Eastern Illinois University Scholarship ELUS

Eastern Illinois University Scholarship ELUS

McHenry runner Tyler Lay sensed right away his senior year was going to be much more productive than the previous one. Lay battled pneumonia as a junior in cross country. Things got worse in the spring when he suffered a stress fracture in his right leg, just above the ankle, which knocked him out of the track and field season. Lay was able to get in a summer of hard training and ran well for the Warriors, helping them back to the Class 3A boys race at the IHSA Cross Country State Meet this month. His performances got him noticed by colleges, and Lay signed his National Letter of Intent with NCAA Division I Eastern Illinois University Lincoln last week.

Lay, who was 10th in the Fox Valley Conference Meet and 44th at state, will run cross country and track for the Panthers. Lay figured early this fall that running at at D-I school was a possibility. “Last year, I didn’t have much of either running seasons because of unfortunate events that happened,” Lay said. “I felt good going into the season and I had good times.” Lay’s parents – Jim and Samantha – both attended Eastern, as does a cousin, Matt Lay, who is friends with 2015 Jacobs graduate Matt Goldby, who runs for the Panthers. Goldby helped the coaches in contacting Lay for a visit. “I like the school size. It wasn’t extremely large, but it isn’t small, either,” he said. “The campus seemed easy to get to.The team is really nice, too.” Lay began training hard right after the track season and got a good summer of running in before the cross country season. “I was pretty content with it,” Lay said. “You always think you can do better, which you aim for, but coming back from injuries and stuff, I was content with it.

Our third runner [Maki Mohr] got injured and was out ,and we still made it to state, which was awesome.” Setzler honored: Johnsburg boys and girls cross country coach Chris Setzler was named as Class 1A Boys Coach of the Year by the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association on Monday.

Setzler found out Monday morning from an email from Crystal Lake South boys coach Rich Eschman. “I sent him back an email asking, ‘Congratulations for what?’ ” Setzler said. Setzler received official notification later in the day from the ITCAA, which honors six coaches each year, one for each of the three classes in boys and girls cross country. Johnsburg qualified for the Class 1A boys race at the state meet for the second consecutive year.