The start at Detweiller is always intense (Tony Jones photo)
One of the prevailing feelings coming in was the boys chess piece landscape had not been completed. #2 Orland Park Sandburg boys was one of the state's major players who didn't compete at historic Detweiller Park in Peoria. Sandburg had been holding on to its trump cards much of the early season and they needed to answer some questions whether they will be for real or not. The Eagles answered that question and more very quickly with a thumping victory over a solid and long field of teams featuring 2A #4 Mahomet-Seymour, 3A #5 Loyola Academy, #7 York, and #10 O’Fallon. Sandburg scored a lowly 64 points in easily winning over previously said teams 192, 220, and 323 points respectively.
The top ranked Glenbard West girls came to Detweiller for their test without two of their key runners and were still able to hold off the surging #5 Palatine 70-80. #14 Downers Grove North (168) ran a strong race to hold off #13 St. Charles East (197) and #4 Schaumburg (223) to take third place.
The Girls-
When the girls took to the course around 9:40am there was a bit of dew that covered the landscape but at the same time was sunny and the temperature was rising… it would take long for the race to unfold. Several overzealous runners bolted well ahead of the steaming pack for the first half-mile or so. It would not take long for a few of the pre-meet favorites such as Lindsay Graham (Jr., Glenbard West), Audrey Ernst (Fr., St. Charles North), Kelly O’Brien (Jr., Palatine), and Maryjeanne Gilbert (Jr., Peoria Notre Dame) to move into position.
At the first mile, Ernst had already assumed the lead in 5:31 with Graham and O’Brien very close by. In the back loop the same scenario transpired at 2k but Graham switched places leading. Graham indicated that she was running on tired legs from a "harder than I should have pushed it" dual meet on Thursday. Perhaps that’s why she tried to build a lead in the “Bermuda Triangle.” The strategy did not quite pay off as Gilbert caught her just prior to the half-way mark in 8:08. At this point it appeared as though the momentum change was in store for Gilbert. The team battle at this juncture was in Glenbard West’s hand over Palatine.
Gilbert flew past the 2-mile marker in 11:00 and ahead of Graham’s 11:03. A slew of runners would follow afterwards ranging under 12:00. This only meant there was going to be some fast finishers. Glenbard West’s pack which did not have key runners senior Lisa Luczak or freshman Lindsey Payne looked solid entering the final mile. “We decided to hold out Lisa because she had an inflamed Achilles heel issue,” said head coach Paul Hass. “As for [Lisa] Payne she plays club soccer and missed this meet to travel with them.” Depth is cross country’s best friend and the Hilltoppers seemed to have more of it than Palatine and everyone else.
From the horizon that was the final 880 yards Gilbert had the race in check and certainly was on task to run a great time… and three minutes later Gilbert is fully inside the finish line with a smile on her face after knocking out splits of 5:35, 5:35, 5:30- info courtesy of her coach Dan Gray. The 16:30 effort is the #1 time in the state and an amazing 21 seconds faster than the runner-up Graham’s 16:51. Ernst completed another strong race to capture third ahead of the defending champion McKenzie Yanek (Jr., Pleasant Valley, IA) 17:17-17:20. Torree Scull (Sr., St. Charles East) used her tremendous track speed to stop O’Brien from reaching the top five 17:32-17:34. 12 girls were able to break the benchmark 18:00 which included three girls from Glenbard West. The Hilltoppers strong finish proved they are the state’s top team producing a solid 17:50 per woman average.
The Boys-
The boys’ varsity race was set to begin at 11:00 ahead of the frosh-soph and open divisions. It was smart planning on behalf of the meet management (although a strange format). The reason being was the temperature had reached 80 degrees. Not to use alibis or excuses but it was extremely WARM!
The race got out just as it does in the state championship- fast! The opening half-mile saw the leaders go through in about 2:13-2:14. Among the dozen or so runners up in the front pack was favorite Zach Dale (Sr., Conant), then Matt Pereira (So., Lake Zurich), Dorrian Gordon (Sr., O’Fallon), Jon Davis (Jr., Oakwood), Sean Torpy (Jr., Sandburg), and Chris Torpy (Jr., Sandburg).
At the first mile things bogged down a little bit with the same group of leaders plus David Rodriguez (Sr., Hersey) in the mix in 4:44. As the race turned to the back loop, Dale begin to move in his favorite role at the pace he desired- which turned out to be a stroll as he hit the 1.5 mile marker in approximately 7:12. The Sandburg unit was starting to move their numbers up as a team and it appeared that all five Eagles scorers were among the top 15. It was clear as it was sunny that they had the race in hand and it was there race to lose.
At the 2m mark, Dale only led by a few strides in 9:43 ahead of Davis, Rodriguez and Graham Brown (Sr., Palatine). Behind them were several pockets of runners ranging in the 9:50, 9:55, and then low 10:00 sections. Sandburg’s 5th runner was around 10:03 leaving the Eagles out on a cakewalk and nothing to challenge themselves to.
Dale finished his race strong in 14:29. “I almost felt a repeat of last year’s state coming up. I gassed myself [there]- in no man’s land and I didn’t what that to happen again so I kept pushing,” said Dale of his final push. Behind him was a streaking Rodriguez who ran a big personal best of 14:34 to capture second place. It also signaled that Dale’s run through the MSL and the state series is not going to be a piece of cake.
Sandburg put all runners in the top 20 on 6,10,13,16,19 scoring. The sixth and seventh runners were in the top 35 overall. The scoring split was a dangerous 17 seconds. In fact the spread at the seventh position was 28 seconds! Coach John O’Malley has a very deep team and they will be contenders for the state championship if they can continue this roll. Sandburg will meet #1 Hinsdale Central at the Marist Sectional on November 1. That race will be highly anticipated and interesting.