Above: Jon Davis crosses the line winning the NXN Midwest Regional on November 15 (Ross Dettman Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Congratulations to Jon Davis of Oakwood High School in Fithian as the 2015 DyeStat Illinois Boys XC Runner of the Year.

This was not a hard choice especially with the kind of season that Davis had this fall. He was the most dominant Boys runner in the state this year. He ran 14:10 to win the Richard Spring Invitational ten seconds ahead of Oak Park-River Forest’s Irwin Loud. The following week at the Palatine Invitational, he used a strong kick to win the Boys Varsity race ahead of Hinsdale Central’s Blake Evertsen.

He told us that he wanted to do special things this fall and he did. The week before the state meet at the Decatur St. Teresa Sectional, he ran a fast 14:28 in horrible conditions to win the race. That showed he was ready for state. The following week in the 1A Boys race at the IHSA State Meet, Davis turned in a memorable run. He did not go faster than Craig Virgin’s 13:50.6, but he did dip under 14 minutes running 13:59.3 to win his third straight 1A championship. He joins a handful of Illinois greats of running under 14 minutes.

He had a great post-season winning the NXN Midwest Regional and two weeks later winning the Foot Locker Midwest Regional both using strong kicks to make those wins happen. He ran in both national meets finishing 22^nd at the Nike Cross Nationals. The following week at the Foot Locker Nationals, he finished 14^th earning All-American honors. I can’t wait to see what he does in 2016 before he heads off to the University of Illinois.

Other runners that should be acknowledged include Jack Aho of Grayslake Central, Matt Pereira of Lake Zurich, Kevin Salvano of Buffalo Grove, Charlie Kern Jr. of York, Sean Torpy of Sandburg, Blake Evertsen of Hinsdale Central, and Irwin Loud of Oak Park-River Forest.