Philip Cupial Holds Off Carson Driemeier In Close Boys Finish; Columbus Thorn Wins Boys Team Title

By David Woods for DyeStat

Bobby Goddin Photos

RESULTS/VIDEOS

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – One year ago, Natasza Dudek said, she was shocked by how fast girls started in the NXR Midwest Regional race. On Sunday, she was the one who shocked everyone by how fast she finished.

Dudek, representing Purple Track Club, smashed the course record and led her team to the Midwest championship on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course.

For perspective, consider Dudek ran 32 seconds faster than Jane Hedengren did on this course in October 2024. Hedengren was a landslide 2025 high school track athlete of the year, and, as a BYU freshman, is favored to win an NCAA title on Saturday.

Dudek, ranked No. 2 nationally by DyeStat, affirmed she is a contender to win in the nationals Dec. 6 at Portland, Ore.

“That would be amazing,” said Dudek, a sophomore at Ann Arbor Pioneer MI. “I know all the other girls are extremely fast, extremely good.”

Her time was 16 minutes, 18.5 seconds. She expanded a two-second lead at 2,000 meters to 35 seconds by the end of 5,000.

Temperatures were in the 50s and footing firm, although a 10 mph wind perhaps slowed times.

Previous course record was 16:31.1 by Rachel Forsyth, also of Ann Arbor Pioneer, in 2023.

Michigan girls now claim four of the top five spots on the course’s all-time list: Dudek, Forsyth, Helen Sachs 16:47.9 in 2022, Zofia Dudek 16:49.3 in 2019.

Zofia, older sister of Natasza, was a NXR Midwest champion and 2019 Foot Locker national champion. Natasza had broken Forsyth’s Division 1 state record by 19 seconds.

Legacy Running’s Emma Hoffman, of Otsego MI, was second in 16:54.1. Behind her were the 1-2-3 finishers from Illinois’ Class 1A (small-school) state meet: Sunny Weber of Sandwich, Isabella Keller of Effingham St. Anthony, Kyla Babb of Westmont.

Hoffman led through a 5:09.3 first mile that was slightly downhill and was close behind Dudek at 2K. Hoffman expended so much effort that she lied on her back for several moments past the finish line.

“It’s definitely hard to be like, ‘ OK, I’ve just got to let her go,’ “ Hoffman said. “I went out a little bit hotter than I should have the first mile. That’s why I got a little tired at the end.

“It’s really good to be pushed by those girls because that’s what nationals is going to be like.”

Dudek, eighth here last year, increased her lead by nearly nine seconds during the third kilometer.

“I wanted to go out with the girls in the front, find my position,” she said. “I just trusted my gut and saw how I felt, and decided to push when I can.”

Top two teams and five individuals not on those teams automatically advance to nationals.

Thus sixth-place Katie Berkshire, second to Hoffman in Michigan’s Division 2 state final, qualified as an individual.

Team standings were as close as in Michigan’s Division 1 state meet. No. 6 Purple Track Club, which won state by seven points, won NXR Midwest 131-137 over No. 13 Runners High (Romeo).

“A great bunch of girls. They perform really well together,” said Purple TC coach Ian Forsyth, father of Rachel and the team's seventh runner, Laura, a freshman.

The team’s goal was to be in position by the mile, he said, because positions change little thereafter. Purple TC led 178-179 over Prospect Running Club (Mt. Prospect IL) at the mile.

Third and fourth were a reversal of Indiana’s state meet, with Cadet Distance Project (Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran) scoring 173 points and No. 8 Lemrac (Carmel) 175. State champion Carmel had led Midwest rankings most of the season. Cadet Distance Project ran without 2024 state champion Mallory Weller, who missed the state meet with a calf injury.

Prospect was fifth with 190. Illinois' streak of qualifying for each of the past 15 NXNs came to an end.

NXR Midwest Boys

Illinois champ Cupial wins in kick; Indiana champs dominate with depth

Let a1:50 800-meter runner like Philip Cupial stay at the front until the finish, and, well, what did you think was going to happen?

The Downers Grove North IL senior needed all of that speed to hold off Carson Driemeier in a duel between Illinois and Missouri state champions.

Cupial finished in 14:41.4, Driemeier in 14:42.0. They climbed to Nos. 5 and 7 on the course's all-time list.

Right behind them was Kamari Ronfeldt of Purple TC in 14:43.4.

Cupial had won Illinois’ 3A title with a 14:03 three-mile but did not consider himself a favorite. He “just really pushed myself to my max limits,” he said.

“I knew I had one of the strongest kicks in the field, so I really wanted to use that. I might not be one of the most aerobic athletes here, but I knew if I hung on, I could get away with kind of a kicking finish. And I executed it perfectly.”

Two sophomores, Jack McGovern of Rock Running Club (Rockhurst MO) and early leader Brice Fuller of Fairless OH, were fourth and fifth in 14:46.6 and 14:49.1.

Indiana runner-up Noah Bontrager, third at NXR Midwest last year, finished ninth.

Driemeier, eighth last year, won his Missouri Division 4 title by 42 seconds. He said he was ailing earlier – he was fifth at Chile Pepper in Fayetteville, Ark. – but felt like he was “rolling” at state. He made up three seconds on Cupial over the closing kilometer.

“The last one, I really just took off and did my own thing,” he said.

No. 10 Columbus Thorn (Columbus North) did the same thing it did in winning an Indiana state title, outperforming all comers with superior depth. The Hoosier champions had 131 points to 189 for PNXC (Plainfield North IL).

Monster Island (Noblesville IN) was third with 203 and Downers Grove North fourth with 215.

Columbus’ top finisher was Jace Works, 13th in 15:08.7. Its No. 5 was within 40 seconds. With individuals displaced, Columbus scorers were 8-11-31-36-45.

Fifth man Graham Pumphrey, 92nd in 15:48.9, “closed the door and put it away,” coach Rick Sluder said.

Columbus' No. 7 runner would have been in the top five of every team except PNXC.

“One of things we did talk about is it felt like every team behind us had an ‘if,’ “ Sluder said. “ ‘If our fifth does this, if our fourth does that.' 

"We just told our guys to go run their race, we should be good. So that’s’ what we did.”

Illinois has advanced a boys team every year since NXN's inception in 2004.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.