First To The Finish Invitational Yields A Split Decision

Jocelyn Long has been unopposed in two invitationals so far on the young season (Steven Bugarin photo)

3A Girls-

#3 Minooka struck first as they usually do with their "triplets" Emily Shelton, Ashley Tutt, and Mackenzie Callahan. The state's most dominant trio ran up front in the top throughout the race behind Jocelyn Long. Long pushed the pace early and often despite tough conditions. She hit the first mile in 5:21 and the second in approximately 11:26. Long won by almost 25 seconds in 17:19 over the junior Shelton who ran 17:43. 

Most fans probably thought Minooka won the title with early placements of 2nd, 3rd, and 6th. But the Indians actually finished third scoring 118 points. The fifth runner but struck them again. #2 Naperville North on the other hand looked strong with junior Sarah Schmitt placing fifth. It was the strong front running of Schmitt followed by terrific pack play of the Huskies that got the job done over defending champion Yorkville 81-82.  

Yorkville placed three runner in the top 10 on the strength of Nicole Greyer, Olivia Borowiak, and Maddie Dearborn taking 7th, 9th, and 10th respectively.

Downers Grove South continues to surprise some but within the Mustangs camp they know better

Boys-

#4 Downers Grove North has quietly retooled their program back into the upper echelon of Illinois greatness over the past several seasons. At the same time Head Coach John Sipple has been mum these days. So far on the early season the Trojans have run well and controlled, On Saturday they unleashed themselves a little more. Downers North beat WSC Silver foe #2 Lyons Township 65-87. The key was five scorers placing in the top 25. Alec Danner and Jacob Ridderhoff finished 6th and 7th. Additionally, it was the #6 and #7 Trojan runners that displaced a strong Lyons team. Lyons went 1-4 behind Vince Zona and Danny Kilrea. Their strong efforts was not backed by the same amount of strength from the back of their scoring pack as Downers Grove South. 

Coach Sipple's reaction: 

I thought that the guys did a good job of feeding off each other during the race and working to compete throughout the race.

We ended up with some solid races but we still have room for improvement, and the best part is we have time to make those improvements, it's only September..

Also I still haven't had a chance to look over the results to closely but it is always nice to see the WSC Silver doing what we do.

The individual race was a tip toe affair from the gun. Although Minooka senior Soren Knudsen front ran much of the race the pace rarely got into aggressive mode. He was joined by Hinsdale Central senior Blake Evertsen in the first half and then some. Knudsen would trade foes and battle Zona stride for stride along the highway 29 backstretch. They stayed glued with a half mile to go. It was finally up the last strip of homestretch toward the finish that Zona finally pulled away in 14:59. Knudsen clocked 15:01 for second.