Loyola Academy Flight Night Offers Prime Time Action

RESULTS I VIDEOS 

The inaugural event is the first of several upcoming night time invitationals to be brought the Illinois cross country scene. Hosted at Loyola Academy's Munz Athletic Campus, the chilly temperatures ensured prime racing conditions for the night's athletes. The atmosphere at nighttime invites is unlike any other, and the runners were ready to take on the course.

The invite was raced flight style, where the first flight of girls featured teams' #5-8 runners, and the boy's first flight held runners #6-10. Later in the night, the faster flights would compete.

Girls-

All eyes were on the team battle between 3A #3 Prospect and 2A #1 Chicago Latin. Both teams have a deep front pack of runners. There is also a slew of individual talent, including Ava Parekh (Chicago Latin), Morgan Mackie (Loyola Academy), and Anna Harden (Hersey). Reese Lettow of Prospect set the tone for the girl's action, as she ran to a 19:11 finish to win the first flight.

In the fastest girl flight, Parekh feeds off of the increased adrenaline nighttime meets usually provide, and cruises to a comfortable 5:35 first mile. Harden and Mackie are close behind in 5:40, followed by a 5:44 chase pack led by Hailey Erickson of Prospect.

Parekh kept her foot on the gas passing the second mile in 11:37. At this point, she held an eight-second lead over Harden. Harden had put a five-second gap between her and Mackie.

With less than a half-mile to go, Parekh appears to be in the clear and dashes home to an impressive 17:34 win. Harden is just 11 seconds back and finishes in 17:45 -- a 41-second improvement over her time on this exact course six days prior.

The team battle for Prospect was too close for comfort. The Knights edged out the Romans 48-49 for a narrow victory. Prospect's tight pack and 49-second 1-5 split is the asset that helped them be crowned champions tonight. A rematch between Prospect and Latin would be fun to see. 

Boys-

The boy's side of the meet was just as competitive. It featured a matchup between 3A #1 New Trier and 3A #5 Sandburg. Notable individuals in this field are Spencer Werner (Loyola Academy), Nick Falk (New Trier), and Matt Coyle (Maine South). In the first flight, Declan Tunney of Sandburg earned the win in 15:46.

At 7:45 pm in the pitch black, it was time for the fastest flight of the boys to start. Coyle leads through the mile in 4:54, with Falk, Andrew Flynn (New Trier), and Ismail Tineh (Sandburg) behind, starting to form a gap over the rest of the group.

These four guys stay competitive through the next mile and hit a 10:07 two-mile split. In this last mile, the top few guys will need to surge in order to separate themselves and not blend in with the pack. It's an all-out sprint to the finish between Falk and Coyle, but Falk comes out on top, running 15:14.02, with Coyle under a second behind in 15:14.97. New Trier easily won on the team side in 32 points.

The Loyola Academy Flight Night was one of the most competitive meets in Illinois up to this point. It brought a sense of normalcy to a season that has been anything but normal, and each runner took advantage of the electrifying atmosphere Loyola Academy put on.