For the first time in the history of Westview Hills Middle School and Maercker School District 60, the Wildcats are the State Champions in cross country! It took some incredible coaching, unbelievable dedication, and some super talented and motivated middle school boys, but it all came together in the 2024 season.
The school has qualified for state in boys cross country for the past 11 years and the competition continues to get tougher as more schools join IESA. The season had plenty of signs that it was going to be one to remember. The team was undefeated, winning meet after meet including the conference and sectional meets. With more than 50 runners participating in the program, the top ten runners were chosen to represent the team at the state meet.
“These boys earned their spots based on their performances in races and practices,” said Coach and Westview HIlls Art Teacher Josh Vance. “I think the parents of our runners have realized our program is special and because of that, some of those same parents have recommended to other families to have their athletes join our team.”
Last year, the team took fifth place at the state tournament, just outside of the top four who take home trophies. They used that as motivation to train harder, work on their leadership skills and push themselves.
There is a lot of additional pressure that comes with a winning season and the boys handled it exceptionally well. They found ways to encourage each other, serve as leaders, and come together as a team. By the time the state meet came around, they were ready. In a race of 222 runners and 24 teams, the Wildcats finished in first narrowly winning by one point, which the boys would tell you was “a big point.”
“We have built a culture on our team where our eighth graders mentor the younger runners and prepare them to lead the following year,” said Vance. “I have known the strength of our program for years but it was definitely rewarding to win with this group. They were talented, but their focus and teamwork for a middle school team definitely set them apart.”
We caught up with the state champion Wildcats to talk about their season and how they are feeling. We talked to eighth graders Santiago, Mesfin, Braden, Jesus, Kasper, Jack, and Ryder as well as seventh graders Yebby, Isaac, Theo, and Emmet during their lunch periods.
Maercker D60: Congratulations on your huge accomplishment and incredible season! How does it feel?
Theo: It feels good! We never thought we would be part of a team that won state.
Braden: All our hard work paid off. A lot of us have been doing this all three years and it felt great to win the whole thing. It is proof that hard work pays off and that you can accomplish anything as long as you have a good work ethic.
Yebby: It feels good to win because no one else in the history of the school has won a state championship in cross country.
Emmet: We’re the best!
Isaac: We are the first to be state champions!
Jesus: We couldn’t do it without our coach, he really really helped us a lot. He is the reason we want to try, he’s been going to state for 11 years and we finally got it.
Jack: He motivated us to be our best!
Maercker D60: How did you get started in running cross country?
Mesfin: I joined cross country because it looked like a lot of fun.
Santiago: The team always went to state so I wanted to join!
Kasper: The program is really good and I got started right away in sixth grade. We work really hard together and have fun.
Jesus: I joined at first just to stay fit for other sports but it became much more of a focus.
Jack: I do other sports too but I focused on cross country a lot more after we started getting tighter as a team.
Emmet: I joined because my parents made me do it because my brother is on the team and really liked it.
Yebby and Isaac: Yep. Because of our brothers!
Maercker D60: What is your training and preparation for races like?
Santiago: We all trained over the summer and got together for runs.
Mesfin: Having a positive mindset is a big thing. Running long distances is like 80% mental, you have to be able to think to yourself “it’s not going to hurt in 11 minutes.”
Braden: We push each other and our coach also pushes us. If something hurts, he cares and lets it take it easy, if we have a bad race, he is still really positive.
Ryder: We all put the work in. We all have a job to do.
Theo: I felt like I was much more a part of our success this season. I improved more than a minute from my 6th grade time. I ran the summer cross country camp at DGN and felt more confident once the season started after learning cross country the year before.
Mesfin: We have almost 60 kids on the team and Coach Vance really cares about all of us.
Yebby: The days before a big meet, we do workouts and we all worked out over the summer to try to get mentally ready.
Emmet: If there’s a meet coming up we go a little easier so our legs aren’t too tired. We run in groups so we can keep the pace and push each other.
Coach Vance: They were running during the hot summer days, and practicing in both rain and wind so they were ready for any weather. Remembering to hydrate during the school day and knowing when to eat a snack became part of their routine on race days. It becomes so normal for them they don’t realize how tough they are mentally.
Maercker D60: What was that last race like and how has it been now that you are state champions?
Theo: It was fun to watch our team compete against the other competitive teams. Seeing how hard the 8th graders worked this season, I feel like I now know what type of work I will have to put in for next season.
Braden: We are winning as a team and losing as a team. We were losing at the mile mark but we all did our jobs.
Mesfin: We didn’t think we were going to win state right at the beginning of the season, but every race was another step. Coach Vance tells us our jobs every meet and we just had to execute our jobs. We wanted to win for our coach.
Yebby: I base my pace off the person ahead of me, I want to see him and be close and if I’m not I go faster while I also try to set the pace for the person behind me.
Kasper: If you see your teammate moving up, you move up too.
Emmet: By the end of the race, I always want to finish ahead of the fastest runners. In the last stretch, all you can hear is people yelling so it’s a lot of pressure.
Isaac: I try to sprint as fast as I can in the last 500 meters.
Jesus: Each runner is a point so you know where you stand. It felt important to us because we could do something big and have people look up to us.
Braden: You really have to work on your leadership skills on a team like this and set a good example. We had some awesome runners this year and we really had an edge.
Ryder: After we won, we got escorted home by firetrucks and police cars, it was really cool!
Yebby: We were escorted by the fire department and you can feel the energy as we walked around the school. As seventh graders, we want to win again! We will push each other and take part in track and running camps to get ready for next year’s meets.
Mesfin: We walked around the school with all of the teachers, we will get a banner dedicated to us, it’s cool!
Thanks to the team for talking with us and congratulations again!
We also wanted to give Coach Vance a place to reflect further on the season:
There are different types of leaders on a team this big. We have runners who have stepped up to give the speeches and be vocal, we have a couple guys who organize a run with teammates on a day off, and others who help by leading our stretches. Some lead by example, some mentor the younger runners, and some are along for the ride learning a new sport. Each year it’s amazing to see who comes in motivated and surpasses expectations.
This year the improvement of Yebby, Emmett, and Jesus was staggering. If they are being honest, I don’t even think they thought they would run so fast! We knew Santi would be a different runner this season after his exceptional track season, but handling the pressure of being number one and having to lead every race should not be overlooked. Mesfin might have been our most consistent runner this year and maybe our most motivated. Braden was the vocal leader this group needed and one of our hardest workers. Kasper continued to battle through ups and downs and was part of this group of friends that made this team special.
This team had an incredible amount of depth. Our #15 runner this year would be in a lot of other teams' top 7. Being at meets and hearing parents comment about all the yellow jerseys at the front of the race never gets old! My job as their coach is to help them reach their goals and give them honest feedback throughout the season.
My runners have heard me tell them that I love running because hard work is rewarded. Some sports you can have a lucky game, make a lucky shot, but it’s very difficult to get lucky and run an amazing two mile race without putting in some serious work. We have really focused on the mental aspect of running these past couple seasons. I have taught them how to score cross country races and we have stressed pacing and finishing our races all the way. Although it was nerve wracking, it felt very appropriate that our first state championship came down to one point with every runner sprinting to the end not letting anyone pass them right at the finish line. Their parents, teammates, coaches, and school are incredibly proud of this group and were lucky to go on this run with you!