The future looks bright for the Cats as we return five out of our top 7 runners. The work must continue through the winter to prepare for the upcoming track season. The work done now will better prepare us for Conant and the start of the 2010 Cross Country season.

Regionals - The Cats season came to an end, at the Regional of death. There were 7 teams that belonged in the sectional but only 5 would advance. The Cats gained valuable experience on the wet, muddy and slippery course. The last two weeks have been rought on cross country courses. The Cats were lead by Jordy Arraiga who finished 45th. He was followed by Nick Modlin, Jose Ortiz, Jon Kirby and Tim Crabbe. We finished 8th out of 8 teams with 244 points. This marks the first time in over 15 years that the Cats have not advanced to the sectionals. Our group of underclassmen have vowed not to let that happen again.

MSL Conference Meet @ Busse Woods - The early chill that has visited our area continued on saturday with temps in the 30's to low 40 degrees at race time. The sun did peak out a couple of times. The Frosh-Soph team ran to a solid 6th place finish with 175 points. The Cats were lead by Nick Modlin finishing 11th in 17:10 on the muddy wet course. Nick was followed by Jordy Arriaga -24th (17:31) and Jose Ortiz -26th (17:33) who missed an award by tenths of a second. Next came Frank Montesino - 53rd (18:26) and Eilas Cruz - 85th (19:06) running only his 4th race of the season coming off of injury. The next three Wildcat runners included Dan Jimenez 89th (19:16), Eric Chmiel -90th (19:20) and Terrance Moran- 98th (19:36). In the varsity race, the Cats were missing three seniors because of the flu, which put a significant impact on the team results. The cats were led by junior Jon Kirby in 66th place (18:09), Tim Crabbe -70th (18:24) Mike Chmiel - 77th, Omar Rodriguez -79th, Kevin Ollerer - 81st and Kevin Warner 82nd.

Wildcat Inv. - Wheeling put on a great meet saturday at Heritage Park, on very chilly October morning. Temperatures in the low 40's greated runners as the races got started. The highlights for the Cats included many personal bests and several medal winners. In the Frosh/Soph race Nick Modlin let the charge finishing 7th in 13:59, followed by Jose Ortiz in 14:06 (10th). Frank Montesino was our thrid man in 14:40 (39th), Elias Cruz ran a personal best 15:15 (72nd) he was only running his second race of the season after recovering from injury. Dan Jimenez was our 5th man running a 40 second personal best 15:36. Jordy Arriaga missed the race because of the flu. On the varsity level the Cats were led by Jon Kirby in 77th (17:00), Brian Iwaniuk 17:16 another personal best (88th), Victor Gonzalez 17:24 (96th), Tim Crabbe 17:38 (111th), and Brad Miller 18:48 (140th). The meet had over 1100 finishers with 23 boys teams, and 18 girls teams.

Niles West Inv - The Cats are showing signs of growing up. The young Cats made significant improvements at the Niles West Invitational. The Varsity finished 11th out of 35 full teams in the combined results and 9th in their division.We were led by Sophomore Jordy Arriaga who finished a strong 25th overall running a personal best 16:24. He was followed by Sophmore Jose Ortiz breaking 17:00 for the first time 16:57 finishing 59th, Jon Kirby 17:04 (64th), Sophomore Nick Modlin 17:06 (67th) and including a strong run by Brian Iwaniuk running a personal best 17:24 (91st). Victor Gonzalez finished 101st in 17:33 after bouncing back from some injuries. Tim Crabbe rounding out the top 7 finishing in 17:57 (126th). Many of the underlevel and JV runners made significant drops in times, but one of the more notable was sophomore Frank Montesino who finished 19th overall in the sophomore race in a personal best 17:35, knocking 55 seconds off his personal best.

Dual @ Rolling Meadows - The Cats where able to put a good scare into the Mustangs, but in the end came up just a little short. The Mustangs underestimated what we were capable of, and came out very flat. The Cats had 7 of the top 8 spots at the 800m mark, with a good 10 second cushion. The Mustangs 2nd thru 4th runners had to play catchup for most of the race. The Cats were able to finish with seven runners in front of the Mustangs 5th man, but the Mustangs still pulled off the 27-30 victory. The Cats were lead again by sophomore Jordy Arriaga 2nd - 16:51 (PR). He was followed by sophomore Nick Modlin 4th - 17:05 (PR), Jose Ortiz - 7th 17:25 (PR), Jon Kirby 8th - 17:36, Victor Gonzalez 9th, 17:50, Brian Iwankiuk 10th (17:56) and rounding out the top 7 was Tim Crabbe 11th (18:11).

Forest City Inv. - The cats headed north on saturday to compete in the Rockford Guilford Forest City Invitational. The cats came home with some hardware to for their efforts. The varsity improved upon last years finish placing 2nd behind Rockford Jefferson 52-65. The Cats were lead by Jordy Arriaga (7th-17:15), followed by Jose Ortiz (11th-17:30), Jon Kirby (12th-17:31), Nick Modlin (13th-17:32), Tim Crabbe (22nd-18:03) and Brian Iwaniuk (30th-18:42). The Frosh-Soph finished 4th as a team but had solid efforts from Freshman Terrance Moran (6th-15:06), Frank Montesino (9th-15:26), newcomer Dan Jimenez (25th-16:36), Eric Chmiel (32nd-16:51) and Jordan Quiroz (43rd-18:29). In the open the Cats had several solid performances including the top two spots - Ivan Dovbak (1st-) and Brad Miller (2nd), along with Kevin Ollerer (11th), Kevin Warner (12th) and Walter Djora (18th).

Dual vs. Buffalo Grove -- The Bison were able to run away from the Cats today earning at 15-46 victory. The good news was that the young cats made some significant progress over our three mile course. -- Sophmore Jordy Arriaga broke 17 miutes for the first time ever, finishing 6th in 16:59, followed by teammates Jon Kirby 8th (17:11), and sophomore Nick Modling 9th (17:12). For Jordy it was a 26 second personal best, for Nick it was over 50 second PR. Our 4th man was Jose Ortiz running 17:26 for a 9 second personal best. Our 5th man was Tim Crabbe running a personal best 17:49, bouncing back and having his best race in three weeks.

Lake Park Inv - The morning turned out to be a great day to race at Lake Park HS, with Fog keeping the sun away for the first 4 races and keeping the temps down. The competition was great, and EVERYONE race a personal best or season best. The Cats only ran three Varsity athletes, because of SAT testing. Jon Kirby continued to lead the way (16:50-45th), followed by Victor Gonzalez (17:05-56th) and Brian Iwaniuk (17:46-71st) won ran a personal best by 42 seconds. The F/S team finished 6th out of 17 teams scoring 153 pts only 3 pts out of 5th place. The Cats were lead by Jordy Arriaga running 10:35 and finishing 9th. Jordy was followed by teammates Jose Ortiz (10:58 -19th), Nick Modlin (10:59-20th), Terrance Moran (11:34-49th) and Frank Montesino (11:50-60th). The Lake Park Inv. has continued to improve in competition and the number of teams participating.

Dual @ Elk Grove - The varsity team packed it up and finished 3rd through 9th to beat Elk Grove 25-36. The cats were lead by Jon Kirby and Jordy Arriaga who ran a personal best 17:25 for 3 miles. The frosh-soph pulled out an excited win 27-28. Our numbers continue to grow as we now have 33 on our roster, with over half being underclassman.

Fenton Inv - The boys team competed in the Fenton Invite for the first time saturday. The boys varsity finished 13th out of 16 teams. The varsity was led by Jon Kirby running a personal best of 17:14 for 3 miles. Jon was followed by Tim Crabbe (18:33), Brian Iwaniuk (18:36), Brad Miller (19:13) and Omar Rodriguez (20:51). The Sophomore team started the season out well by finishing in a tie for 3rd place. The cats scored 156 pts and were lead by Jose Ortiz (17:35 - 11th), Jordy Arrraga (17:52-20th), Nick Modlin (18:05-22nd), Gorge Alvarez (20:06-58th) and Frank Montesino (20:27 - 64th). For Gorge and Frank this was their first races of the season and all races at Fenton are 3 miles.

Dual vs. Palatine -- The cats ran their first meet at Heritage Park on a beautiful tuesday afternoon. We had several personal bests to start the season, which is always a positive sign. The squad was split between Frosh-soph and Varsity. There were several underlevel athletes that will work their way up to varsity very soon. Highlights included Jon Kirby running a personal best 17:28 to start the season, Brian Iwaniuk running 18:28, Jose Ortiz 14:59 for 2.5 miles, and Nick Modling 14:36.

The season has begun and we are currently preparing for our first meet. We have had a couple of good workouts so far. We currently have 30 athletes on the roster, which have been seperated into four groups based on ability. Pictures are coming!! The enthusiasm is high, we are in need of a meet to see just how much progress we have made this summer!!

Newcomers are always welcome!! As a reminder, please have your parent permits and physicals completed when you arrive. If you don't have the paperwork, please contact me as soon as possible. All incoming freshman are required to have a physical in order to enter Wheeling HS, so all that you need is a parent permit which I can supply on the first day of practice. All ability levels are welcome!!

The summer is quickly coming to a end. We have a group of young runners who have made a committment to getting better. Many have set their goal for 500 miles this summer. They are well on their way to accomplishing this goal. We have devloped a solid group of 12-15 runners who have been able to committed to running regularly throughout the summer. These young men have made great progress, and are looking forward to the coming CC season. We have had several activites to make the time together a little more fun, including a Scavenger Hunt, Ulitimate Frisbee competitions and a trip up to Kenosha to explore the Foot Locker Course.

There are another 10-15 athletes who have been unable to practice with this group because of summer school, and other family committments. They have been training on their own in preparation for the upcoming season. I strongly encourage each of you to keep track of your mileage or time on a calendar and bring those to the first day of practice. This will help me place you in an appropriate ability group. It's never too late to get started!!!

Attention freshman -- I have been in touch with some incoming freshman, several will be able to start with us on the 12th of August. There are others who may have trouble getting to school because of transportation or other issues. Please communicate with me so that I am aware that you are going to participate, and to allow me to examine if someone on the team currently lives near you and can give you a ride to practice.

Attention new comers and incoming freshman!!. All ability levels are welcome. Track athletes who are not in a fall sport please get involved, we already have 6 sprinters committed to getting stronger and faster by participating in cross country. Everyone runs in every competition, no one is left out.

We will be breaking up the team into at least 3 training groups. Each athlete will be placed in a group based on their ability level and how much training they have accomplished over the summer. For freshman and other newcomers, we start athletes at a low mileage level and build them up based on what they can handle. Too many freshman expect to be sent on an 8 mile run their first day of practice. That does not happen.

Wheeling Cross Country has had a tradition of success for many years. It is our goal to maintain this level of success. We expect our athletes to be dedicated and committed to becoming better athletes, students and members of our community. Success does not come easy, but for those who are willing to put in the time they will reap the benefits of success.

We welcome all comers, incoming freshman have an opportunity to get started and make some friends before the school year begins.

Jorge Torres visits WHS Cross Country -- Jorge Torres, class of 1999, 3-time IHSA Cross Country Champion, NCAA Cross Country Champion and 2008 Olympic Qualifier visited with the boys and girls cross country team on wednesday. The teams enjoyed an inspirational talk by Jorge, and asked many questions of the Olympian.