Only a few seconds separated Rochelle Township High School cross country runner Josue Huerta from qualifying for the IHSA 2A Sectionals this past season. Motivated and armed with more experience, Huerta returns as one of the program’s strongest racers, and in addition to lowering his personal-best time, the rising junior is ready to make a postseason push.

“It’s great to be back out with the team and begin practicing with my teammates again,” Huerta said. “We’ve mostly been running on our own throughout the summer. I thought I improved a lot this past season, and I was really close to getting into sectionals, which was a big confidence boost for me because I thought I struggled a bit earlier in the season.”

A two-sport runner who also competes with the Rochelle track and field team, Huerta saw his cross country times decrease dramatically throughout his sophomore season in 2019. After beginning the year with a 19:25.4 in Oregon, Huerta went on to break the 18-minute mark five times and finish with his strongest performance at the IHSA 2A Sterling Regional, setting a personal-best time of 17:58.4 and landing three seconds shy of a sectional berth.

Despite graduating several seniors this past season, the Hubs will return a handful of upperclassmen this fall including Huerta, who medaled in the Freeport Invitational and guided Rochelle to not only a second-place performance at the Byron Invitational, but a fourth-place finish at the Genoa-Kingston Matt Walter Invitational during the 2019 campaign.

“I’m definitely planning to set some of my best personal records this season,” Huerta said. “I’m going to work as hard as I can to achieve those records. I think I’ve improved at sticking together with my teammates during races, especially with the upperclassmen. My main focus for this season will be improving my times. That’s where I want to improve the most.”