Plainfield South Boys Cross County Team Clinches 1st State Title

PLAINFIELD, IL — The Plainfield South High School boys' Cross cross country team can now call itself a state champion.

For the first time in program history, the team clinched the Illinois High School Association Class 3A state championship title Nov. 5. Coach Jason Crowe led the team, which works almost every day year-round, to its victory.

Student-athletes praised their coach, calling him a mentor on and off the field.

"I wouldn’t trade him for any other coach in the world," sophomore Dylan Maloney said.

Championship teammate senior BJ Sorg echoed Maloney's sentiments and said Crowe leads by example, which includes running along with his team during practice.

"Coach Crowe will say 'It's the us, it's not the me,'" Sorg said. "We wanted to give [the state title] to Coach. In the back of our minds, we wanted to do it for Coach."

Sorg said Crowe teaches the team to set goals and stay positive in order to reach them.

"Coach brings a lot of emotion and everything he preaches makes the guys buy into what he's saying," he added.

Crowe was named the 2022 Class 3A Coach of the Year by the 2022 Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association earlier this month. He also won Coach of the Year in 2012.

He will be joined by his assistant coach, Ryan Thompsen, in accepting the 2022 award on Jan. 6, according to district officials, who said Crowe "shrugs off" the accomplishments onto the team and Thompsen.

"I was happy and excited for these guys, their work ethic is tremendous," he said in a statement.