Team Spotlight: Rock Falls Cross Country

Rock Falls cross country coach Mark Truesdell talks with
his runners during the first day of practice on August 14.

The runners are out once again at Centennial Park. Cross country season is underway for Rock Falls High School.

August 14 was the official kick-off of the season, with 25 boys and girls gathering near Centennial's Larson Shelter for the first official day of practice.

Running around the park's pond for the duration of the practice session, the kids took in advice and guidance from cross country coach Mark Truesdell – who took to his bicycle to make sure he could meet each runner while they learned the feel of the course.

When it was all over with, newcomers Bailey Smith and Michaela Spreier felt first hand what it was going to take to fit in with a quality program.

“It's different than summer running because there's more people here and you have to push yourself harder,” said Smith, a freshman.

“It's harder than I expected it to be, compared to the summer runs,” said Spreier, a junior. “The competition is harder. There's more people. There's more expectation now that we are in the actual season.”

Despite having separate teams, the boys and girls all practice together. That is how things go in the program, which has seen its girls squad achieve plenty of State Meet success – five State qualifying teams – during the eight years Truesdell and assistant coach Mindy Porter have been in charge.

“I'm looking real forward to training them,” Truesdell said. “Summer is hit-or-miss with the kids because they have a lot of stuff going on. Now that we got them all locked together, we can get an idea of what we have. We got a good mix of young and old.”

Last year, the girls squad placed fourth at the IHSA State Meet at Detweiler Park in Peoria. Katie Anderson led her team with a 32nd place finish at State, and followed not too far behind by Sandra Gomez (58th) and Maklay Velazquez (69th). The trio will look to maintain the success and keep its running pack tight despite losing half of last year's team to graduation.

“Our goal is going to be the top three again,” Gomez said regarding the State Meet. “If we all work real hard during practice and just click during meets, we can reach our goal and perform.”

Needless to say, some of the success rubs off onto the boys in the practice setting.

Goals are high among the Rocket boys, whose team will also look to reload from senior losses.

However, the team has high expectations for Hamblen, who received word from Truesdell on the first day that his pace was already that of typical postseason success.

Pounding the ground on those summer runs with sophomore Seth Williams has helped both runners. Williams racked up about 450 summer miles, with Hamblen running about 200.

“We're pumped,” said Hamblen. “Coach was telling us that we could get in the 15's. That pretty much guarantees us a spot to go to State.”

“He's basically saying that with our talent that we're having right now, and we're pushing each other, me and him are taking the top spots right now,” Williams added. “We're really hoping for State this year.”

Cayden Erickson, a junior, and Kasey Anger, a senior, also return to the Rockets from last year's sectional qualifying team.

“I think this season is going to be very interesting,” Erickson said. “We lost a lot of runners, but we gained a real good one in Brayden. I think he's going to be real good if he's pushing hard. If we push hard together, I think we'll be real good as a team.”

“We got some good runners coming in,” Williams added. “We got some people that left last year, so we got some leftover varsity from last year. Kasey and Cayden are two good runners, and then we're really hoping that our runners that weren't varsity last year that are coming up to varsity now. Hopefully they can step up this year and do better. That's what we're really looking forward to this year.”

The program's first meet of the season is the Rocket Run at Centennial Park on August 27. Eleven meets are on the calendar for this season, in addition to the Big Northern Conference meet at Harvard on Oct. 19. Postseason competition begins on Oct. 26 with regionals.

Of the 11 meets, Williams is looking forward to the Charger Classic hosted by Aurora Central Catholic on Sept. 28.

“I'm looking forward to Aurora,” Williams said. “It's all downhill and is a very fun run. That was my first good meet (last year).”

Gomez is looking forward to the Twin City Meet on September 17 at Hoover Park in Sterling, where the Rockets will race against neighboring rivals Newman and Sterling.

“It's a fun meet and it's real fun to run,” Gomez said.

Four Illinois Sports See Participation Increases

Boys cross country was one of four high school sports in
Illinois to see an increase in the number of participants,
according to the National Federation of High School's
 participation survey.

Whatever the high school sport may be, Illinois has its usual collection of them. Typically, those sports attract the biggest crowds and have the largest number of participants.

The National Federation of High Schools on Monday released data for its 2012-13 high school athletics participation survey. High school athletic participation in Illinois decreased for the second year in a row, falling from 346,896 students in the 2011-12 school year to 339,944. The fall continued from a high of 350,114 students in 2010-11.

All but four sports registered decreases in participation last year. Increasing numbers were boys cross country, girls soccer, boys swimming and diving, and girls track and field.

Participation in boys cross country has increased each year for the past five years. In 2012, 11,319 Illinois high school boys ran cross country, while 10,129 ran in 2008. Two years ago, 10,762 kids ran cross country, marking an increase of 2.76 percent.

Boys swimming and diving saw the largest percentage of increase among high school students in Illinois. In 2012, 6,744 Illinois high school boys participated in swimming and diving programs, an increase from 6,484 from the prior year.

Track and field numbers for girls in Illinois also rose last year. In 2012, 19,283 Illinois high school girls participated in track and field programs, an increase from 19,283 from the prior year.

Girls soccer numbers increased slightly from a year ago, increasing to 16,144 from 16,107 in Illinois.

Participation numbers for girls soccer, boys swimming and diving, and girls track and field were increases last year after decreases from 2010.

Football continues to be the most popular high school sport in Illinois in terms of participation, with 46,889 kids suiting up last year. However, the overall number has decreased in each of the past five years, with 51,334 kids out for the sport in 2008. Volleyball ranks second in terms of participation in Illinois high schools with 22,492 participants, down from 22,329 a year ago.

Among sports in Illinois with over 5,000 participants, boys tennis numbers went down significantly from a year ago. Numbers in boys tennis fell from 7,712 kids in 2011 to 6,670 in 2012.

Illinois ranks fourth in the nation in the number of high school sport participants behind Texas (798,333), California (777,545) and New York (389,475). Ohio is fifth in the nation with 327,919 students, with Pennsylvania (315,492), Michigan (304,438), New Jersey (270,423), Florida (243,397) and Minnesota (230,421) rounding out the top 10.

Of the top 10, only New Jersey had an increase in participants. Thirty of the 51 state high school associations reported increases.