Dixon boys cross country wins Big Northern Conference meet

ROCKFORD — The Big Northern Conference cross country meets went according to seeding, with Dixon winning the boys and Winnebago the girls races. That’s usually been the case for the last decade or so.

“Since coming in to conference, we’ve never finished less than second,” Dixon coach Simon Thorpe said.

Led by third-place finisher, Aaron Conderman, the Dukes had 37 points. Winnebago was a distant second with 67, followed by Rockford Christian, 75 and Rock Falls 79.

Undefeated Nicolai Martino of Winnebago was individual champ with a 14:02 time on the smaller than regulation course at Fuller Forest Preserve. Conderman was clocked at 14:08.

“My plan was to stick with him and try to out kick him at the end,” Conderman said.

The Dixon senior hopes for a return trip downstate where he took 18th. He also has his eyes on Thorpe’s school record of 14:54 (3 miles). It could be a big day at Peoria for the highly rated 2A team, with a trophy not out of the question.

Maverick Wiseman (5th), Dean Geiger (6th), Keegan Shirley (10th) and Westin Conatser (13th) were the other Dixon scorers.

Rock Falls got a ninth from Gabe Moyer and 12th from Gunnar Damhoff.

“The boys are starting to jell,” Rock Falls coach Mark Truesdell said. “Realistically, they have chance to make state. It’s a tight [2A] sectional with us on the border. I could see us finishing anywhere from fifth to 12th.”

In the girls race, Ariel Hernandez of Rock Falls was second with a time of 17:18. Abi Baumann of Rockford Lutheran won at 17:00.

“Coming off tendinitis, this was my strongest race of the year,” Hernandez said.

Kat Scott had a 17:59, good for seventh, helping the Rockets to fourth place as a team with 97 points. Winnebago had 38, with Byron and Dixon tied at 77. On the sixth place tiebreaker, Byron was awarded second.

Kamryn Rogers (17:40) and Daniela Lovett (18:09), were fourth and ninth for Dixon.

“It was a very satisfying race,” Rogers said. “I really hoped to make state.”

Oregon’s boys were eighth, led by a 39th-place finish by Daniel Gonzalez (17:05.78). Freshman Jillian Hammer (19:24.47) took 17th for the Oregon girls, which placed seventh as a team. Ella Dannhorn (19:48.22) took 24th for the Hawks.