Kankakee Valley High School

Kankakee Valley High School boys' cross country team competed in the IHSAA super-regionals at New Prairie on Saturday, October 25, 2025. As a team, KV placed 16th out of 25 teams. "For the uniformed, 16th may sound fairly meh," explained Coach Adams, "but the super-regional format takes the place of the old semi-state, so the competition is fierce. That said, we placed ahead of LaPorte and Portage, bigger schools, and ahead of South Bend St. Joseph, the winner of our division at the New Prairie Invitational this year." Four of the seven runners fielded by the Kougars ran 30 seconds faster or more than at the Invitational. "Some programs run hot from day one but progress very little over the course of the season. That works for them but is a gamble for injuries. We see teams at this point of the season running slower, whereas we know that our times will drop." Senior Matt Hoffman was the beneficiary of the program's training, running 30 seconds faster and 23 seconds faster than his last two tours of the New Prairie course (2025 invitational and 2024 regional respectively). Hoffman's efforts placed him ninth overall in 15:58 in the field of 246 runners, up from his 14th place finish last year. "Matt has been very patient this year, even when he had some races where his legs were heavy and relatively unresponsive. He knew that in late October he would pass those rivals who previously had finished in front of him." Hoffman was 20th overall by mid-race, waiting for the last 2k of the race, where he passed 11 runners, closing in a blistering 5:04 mile. His qualification makes him the first male KV runner to qualify for back-to-back state meets since 1999. Junior Luke Ehrhardt, who stepped up this season, finished in 84th place (up from 177th in 2024), in a time of 17:31, his second career best time. Senior Owen Sharp, after missing action last week due to illness, mustered a 17:58, with junior Markus Terborg cross the finish line shortly after him in 18:00. Freshman Noah Knoerzer, beneficiary of some missing teammates, stepped in as the Kougar's fifth man, posting a 17 second PR of 18:08. "Noah ran very-focused and determined today, pretty impressive in a race of this caliber, considering that the pressure gets to many runners. He was side-lined by an injury several weeks ago, including the invite, so he was determined to redeem himself and prove what he could do." Knoerzer ran 1:37 faster than his previous time on the course five weeks earlier. Other runners: Garrett Boer, 21:17 (17 second PR); Chase Vander Meer, (21:57).