Skip To Main Content

Northridge Athletics

Northridge Athletics
Calendar
XC champs 2

Cross Country

Knights cross country makes history, wins IHSA 1A State title

NILES, Illinois — The Northridge cross country team closed out a historic 2024 season Saturday morning by winning the first IHSA state championship in program history. The state title makes cross country the first program to win a state championship since Northridge opened its doors in 1976.

With a low score of 126, the Knights ran away from the field with the state title, beating out 2nd place finisher Elmwood (156) and 3rd place finisher Eureka (165). Fourth place finisher Rockford Christian scored 201 on the day.

On another tough course in Peoria, the Knights' championship effort was paced by sophomore John Masaka, who finished 13th overall with a time of 15:07.5. Close behind was junior Peter Kipp, who placed 16th (15:12.0). Senior James Barder came through with a strong top-50 finish, placing 49th with a time of 15:40.8. Rounding out the Knights top-5 runners were sophomore Blake Quinley (15:43.4) and junior Ryan Holler (15:46.2), who placed 53rd and 56th, respectively. Sophomore Joshua Allen finished 0.1 behind his teammate Holler to claim 57th place. The Knights total scores separated them from the rest of the field by a whopping 30 points.

Masaka's time of 15:07.5 makes it the fastest finish ever for a Northridge runner down state. Similarly, Kipp's performance on Saturday places him 2nd all-time for a Knights' finish in Peoria.

Head coach Julian Murphy couldn't have been more proud of his team's performance.

"Going into the race, I had given the boys a specific time to beat for the first mile, and then the second mile. After the first mile we were in third place and after the second mile we had jumped into second place. In the end, our guys pulled through in the last mile and now we're state champions."

"For me, I'm just thankful that our guys were rewarded for all of their hard work," Murphy continued. "Every one of our guys ran their personal best. I'm really, really happy and proud of them."

Knights athletic director Will Rey was thrilled with the historic accomplishment, and had this to say on the record-shattering season:

"This is an incredible accomplishment for our team, our coaches and our community. It's the culmination of years of hard work by scores of runners and our three outstanding coaches: John Kestler, Mike Egle, and now, Julian Murphy. Congratulations to our team this year on their perseverance, their unity as a team and their commitment to excellence. It's a great time to be a Knight!"

Rey added: "A special word of acknowledgement to our lone senior and team leader, James Barder. He hung in there with some challenging injuries but pushed through to lead us to this moment."

After finishing in fourth place last season, the Knights returned to Peoria with a vengeance following last weekend's 2nd place finish in the Lisle IHSA sectional meet. Now, Northridge will return to Niles with the state championship trophy.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Joshua Allen

Joshua Allen

Sophomore
James Barder

James Barder

Senior
Ryan Holler

Ryan Holler

Junior
Peter Kipp

Peter Kipp

Junior
John Masaka

John Masaka

Sophomore
Blake Quinley

Blake Quinley

Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Joshua Allen

Joshua Allen

Sophomore
James Barder

James Barder

Senior
Ryan Holler

Ryan Holler

Junior
Peter Kipp

Peter Kipp

Junior
John Masaka

John Masaka

Sophomore
Blake Quinley

Blake Quinley

Sophomore

Scoreboard