Titan Boys Runner-Up at State XC Finals
Hodel, Hinthorne, Kingdon deliver strong 1-2-3 punch
[OCTOBER 18, 2025] – The Class 2A Boys State Championship Race was held at Normal’s Maxwell Park under cloudy skies with temperature of 72 degrees. The storms held off until afternoon, but when the starting pistol fired at 11:30am a torrent of wild cheers rushed over the 223 boys who sprinted uphill to begin their 2-mile race. 24 teams were competing.
Individually, Camden Fisher of St. Joseph separated himself from the crowded race early and won by 24 seconds, crossing the finish line in 10 minutes 31 seconds. Springfield Christian’s Jackson Elliott was runner-up, leading his team (105 points) to the State Championship.
Halfway through the race, three squads were still in the running for Team Runner-Up.
The La Grange St. Francis Falcons’ #1 flew through the mile at 5.27, with the Shelbyville Moulton Rams #1 charging past at 5.29. Right on their heels were EPG’s #1 Braylen Hodel and #2 Roman Hinthorne, clocking 5.31 and 5.32. Two seconds later the #2 and #3 Rams were on the attack at 5.34 and 5.35.
Drew Kingdon was running as the #3 Titan at 5.49 but was being closely pursued by the #2 and #3 Falcons at 5.51 and 6.00. La Grange’s #4 came through at 5.56, one second ahead of EPG’s #4 Andrew Quam who clicked off a 5.57.
The Falcons’ #5 was perched just 5 seconds after Quam in 6.02, with Shelbyville’s #4 and #5 running together at 6.03. Hart Zeller followed 6 seconds and 22 places later as EPG’s #5. The team score through five runners a mile into the Championship race was Shelbyville (153), EPG (169), La Grange St. Francis (183).
The race shifted dramatically over the next 800 meters. Despite a net gain passing runners, the Rams added 4 team points. Meanwhile, every Titan scorer picked up some spots, including Hart Zeller who moved up 22 spots as he pulled within 2 seconds of Shelbyville’s #5.
As the lead runners passed the 1.5-mile mark, the Falcons were back in the hunt as their #2, #3, and #4 had picked up 53 places in the previous 3 minutes, resulting in only a 12-point difference between the Titans, Rams, and Falcons. EPG held a tenuous advantage with a half mile left as the score showed EPG (150), Shelbyville (157), and a surging La Grange (162).
Shelbyville held on in the final 800 meters to finish with a team score of 167.
But it was the Falcons who continued their flight to the front in a quest to chase down the Titans.
La Grange’s #1 regained the spot he had lost after the mile to place 8th.
EPG’s Hodel (12th, 11.19) and Hinthorne (13th, 11.24) were locked in and maintained their All-State positions as the Titans’ #1 and #2.
The Falcons’ #2 had glided past the mile in 45th but soared across the finish line in 19th.
EPG’s #3 Kingdon (26th, 11.40) moved up 8 spots during the final mile, missing All-State honors by one place and a scant one-and-a-third seconds. However, he was well ahead of the Falcons’ #3 who placed 61st, giving the Titans a considerable advantage through 3 runners.
Making his own move over the final 400 meters of the race was the Titans’ Quam (58th, 12.10) who picked off the Falcons’ #3 by half a second while also holding off the Falcons’ #4 and #5 who were right behind Quam in 12.12 and 12.14.
With the Falcons’ #5 turning in an outstanding team place of 49 in 12.23, La Grange closed out their team scoring with a total of 157 to overtake Shelbyville by 10 points. EPG’s #5 Zeller needed to finish within 12 seconds for the Titans to edge the Falcons. He was up to the task, closing in 3.05, passing Shelbyville’s #5, and finishing just 4 seconds behind the Falcons’ #5 to secure the runner-up team trophy for EPGMS as they finished the day with a score of 147.
EPG’s #6 Carter Buckley (131st, 12.41) ran a 26-second season best, and sixth grader Tate Harms (147th, 12.50) matched the Titans’ team score with his overall placing, crossing the finish line as the third fastest #7 runner in the entire field of Class 2A State athletes.
The EPG Titan Boys brought home a State Trophy for the second time in three years, propelled by strong races from all seven runners on Saturday. Scores for the Top 5 teams were Springfield Christian (105), EPG (147), La Grange (157), Shelbyville (167), St. Joseph (181).
EPGMS Girls Take 9th at State Finals
All-State runners Emersyn Harms and Holly Nowark lead Titans
[OCTOBER 18, 2025] – The Class 2A Girls State Championship Race was held at Normal’s Maxwell Park on a warm breezy Saturday morning. Temperatures had climbed to about 70 by race time. The skies were cloudy, but the predicted rain appeared to be holding off for the moment. At 10:45am the starter blew his whistle, the crowd quieted to a hushed murmur, and the starting pistol fired. 222 girls responded by charging up the opening hill as the crowd exploded with cheers. The race had begun.
It was a battle between champions up front, as two-time State Champion Molly Mocko (2023 Class 2A, 2024 Class 1A) of Glen Ellyn St. Petronille was locked in a duel with State Champion Hazel Atkins (2024 Class 2A) of Shelbyville Moulton. The pair cruised through mile together in 5.37, but Mocko opened up a 3-second lead as she dashed through the crowd at 1.5 miles. However, it was Atkins coming from behind in the closing stretch to eke out a victory by three-tenths of a second.
Meanwhile, the two top Titans were engaged in a dramatic fight themselves as they were vying for All-State Honors. Emersyn Harms (18th, 12.39) clocked a 6.09 opening mile and had moved into 16th place before dropping 7 spots over the next 800 meters. Holly Nowark (22nd, 12.41) had just broken into the Top 30 at the mile, and proceeded to move up in the field, briefly passing Harms. Both athletes kicked it into high gear and picked up a combined 7 spots over the final 800 meters. Harms had finished 26 seconds behind Tremont’s London Venovich earlier in the season but outkicked her at State to place ahead of her for the second week in a row. Nowark had finished right behind Normal Metcalf’s #2 and #3 runners at Sectionals but turned the tables at Saturday’s Championship by outracing both Wildcats.
Seventh-grader Hattie Meiss (77th, 13.44) ran 13 seconds faster than her 2024 State time, while Haper Hall (136th, 14.22) was also faster than last year as she moved up 21 spots over the final mile. Ryen Glacinski (148th, 14.31) had a strong race as EPG’s #5, running negative splits of 7.17, 7.14 and moving up 32 spots over the second mile. Sixth-grader Lainey Swanson (206th, 16.05) was the final Titan to cross the line.
The Girls Team placed 9th, just behind the Shelbyville (247) squad whose #1 runner was the State Champion. The Titans’ #2, #3, and #5 placed ahead of the Rams’ #2, #3, and #5 which narrowed the gap in team scoring. EPG (263) did place higher than both Dee-Mack (11th, 308) and Elmwood (13th, 351), two teams that had beaten them earlier in the season. In fact, Dee-Mack took down the Titans by a substantial margin at Three Sisters Park and Furrow Farm but the EPG girls defeated the Braves at the last three meets of the season – Delavan, Sectionals, and State.
Our six State runners carried on the tradition of EPGMS Girls Cross Country success as the 10th Titan Girls Team to qualify for State Finals and the 7th Titan Girls Team to earn a Top 10 Team placing.
Titan Teams Take Two Trophies at Opener
EPG Boys edge Peoria St. Jude on tiebreaker
[AUGUST 19, 2025] – Peoria St. Jude hosted an 18-school cross country relay meet at Donovan Park under a warm August sun. The 2025 version of the Hokum Karem race matched the record number of entrants from 2024 to the runner, with 356 athletes competing. Each runner partnered with a teammate as they alternated running 800m loops through the rolling grass trails until the duo had completed a total of 6 loops. The Titans lined up in Box 5, the siren blared, and the Girls Race was underway.
EPG’s Holly Nowark (9.26) opened with a 2.57, passing the baton to teammate Emersyn Harms (9.06) in 4th place. Harms cruised a 2.56 on her opening loop to move up a spot. Nowark’s 3.16 and 3.11 combined with Harms’ 3.10 and 2.59 had the duo climbing up another spot in the standings as the two top Titans placed second of 81 pairs in the Girls Race.
Hattie Meiss (10.17) and Harper Hall (10.30) placed 10th overall, with Molly Wiegand (12.13) and Ryen Glacinski (10.56) closing out the scoring for the Titans with their 31st place finish. Pacey Wherry (12.16) and Lainey Swanson (13.00) placed 46th.
Harms bested Audrey Roth’s (2024) all-time EPG course record of 9:06.7 by 4/10 of a second as she clocked a 9:06.3, while Nowark and Harms combined to take down the all-time pairs mark set by Verity Nowark and Adalyn Solomonson (2023) by a full 60 seconds. Nowark and Harms teamed up for a total time of 18.32 – 3:05.3 per 800m loop.
St. Patrick (28) earned an 11-point team victory, but from 2nd place to 9th place no two teams were separated by more than 5 points. Team scores through 5th were EPG (39), Monmouth (44), St. Jude (46), Elmwood (47).
The 83-degree temperature was holding steady as the Boys Race got off to a hot start, with the St. Jude Fire blazing through the first handoff in 2nd, 5th, and 6th place. The Titan teams handed off after the first 800m loop in 7th, 9th, and 32nd. But the heat would shift dramatically over the next 5 loops.
EPG’s Roman Hinthorne (8.45) and Braylen Hodel (8.34) moved up 5 spots and then Hodel kicked into another gear as he passed a Limestone runner just before entering the finishing chute on his way to chasing down Corpus Christi’s Owen Mucci in a sensational sprint to the finish. Hodel clocked the fastest #6 split of anyone in the race. As he edged Mucci by twelve hundredths of a second the duo of Hinthorne and Hodel secured 2nd overall out of 97 pairs.
Drew Kingdon (8.52) and Carter Buckley (8.58) ran 6 consistent splits to claim some Top 6 hardware, placing 5th overall, each averaging sub-3 on the challenging Donovan course.
Moving from 32nd place after the first leg into 14th place at the finish line were two Titan 6th graders running in their first cross country race ever – Elliott Nowark (9.44) and Hart Zeller (9.07).
Logan Feit (10.12) and Andrew Quam (9.32) placed 24th, Maddox York (10.23) and Dexter White (10.12) placed 38th, Joey Borek (11.05) and Mason Hall (11.14) placed 61st, and Peyton McKinsey (11.59) paired up with Elmwood runner Holden Steffes (13.55) to place 83rd.
The Top 3 pairs determine team scores at this event. After the first 800m loop, Peoria St. Jude was in front of EPGMS 13-48. But as Zeller crossed the finish line as EPG’s third and final scoring pair, the Fire had placed 1-9-11 for 21 points and the Titans had notched places 2-5-14 for 21 points, both teams tied for first 21 points ahead of third-place Princeville (42).
The championship would be decided by which team’s fourth pair had finished higher in the standings. Feit and Quam’s 24th-place 19.43 was 12 seconds faster (2 seconds per loop) than St. Jude’s fourth pair who the Titans passed during Quam’s #6 leg.
It was an exciting and dramatic opening meet for EPGMS Cross Country. Next up for Titan XC is an 8-team meet at Eureka Lake on August 25.
