This also was the first Silver title for Downers North head coach Tim McDonald since taking over in 2001.

Saturday’s race determined the Silver champion. The 2010 Trojans won the Silver Meet but dual results then were a 50-50 part of the overall standings. With two dual losses, the Trojans tied for second overall.

”I got up this morning and thought if we don’t do it today, maybe it’s just not in the cards (for me) because this is about as good of a group as I’m going to see,” McDonald said. ”To go 2-3-4-5-8, that’s a strong performance in this conference no matter what. (And) York’s a great team.”

The Dukes’ Sophia Galiano-Sanchez (6th), Sofia Stoddard (10th), Maggie Quinn (11th), Scarlett Moriarty (13th) and Julia Weseloh (15th) also were all-conference. Janowski should be a state title contender.

”(The postseason) will be a lot more pressure than normal invites and probably even conference but pressure, that’s a good thing sometimes. It makes me race better,” Janowski said.

The Downers North boys beat their 2023 winning score of 37. Lyons Township (56), York (58), Glenbard West (116), OPRF (123) and Hinsdale Central (129) were second through sixth. Cupial and Schroder also finished 1-2 at the Twilight Invite Oct. 10.

”This season has been unreal, seeing how good we’re doing as a team, let alone me and Phil,” Schroder said. “Our whole team has been doing far above expectations.”

Other girls all-conference runners were Glenbard West’s Alexa Novak (7th), Shayne Dietzen (9th) and Lauren Bennett (16th), Hinsdale Central’s Ella Satre (12th) and Lyons Township’s Mya Coglianese (14th).

Other boys all-conference runners were Lyons Township’s Ben Wuggazer (5th), John O’Halloran (6th), Tate Pavelka (12th) and Tyler Gantt (16th), York’s Patrick McGrail (7th), Carter Olsen (8th), Emmett Bradford (10th), and Zachary Saltiel (13th), Glenbard West’s Graham Faris (14th) and Hinsdale Central’s Michael Gamboa (15th).