Brock Davee is catching the eye of not just Coles County, but the entire Apollo Conference. 

The individual title for the Apollo Conference Championships is completely up for grabs. The way that Mahomet-Seymour head coach Neal Garrison sees it, there are at least three runners good enough to win it. 

“Brenden Heitzig, from Lincoln, will be very tough to beat on the individual side,” said Garrison. “Although Brock Davee, from Mattoon, is one fierce competitor.  Julian Baker, from Mt. Zion, will also be fighting for the top spot.”

Heitzig owns a season-best of 15:30.6 this season and figures to be the leading contender to win. With that said, Davee owns a season-best 14:54.8 on a very fast course and has broken the 16-minute mark three times this year. Garrison didn’t even include his runner Kyle Nofziger, who has run a 15:39.0 this year. 

“It’s tough to say who will be the winner,” said Lincoln coach Andrew Hite. “Several of the teams have the potential. I’d be happy to see our team compete well enough to be up with the top teams.”

Mattoon head coach Troy Haake believes that Davee has a great shot to make All-Apollo, while teammate Sam Ferrar could be in the running too. 

“I believe Brock Davee has a good shot at making All-Conference,” said Haacke. “He has been one of the top runners in the area all year.  Sam Ferrar is also in the hunt for the top 10. He has been top 10 in the invites this year and is running very well. I would like to see Brock and Sam make all-conference and all the boys run well and move up in the Conference standings.”

Ahead of those standings figures to be Mahomet-Seymour, who look to defend their title. Nofziger, Joseph Scheele, and Jonah Singer are returning All-Apollo runners, but Garrison said that nothing is guaranteed, even if their team is favored on paper. 

“We are hopeful that Mahomet will get a few All-Conference runners, but we won’t take that for granted,” said Rogers. “As a team, we are hoping to be one of the top three teams.  Mt. Zion and Taylorville are strong teams that have shown that they could walk away with the team title.”  

Charleston head coach Greg Rogers believes that Taylorville could sneak their way to the top of the standings. The Tornadoes recently won the Mattoon Invitational and own five runners that have broken 17 minutes this season. 

“Mahomet-Seymour is the clear favorite to win the meet again this year, however, the Taylorville boys have been running well lately and could challenge, especially if their number one or two runners have breakout races,” said Rogers. “I suspect the top three team scores will be close.”

After finishing last year, Rogers is hopeful that the Trojans will not have a repeat finish. 

My goal for our team is to not finish in last place,” said Rogers. “We have been making steady progress throughout the season, and I want our boys to be hungry for competition and success so that we can continue to improve.  Our #4 and #5 runners have to move closer to our top three, as there is a 1:23 gap between our #3 and #4 runners.  If we can do that, we may be able to knock off one or two teams.”