Tiger Preview: Cross Country

As summer begins to fade and fall comes ever closer, the Urbana cross country team looks to make the jump onto the state stage this season. After months of training this summer, the Tigers seem ready to make big strides.

Coach Zach Boehmke has high hopes for the season. “We know this is the 50th year since we have made it to state, we have as good of a team as we’ve had in a long time,” he said.

Boehmke believes this could be the team to break the streak. The team is led by star senior Sam Lambert with a supporting cast of senior Park Mitchell and junior Julio Angrave. If Urbana is able to make it to state this year, it will be because of these 3 runners.

On the girls’ side, it will be exciting to see the return of star athlete Celia Barbieri, who did not participate last year. With her back in the lineup for her senior year, the Tigers could make some noise. Sophomore Abby Fairbanks continues to make substantial improvements and should challenge Barbieri for the top spot.

Potential Break Out Runners

Boys: There are a lot of potential breakout performers here, headlined by sophomores Brian Allison, Michael Allison, and Hudson Coady. Coach Boehmke seems particularly interested to see how Coady will perform after a solid summer training.

Girls: Fairbanks looks like she is primed to improve even more after her impressive track season. Also, keep an eye out for freshman Rachel Lyubansky and sophomore Noam Kramer.

Top 5 Meets To Attend

Sectionals (10/30/21, Location TBA): This is the meet the Tigers are training for. A top 7 finish here would net the boys’ team a state appearance for the first time this century.
Regionals (10/23/21, Location TBA): Before you can get to sectionals you must get through regionals. It seems likely the Urbana boys will be able to get past this stage, but with only 5 teams qualifying for the next round, anything can happen. For the girls it will certainly be a more difficult task, but if things break the right way they could also be headed to the sectional round.
State (11/06/21, Detweiller Park, Peoria): You may be surprised to see this down here but this meet is like icing on the cake. The stress of breaking the 50-year drought will be gone and the Tigers can run loose and fast.
Richard Springs (9/18/21, Detweiller Park, Peoria): For both boys and girls this will be the first major meet of the season. Potential rivaling the size of State, this meet will feature competition across all the divisions.
Big 12 Conference (10/16/21, Detweiller Park, Peoria): The boys should be looking to be up top and potentially grab the win. The girls may be sitting in the middle of the pack, but if a couple of runners can have their best day the Tigers may be able to steal a top 5 finish.