On Saturday in Peoria, the Fenwick Boys’ Cross Country (XC) Team made history by becoming the first Chicago Catholic League high school in history to win a XC state title!
The Fenwick Boys’ Cross Country Team made Illinois High School Association (IHSA) history on November 6. “Ours is the first CCL [Chicago Catholic League] team to ever win a state championship in cross country,” Fenwick Athletic Director Scott Thies ’99 proudly reports. “A HUGE congratulations to Head Coach Dave Rill and assistants Gus Coronado, Brixton Rill and Dan Wnek!”
A breakdown of how the Friars ran and placed:
Grayden Rill 8th place 15:06.34
Nate Mckillop 20th place 15:17.35
Dean O’Bryan 33rd place 15:37.33
Zac Daley 43rd place 15:44.54
Lee O’Bryan 87th place 16:05.68
Carl Lukas 123rd place 16:21.04
Christian Kline 205th place 17:07.96
Grayden Rill ’23 (Chicago), who has been the team’s steady leader all season, and Nate Mckillop ’24 (Elmhurst, IL) earned All-State honors for their performances. But it was sophomore Dean O’Bryan (La Grange, IL) who really raised some eyebrows this past Saturday in Peoria by running at personal-record pace, beating his own best time by a whopping 40 seconds! “Dean might have won it [the title] for us,” proclaims Head Coach Dave Rill ’87. “He was consistently our sixth-place runner all year, then comes in third [33rd overall] at state!”
“It is extra special for me,” adds Coach Rill, who was an All-American while at Fenwick, because two of his sons are part of the team. “I’ve been able to coach Brixton [Class of 2014], who now is an assistant coach, and now Grayden. I cannot tell you how proud I am of these guys. We went from being last place at the last state meet to first. We believe this is only the second time that has been done.”