Senior Dylan Jacobs of Sandburg was fortunate to be able to compete in the post-season to begin with. After contracting a nasty viral infection just before the state championship which rendered Jacobs to his worst performance since his sophomore year. He was clearly better than the 6th place finish indicated, especially after being US#2 ranked coming in.
Jacobs' high school coach John O'Malley issued a bold proclaimation from afar at the NXN regional championship: "That's the last race Dylan is losing this year." The comment may have been a bit premature considerating the fact that Jacobs was still recovering from illness. The damaging effects of it lasted longer than anyone anticipated which almost took him out of the post-season. Somehow Jacobs was able to convince his coaches to allow him to compete at the last minute.
Even after placing 13th at NXN there was still a positive vibe in Jacob's camp. In interviews he did not wave the white flag. The goal for Saturday as it had been at the beginning of the season: WIN! Unfortunately the Jacobs bandwagon was considerably light, barely anyone predicting even a top five finish for him. Milesplit Illinois' top 5 pre-meet pics: Danny Kilrea, Kashon Harrison, Zach Kreft, John Tatter, Jacobs
| PLACE | CORY | BRYAN | TRENT | TRAVIS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Danny Kilrea | Danny Kilrea | Zach Kreft | Tristan Shelgren |
| Runner-Up | Zach Kreft | Dalton Hengst | John Tatter | Danny Kilrea |
| No. 3 | Clayton Mendez | Joaquin Martinez De Pinillos | Clayton Mendez | Zach Kreft |
| No. 4 | John Tatter | Dylan Jacobs | Danny Kilrea | Drew Bosley |
| No. 5 | Kashon Harrison | Zach Kreft | Joaquin Martinez De Pinillos |
-The first mile opened in a modest 4:55 with Kashon Harrison of Arizona leading the charge. There was a tight following closely behind him. Jacobs would take charge soon after and either hold the lead or challenge strongly for it. He and Kilrea fought around 2k and through the second mile in 9:48. However, by the 4k mark Jacobs began to feel confident in himself when Kilrea could not muster a jailbreak or a getaway. He sized up his future University of Notre Dame teammate and mounted a surge that Kilrea could not respond to. Jacobs dug deep inside the final mile to win comfortably in 15:19. 10th grader Graydon Morris of Aledo, TX was second in 15:23. Kilrea held on to take third with a time of 15:27.
Jacobs is the second Sandburg boy to win a national title under O'Malley who coached 2009 and 2010 winner Lukas Verzbicas.
The Illinois gravy train continued as Chicago Whitney Young senior Clayton Mendez closed with a furious kick to place 9th in 15:45.
The "team scores" went as follow:
- PlaceTeamScore
- 1 1Midwest1-3-7-9-11-12-1331
- 2 1South2-4-5-6-15-16-1932
- 3Northeast8-10-18-22-23-24-2581
- 4West14-17-20-21-26-27-2898
Dylan Jacobs breaks the tape amid of idol and former Sandburg great Lukas Verzbicas who has two FL titles (Ben Crawford photo)
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PLACE NAME YR HOMETOWN FINISH PACE 0.5 MILE 1 MILE 1.5 MILE 2 MILE 2.5 MILE 3 MILE
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1 Dylan Jacobs 12 Orland Park IL 15:19.7 4:56 2:26 4:57 7:16 9:49 12:20 14:48
2 Graydon Morris 10 Aledo TX 15:23.3 4:58 2:26 4:57 7:19 9:57 12:28 14:56
3 Daniel Kilrea 12 La Grange Park IL 15:27.3 4:59 2:26 4:57 7:18 9:49 12:22 14:56
4 John Tatter 12 Winston-Salem NC 15:27.9 4:59 2:26 4:58 7:20 9:57 12:27 14:58
5 Jake Renfree 11 Knoxville TN 15:38.7 5:03 2:27 4:59 7:27 10:07 12:42 15:10
6 Robert Carter Chees 11 Keller TX 15:41.1 5:03 2:26 4:58 7:22 10:02 12:40 15:12
7 Drew Bosley 11 Thiensville WI 15:41.9 5:04 2:26 4:58 7:23 10:06 12:39 15:14
8 Drew Thompson 12 Trumbull CT 15:43.7 5:04 2:26 4:58 7:26 10:07 12:42 15:13
9 Clayton Mendez 12 Chicago IL 15:45.0 5:05 2:27 4:58 7:26 10:08 12:43 15:15
10 Devin Hart 11 Point Pleasant NJ 15:45.9 5:05 2:26 4:57 7:23 10:06 12:41 15:13
11 Chad Johnson 12 Galion OH 15:46.6 5:05 2:27 4:59 7:29 10:08 12:43 15:19
12 Zachary Kreft 12 Sunbury OH 15:48.2 5:06 2:26 4:59 7:24 10:02 12:40 15:13
13 Harrison Scudamore 12 Denver CO 15:48.3 5:06 2:27 4:59 7:28 10:11 12:46 15:19
14 Kashon Harrison 11 Fruitland NM 15:50.9 5:07 2:26 4:56 7:17 10:00 12:40 15:17
15 Carter Coughlin 12 Knoxville TN 15:52.3 5:07 2:26 4:56 7:21 10:03 12:42 15:20
16 Michael Phillips 12 Tallahassee FL 15:52.3 5:07 2:26 4:57 7:18 9:56 12:40 15:22
17 Collin Ullrich 12 Galt CA 15:57.0 5:08 2:26 4:57 7:25 10:08 12:45 15:27
18 Fahd Nasser 12 Jersey City NJ 15:57.8 5:09 2:27 4:59 7:30 10:15 12:53 15:27
19 Matt Scrape 12 Pickerington OH 15:58.5 5:09 2:27 5:00 7:30 10:13 12:50 15:29
20 David Melville 12 Summerfield NC 15:59.2 5:09 2:25 4:58 7:30 10:16 12:55 15:29
21 Meikael Beaudoin-Ro 12 Sunnyvale CA 16:01.1 5:10 2:27 5:00 7:31 10:14 12:50 15:29
22 Darius Riley 12 Rancho Cucamonga CA 16:01.5 5:10 2:27 5:00 7:31 10:18 12:58 15:32
23 Rusty Kujdych 12 Feasterville PA 16:06.6 5:12 2:26 4:59 7:29 10:15 12:57 15:36
24 Dalton Hengst 12 York PA 16:08.0 5:12 2:26 4:57 7:16 9:59 12:42 15:33
25 Damien Dilcher 12 Brick NJ 16:10.9 5:13 2:26 4:57 7:23 10:07 12:51 15:37
26 Matthew Schadler 12 Chandler IN 16:14.3 5:14 2:26 5:03 7:34 10:20 13:01 15:41
27 Shuaib Aljabaly 12 Coldwater MI 16:15.2 5:14 2:26 4:58 7:26 10:16 13:01 15:45
28 Nathan Lawler 12 Pittsford NY 16:15.2 5:14 2:27 4:59 7:29 10:15 12:58 15:42
29 Joaquin Martinez de 12 San Diego CA 16:15.7 5:15 2:26 4:57 7:23 10:09 12:55 15:44
30 Roberto Porras 12 Draper UT 16:15.7 5:15 2:27 4:59 7:29 10:15 12:58 15:44
31 Bronson Winter 12 Farr West UT 16:23.7 5:17 2:27 4:58 7:28 10:15 12:58 15:50
32 Justin Hartshorn 12 Alpine UT 16:25.5 5:18 2:28 5:00 7:34 10:25 13:11 15:54
33 Kyle Harkabus 10 Senoia GA 16:27.4 5:18 2:27 5:00 7:34 10:26 13:12 15:57
34 Zachary Winter 12 Farr West UT 16:29.6 5:19 2:27 4:59 7:29 10:20 13:10 15:57
35 Titus Winders 12 Mansfield TN 16:36.1 5:21 2:26 4:59 7:33 10:25 13:12 16:05
36 Mason Gatewood 12 Garden City NY 16:37.9 5:22 2:26 4:58 7:29 10:26 13:19 16:08
37 Turlan Morlan 12 Spokane WA 16:38.8 5:22 2:28 5:01 7:39 10:29 13:13 16:04
38 Lucas Aramburu 11 Brookline MA 16:41.1 5:23 2:26 4:59 7:33 10:25 13:14 16:07
39 Tristan Shelgren 12 Boxford MA 16:55.6 5:27 2:25 4:56 7:26 10:25 13:19 16:20
40 Camren Fischer 11 Fayetteville AR 17:14.5 5:33 2:27 5:00 7:36 10:42 13:38 16:36 Related Links:
Senior Dylan Jacobs of Sandburg was fortunate to be able to compete in the post-season to begin with. After contracting a nasty viral infection just before the state championship which rendered Jacobs to his worst performance since his sophomore year. He was clearly better than the 6th place finish indicated, especially after being US#2 ranked coming in.
Jacobs' high school coach John O'Malley issued a bold proclaimation from afar at the NXN regional championship: "That's the last race Dylan is losing this year." The comment may have been a bit premature considerating the fact that Jacobs was still recovering from illness. The damaging effects of it lasted longer than anyone anticipated which almost took him out of the post-season. Somehow Jacobs was able to convince his coaches to allow him to compete at the last minute.