Loud well out in front of the competition during the first mile (Steven Bulgarin photo)
Loud might as well been called "Flash" because he was not sighted until after the race was won by his competitors. "I thought I was going for the win until I heard Loud had won," said third place finisher Walmer Saavedra of Chicago Lindblom. He wasn't aware that Loud bolted out to a 20 second lead in the first mile (4:45) and stretched it to nearly 30 seconds long at two miles (9:45). Loud cruised home in a tempo looking 14:46 and without his trademark Orange sunglasses which he ditched just after the mile on the course. "It was a little cloudy out there today and I didn't want to twist an ankle," he said like a safety inspection manager.
Loyola Academy junior Paolo Tiongson has slowly been creeping back into the top tier of Illinois running. He completed two top 15 finishes in his last two races including a personal best 14:52 at the Richard Spring Invitational. Tiongson and Saavedra mired in a duel for the final mile after they separated from a sizable pack earlier. The last 300m of the race is inside the football stadium on the track. That is where Tiongson put on his track spikes and went to work against Saavedra. The last 100m was all Tiongson who was able to hold on to second 15:13-15:14.
Kamathi Johnson (Sr., Oak Park-River Forest) and Jaime Marcos (Jr., Chicago Von Steuben) held strong in fourth and fifth place running 15:28 and 15:29. They beat out Dan Santino (Sr., Chicago St. Ignatius) who ran 15:30 to place sixth.
Top 15 finishers:
| M Three Mile Run - Finals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Athlete | Team | Result | Points | ||
| 1 | Loud, Irwin | 11 | Oak Park-River Forest High School | 14:46.98 | 1 | |
| 2 | Tiongson, Paolo | 11 | Loyola Academy | 15:13.22 | 2 | |
| 3 | Saavedra, Walmer | 12 | Lindblom Math & Science Academy | 15:14.61 | 3 | |
| 4 | Johnson, Kimathi | 12 | Oak Park-River Forest High School | 15:28.96 | 4 | |
| 5 | Marcos, Jaime | 11 | Von Steuben High School | 15:29.98 | 5 | |
| 6 | Santino, Daniel | 12 | St. Ignatius College Prep High School | 15:30.16 | 6 | |
| 7 | Yemane, Robel | 12 | Mather High School | 15:35.17 | 7 | |
| 8 | Harper, Henry | 12 | Oak Park-River Forest High School | 15:39.14 | 8 | |
| 9 | Nold, Trevor | 12 | Oswego East High School | 15:44.84 | 9 | |
| 10 | Bach, Mackenzie | 12 | Prospect High School | 15:53.13 | 10 | |
| 11 | Kadus, Matthew | 11 | Loyola Academy | 15:54.31 | 11 | |
| 12 | Zangri, Dylan | 11 | Oswego East High School | 15:54.94 | 12 | |
| 13 | Lewis, Mark | 12 | St. Ignatius College Prep High School | 15:56.82 | 13 | |
| 14 | Galvan, Mauricio | 12 | Kennedy High School | 15:57.60 | 14 | |
| 15 | Haffner, Brett | 10 | Hinsdale South High School | 16:01.00 | 15 | |
Irwin Loud interview: