Cupial claims DGN’s first cross-country title

BY JEFF VORVA

It was 14 minutes and 3.2 seconds of greatness.

And it took nearly a lifetime to achieve.

Downers Grove North senior Philip Cupial won the Illinois High School Association Class 3A boys state cross country meet on Nov. 8 at Detweiller Park in Peoria. He became the first runner in program history to win a state championship, and it was a school record at a school that has seen many great runners over the years.

And when it was over, after crossing the finish line first, he looked back on what it took to get him to that point.

“Getting the state championship in cross country is something I really had to work for,” he said. “It took the whole four years and even the four years of middle school when I built all of those miles, and I was running 65 miles a week. All that time I spent, all the time I sacrificed, all those days I could have stayed inside and slept… those days paid off. It was a special moment for sure and something I will take really far down in my life.”

“I really learned and became a better person because of the people I have met in this sport.”

— Philip Cupial

Trojans coach John Sipple has guided his team to three state titles in 2017, 2023 and 2024, and this is his first individual champ.

Downers Grove North’s Philip Cupial will attend the University of Virginia next year.

Cupial is not done yet. He was a Class 3A state champion in the 1600-meter run his sophomore year in track and field, and hopes to return to the top of the medal stand again this year. He was also on the state championship 3200 relay team last season.

In cross country, he finished seventh in the state as a sophomore, but his fourth-place finish in 2024 left him with a bad taste in his mouth.

“As a sophomore, I had a really good race there,” he said of the state meet. “I went down there and ran my hardest. I really like the course, and it was fast. Illinois is one of the most competitive states for cross country, so seventh was a real big deal for me.

“But last year, when I took fourth, I was disappointed with my performance because I believed in myself and what I was capable of. The fuel from that finish carried me all the way to this year, and I finally got that state title, and it’s pretty indescribable. I finally accomplished one of the goals on my list for such a long time.”

After the track season will be running at the University of Virginia.

While Cupial had the chops to do well on the state and national level, he wasn’t getting a response from the Cavaliers. But he met runner Henry Acorn, who was heading to Virginia, at a national meet, and that meeting turned to gold for Cupial as Acorn put in a good word for him with coach Vin Lananna.

“When I reached out to Virginia, they didn’t respond to me,” he said. “But when I got that connection, he got me in contact with coach Vin, and he told him about me. They looked at my e-mail and saw my times and reached back out to me.

“It was just because of a little connection I made, and that got me all the way to making a visit and realizing how good the school was and the running was.”

To Cupial, it further proved his theory that the running community is made up of great people.

“The No. 1 thing that I love is just being on the teams that I’ve been on,” he said. “I really learned and became a better person because of the people I have met in this sport.”