Possessing enough talent and having logged enough training, the fear of elimination was absent for the four Intercity boys cross country teams in Saturday's Normal West Class AA Regional at Maxwell Park.

Each squad turned in a businesslike performance to advance to next Saturday's 11:30 a.m. East Peoria Sectional at Illinois Central College.

Sectional title contender Bloomington led the way, scoring 32 points to easily secure its third consecutive regional crown and advance for the 27th straight year.

Normal West, led by individual champion Cory Nanni, grabbed second (76) followed by University High (82) and Normal Community (91).

Rounding out the five qualifying teams was Kankakee McNamara (152). Streator finished eighth (201) in the 10-team field followed by Pontiac (207).

The five individual qualifiers not on advancing teams included Streator's Jon Richards (12th, 16:35) and Pontiac's Noah Dunham (24th, 17:01).

"We didn't need to go out and set any records today," said BHS coach John Szabo. "We just wanted a good team race, have a nice pack and have something ready for next week."

The Purple Raiders put on an impressive display of pack running, taking places 2-6-7-8-9, all finishing within 42 seconds of each other.

BHS sophomore Josh Roig took second, 11 seconds behind Nanni, who cruised the 3-mile course in 15 minutes, 31 seconds.

"We've all been steady," Roig said. "It's just been a great year as far as that goes. We've been consistent."

Also scoring for the Raiders and giving them a 16:08 per man average were Ben Nathan (15:54), Doug Rever (16:20), Joey Waldorf (16:23) and Andy Szabo (16:24). If you add their times together, they finished 1:43 ahead of Normal West.

Nanni was six seconds slower than his Intercity-winning performance Sept. 19.

"I'm just going to work on sectionals and concentrate on what I do at ICC," said Nanni, who led all the way with mile splits of 4:54, 5:19 and 5:18.

Several people at the meet wore T-shirts designed by a teammate of Nanni's with his likeness on the front and the words "Who's your Nanni?" on the back.

Unlike Nanni, the T-shirt supply ran out.

"They're making more," he said.

U High made its Class AA debut a successful one with help from third-placer Kevin Forde, who sped 15:47 (six seconds slower than Sept. 19) in just his second race back from a three-week battle with flu.

"I think he is showing tremendous bounce-back ability," said U High coach Lester Hampton, who thought his whole team ran well.

Normal West coach Den Patten felt his No. 2 man, Jonny Kaufmann, ran his best race the season, placing fourth in 15:52.

"He's really starting to come on and that is huge for us to have a chance of going to state," Patten said.

NCHS was led by Chris Poulard (15th, 16:44) who chased U High's Josiah Husk (13th, 16:38) and Kyle Erickson (14th, 16:40) across the finish line.

"The positive is we had a 14-second 1-5 split," said NCHS coach Tom Patten. "We had five guys in the 16:00s. Next week they have to be up higher."

Mahomet wins at Urbana

Mahomet-Seymour won its first Class AA regional title in school history, scoring 31 points at Urbana to outdistance runner-up Champaign Centennial by 52.

The Bulldogs, who advanced to next Saturday's 11 a.m. Centralia Sectional, were led by individual champion Justin Sebens. He finished 26 seconds ahead of Rantoul runner-up Connor Millar on the 3-mile course, clocking 16:17.

Other Mahomet-Seymour scorers were Troy Pittman (fourth, 16:51), Devin Lyons (seventh, 17:35), Andrew Kumler (ninth, 17:40) and Jacob Mahaffey (10th, 17:40).

The Bulldogs last of four Class A regional crowns came in 1996.

Lincoln's Heidbreder qualifies

Lincoln's Joe Heidbreder was the lone qualifier to the Centralia Sectional, placing 26th in the Springfield Lanphier Regional in 17:15. Lincoln did not field a full team.

Individual champion Neal Anderson (15:28) led Chatham Glenwood (26) to the team title.