If Saturday's Wheaton North sectional is any indication of things to come next weekend, then York will win the state title and its legendary coach Joe Newton will put his retirement plans on hold.

Newton, who has won 19 state titles in 43 years as the Dukes coach, said he would reconsider retiring if his team captured the state crown. York is looking strong and just flat-out dominated Saturday's 3-mile race at Wheaton Northside Park, placing five runners among the top eight finishers to roll to the sectional title.

Ironically enough, the Dukes scored 23 points to win their 23rd sectional championship - their lowest point total ever in a sectional. They will be the team to beat entering the Class AA state meet in Peoria next Saturday.

''I'm happy as a lark," said Newton, who last led York to the state title in 1994. ''I feel good about my team. These guys are doing everything to get the job done. I just feel that they are so deserving and are coming together at the right time. I'm so proud of them."

No one was more deserving of accolades than Dukes senior Donald Sage who went out and crushed the competition. Sage crossed the finish line first, 25 seconds ahead of West Chicago standout Tim Keller.

''Keller is a great runner," Sage said. ''I just went out and tried to run my hardest and see what happens. I'm just happy to get through this race with our team doing so well."

''I wanted to be close in the first mile and then catch up from there," Keller said. ''I started catching up a little in the second mile but in the third mile, he pulled away."

Following Sage for the Dukes were Peter Cioni (third), Adam Palumbo (fourth), Adam Roche (seventh) and Peter Stasiulis (eighth).

Only Glenbard South's Micah VanDenend (fifth) and Brendan Gaffney (sixth) of Lyons Township got in between Palumbo and Roche. VanDenend's performance helped lead the Raiders to the state meet for the first time since 1994. They finished second in the meet, 134 points behind than the Dukes.

''I was really nervous going into the race," VanDenend said. ''My goal was hang on there with the York runners for awhile. I just worked real hard."

Qasim Rashid, Anthony Agaad, Andrew Teague and Bob Albertson also ran well for the Raiders.

''We started off the season a little rocky but have been running real well the last few weeks," said Glenbard South coach Andy Preuss. ''It has just been a matter of sticking with it and believing."

Lyons Township, St. Charles and Niles North also advanced to the state meet as teams. Fenton was sixth, 16 points behind Niles North. Sophomore Carlos Mendoza was the Bison's front-runner, placing 12th overall. He will run in the state meet as an individual.

at Lockport Naperville Central senior Ryan Teising will be heading to next weekend's state cross country meet in style - with a sectional championship.

Teising, who took sixth at last year's state meet, paced the field at Saturday's Class AA Lockport sectional by winning the 3-mile race at Dellwood Park in a time of 15:07.0. Naperville North junior Brian Rae finished second in 15:28.0.

Lockport won the team title with 78 points, while Naperville Central (81), Downers North (98), Naperville North (123) and Sandburg (191) also qualified for next week's state team competition at Detweiler Park in Peoria.

Benet, which finished 12th as a team, had no individual qualifiers although Steve Saul missed by one second. Waubonsie Valley's Jed Kubowski missed qualifying by one-tenth of a second.

Downers Grove South's David Mitchell qualified with a sixth-place finish, while Hinsdale South's Marcin Toporkiewicz qualified with a 15th-place finish.

Naperville North's David Rae placed 10th, followed by Naperville Central's Joe Wilkey in 11th place.

at Schaumburg Lake Park's Chris Bosworth earned a trip to the state meet by placing 10th in the Schaumburg sectional at Busse Woods.

He was the fifth of seven individual qualifiers, finishing the race in 15:54.

at Lisle Kaneland edged Winnebago 91-93 in an exciting team contest at Lisle Community Park.

Despite a third-place finish from sophomore Pat Quinn (16:11), St. Francis finished a slightly disappointing third with 101 points.

"We made it through," said St. Francis coach Scott Nelson. "You have to look at the positives. We lived to fight another day. We made a couple of mistakes, but it is better to make them now than at the state finals."

Bryan Moore (5th, 16:17), Owen Connelly (17th, 16:32), Brian Bronick (41st, 17:09), and Pat Polasek (57th, 17:24) rounded out the scoring for St. Francis.