By Randy Whalen

Maddie King expects to do great things in cross country this season after going to the Illinois High School Association Class 3A Track and Field State Finals this past spring.

The Joliet Central junior is off to a great start. 

King finished first in the season's first two races, including a dominating performance in her first official one. That was the Sue Kramer Cross Country Invitational, which was held on Saturday, Aug 31 at Andrew High School. 

There King finished first in a time of 19:00 minutes .92 seconds. Andrew junior Natalie Orbon (20:35.30) was second and helped the Thunderbolts (40 points) to the team championship. Romeoville senior Sophia Flowers (21:01.80) placed third.

So to put it in perspective, if King ran two minutes slower, she still would have taken second place. 

"I know I'm going to state," King said of this season's Cross Country State Finals, which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Detweiller Park in Peoria. "Plus, as a team, I think we can get to the sectional."

Since it was the first official meet of the season, Joliet Central didn't have its full team at the Sue Kramer Invite. So the Steelmen didn't factor in the team standings. But they had some other good runs by senior Dianna Mascote (15th, 23:12.13), senior Valeria Damian (35th, 26:18.53), and junior Evelin Jimenez (52nd, 32:56.45). 

Last season, King was 10th (18:41.38) in the Plainfield Central Regional race. But the Steelmen were also 10th in the team standings, missing out on the Top Six and an advancement to the sectional. 

They will look to be better this season and that all started on Thursday, August 29 as Joliet Central and Joliet West combined for a community cross country event at Joliet Junior College. 

The kickoff event, which was held last year at Joliet West, featured short races for local grade schools Troy, Gompers, and St. Raymond’s were there, with the junior high students running a pair of races. One was .75 of a mile and the other one was 1.5 miles long. It was moved to JJC this season because of construction at Joliet West but went over very well with the community.

The high school race followed. But, although times were kept, it wasn't an official race. It was half the usual distance as it was just 1.5 miles. Plus, while Joliet West had both boys and girls teams there, only the Joliet Central girls ran. The Steelmen boys participated in Providence Catholic Celtic Conditioner, along with Joliet Catholic Academy, Marian Catholic, and the host school, the day before. 

But King, who was eating grapes given to her by Joliet Central biology teacher Karen Blunk afterward, was the winner of the girls' race in a time of 8:58.4.

"I'm really happy with the way I ran and the course," King said. "I liked the hill that was there. It's our first race and only one and a half miles. But it helped some of the girls know what a race is since it was their first time."

In track season this past spring, King made it to state by placing third and making the qualifying time in the 800-meter run on Wednesday, May 8, in the Class 3A Minooka Sectional. She ran an 18:15.48 time but didn't make it out of the Granite City Sectional Sectional last fall. 

"I've been working out, working a lot at staying active, and eating healthy," King said of what would be the difference this season. "All the girls really want to run. They love running and everyone is really good and really close."

While the Steelmen boys weren't at the JJC event, they are looking for improvement under veteran coach Doug Cherry. 

The top finishers on Wednesday, August 28 at the Celtic Conditioner were Nathaniel Gabriel (16:46), Erick Ortiz (18:47), Diego Santos (19:10), Emmanuel Ramos (19:41), Braiden White (19:59), Jaydin Anderson (20:07), Jonathan Montesinos (22:12), Ronaldo Sarabia (21:28), Ronald Kipkiyeny (22:04), Adam Munoz (23:22), Matt Stukel (26:05), Kounsavanh Phethmany (28:11), Jake Sanchez (28:26), Eduardo Morales (28:40), and Braydon Hocking (29:11).

"This is year 36 for me at Joliet Central/Joliet Township," Cherry said. "Nathaniel Gabriel, a sophomore, is looking good in early workouts. Nathaniel was a track state qualifier in the 800 (with a PR time of 1:58.14) last spring. Juniors Erick Ortiz and Diego Santos are returning varsity runners. Senior Jonathan Montesinos is providing good leadership.

"Plus, junior Jaydin Anderson, sophomore Emmanuel Ramos, and freshman Braiden White will contribute. We are obviously a young team. Our No. 1 goal is to gain experience as a team and look to become more competitive as the season progresses. We have some work to do, but we will get better!"