The cross country season finally came to an end on Saturday afternoon with the culmination of the 35th Annual Footlocker Cross Country National Championship in San Diego. Three Illinois athletes had the honor in competing for themselves and representing their schools and state. Mailin Struck (Jr., Riverside-Brookfield) took home a very respectable 18th place in the Girl’s race. On the boy’s side, Jesse Reiser (Jr., McHenry) took home 33rd place and Patrick Perrier (Sr., O’Fallon) notch 37th in the individual standings.
Mailin completes a solid farewell-
Before Mailin gets on the plane in January to her native Pinneberg, Germany to complete the remainder of her studies and prep athletic career, she will undoubtedly take a little time to exhale and reminence about a wonderful time that she had competing in the United States. She said had a goal of competing on a team instead of training and racing as an individual like in Germany. “I love the team spirit and the girls are so nice,” Struck said as she prepped for her Footlocker race.
Struck completed a fabulous stateside season that resulted in a state championship. But her biggest challenge would be outside of Illinois in the Footlocker Midwest Regional on November 23. Stuck finished seventh in that race in 17:53 and earned her dream trip to San Diego. “It was a dream of mine to compete against the best girls in the nation,” she said at the time.
In the national final, Struck was able to poke her head out among the crème de la crème for most of the race before falling slightly back and finishing 18th. Not bad for a kid who only wanted an opportunity to compete in America.
Reiser and Perrier end season in California’s paradise-
Traveling to sunny San Diego on the Footlocker and the Asic running shoe company dime is like hitting the lottery for two high school male cross country runners. However, Reiser and Perrier had plans other than kicking up sand on the beach in 70+ degree weather. They wanted to be all they can be among the nation’s elite force.
Reiser enjoyed a great season with big runs at sectionals, state, Nike Cross Midwest, NXN, Footlocker Regionals, and finally the FL Championship.
Reiser indicated that he felt good early on but could not get any traction in staying with the big boys. “It was a rough race in general,” he said of the wonderful experience. “I wasn't really prepared for this weather because I'm used to training in like 10 degrees. The first mile went by super quick and I was feeling okay but not the best. Once we passed the first mile I felt like I hit a wall and I was just feeling pretty bad. The last mile I was just trying to hold on and finish hard even though I knew I wasn't running well. It's just been a long season, but this was a great experience and I'm looking forward to track and cross [country] next year.”
It was not meant to be for Perrier despite his desire and only true goal this season was to excel and possibly win a national title. The misfortune for Perrier actually started after the state championship when he hurt his ankle. He was never really able to recover fully mentally and physically after it. However, the Stanford bound Perrier gave it the old College try early on. “I felt really good at halfway, but then the pace picked up a little bit and mentally I started to really fight and then the demons crept into my head and my legs became lead,” he said with extreme disappointment.
Perrier did have a bright spot when emerged from the middle of the pack and fought his way up to take the lead just after the first mile that went through in 4:53. He looked like the Perrier that Illinois fans are accustomed to seeing. He was able to spread out the conservative pack that approached the 2k mark. Why didn’t he capitalize on the momentum some would ask? “I was a little surprised because I didn't feel like I took the hill too hard. I felt really good because I was in a good spot to challenge for the win,” he said searching for answers. Did the ankle hurt? “No, it wasn't my ankle. It was just a really bad race. I ran hard for the first half and I really paid for it. It just wasn't my day. I have no excuses but I also have no regrets because that is the type of race I wanted to run.” Perrier will now regroup and get ready for a monster track season. He said it best: “Back to the [drawing] board for track.”
University of Chicago Ted Haydon Classic plays host to the unofficial track and field season opener-
While it was sunny in Southern California and snowy and cold in Chicago, the Henry Crown Field House on the campus of The University of Chicago played host to the first indoor track and field meet of the 2014 season. Albeit it was an all-comers meet there were some notable indoor performances to watch out for.
• Emerging young and talented junior Eric Walker (left photo) of Chicago (St. Rita) blurred the competition in winning 55HH in a US#7/IL#1 7.78. Walker’s time would have been good for 8th last season which was produced in March!
• Palos Heights (Shepard) senior Josh Maier outlasts Chicago (St. Ignatius) sophomore Daniel Santino in the mile 4:41.36-4:41.43. This is a good start for Maier who qualified for the state 3A cross country championship and placed 81st. He also improved on his 2013 best of 4:49.
• The multi-talented senior Peyton Wade (Aurora Christian HS/Aurora Flyers Track Club) skies to an IL#1 5-6 mark in the high jump. Wade is one of the most exciting athletes in the state and certainly the queen of Class A track and field.
• Chicago North Lawndale Prep senior Imani Payton leaps to a personal best/state best 21-11 in winning the boys long jump. Payton will be a force to be reckoned with this season in the hurdles as well.
- Senior Briyanna Desrosiers of Chicago North Lawndale Prep runs a solid 58.61 in winning the girls 400m. Desrosiers previously competed at Chicago CICS Longwood where she ran a wind legal 24.61 last year for IL#9 in the 200m.
Special note: The University of Chicago Track Club does a wonderful job in providing the community with a resource to train and compete in their facility and meets, but there appears a need for some change in the Hayden Classic that has stood the test of time for over 61 years. The meet is conducted in the typical USATF format where youngest to oldest competes. So essentially the all-comers affair can run 10+ hours. Perhaps, it can better serve the public and mindstate of the competition to split the meet into high school and open categories. Yes, that would mean two separate meets. If feasible the meet officials could run the high schoolers on Friday evening and the open portion (pre-high school and adults) on Saturday morning. This would certainly bring in more interest and not have athletes, parents, and coaches leaving halfway through the competition because of time contraints.