The girls varsity race powers through an array of record hot and humid conditions at Detweiller Park
Peoria IL-
Historic Detweiller Park has seen record numbers before, but we think not in terms of racing climes that reached into the 100s on the Mercury scale. It was 99 degrees (real feel at 113F) when the kid's race set off just past 6 pm- unbearable to say the least.
The participation attendance was broken, which brought great news to the meet organizers. There were over 2000 runners that registered for the 16th offering of the Detweiller at Dark presented by PNC Bank. It was announced that nearly 800 boys and 600 girls lined up for the high school races.
The first set of races got underway with the open women's and men's producing former Illinois prep standouts Lianna Surtz (Rosary HS/Toledo University) and Brandon Kamp (Naperville Central/Bradley University). in what appeared to be more of a training run for the winners, they clocked 18:12 and 15:13 for three-miles respectively.
The junior high races served as the penultimate for high schoolers. Emerging 7th grader Natalie Santos of Plainfield IL ran away from her peers from the gun to win the 2.1-mile race in 12:40.3. This distance was the former IHSA girls diagram (up until 1997) and if we went by former annals, Santos would be a competitive foe amongst her older peers.
The boys junior high champion was Abe Martin of Morton IL. Martin is a rising 8th grader who fought a tough race against several peers before pulling out the win by a few seconds in 11:41.1.
The girls varsity three-mile race got underway on time and with high humidity and dimness at various spots on the course, created an eeriness but exciting cross country appeal. The girls strode through the first mile under 5:40 and by the time group emerged from the "Bermuda Triangle", it was Liv Phillips with a handsome lead. The rising senior from Naperville Central is coming off of a tremendous track season in which she earned all-state honors in the 3200.
Phillips continued to apply pressure on the field and produced a 12-second win in a personal best of 17:21. She was extremely happy with her effort, especially going into the affair on light rest due to heavy training and travel. And after finishing 59th last year at state, Phillips is someone to watch out for in November.
The boys race was moved up 30 minutes in anticipation of a thunderstorm. The pyro fireworks set the race off and running and quickly two boys emerged from the fray. Will Conway from Floyd Central IN and Dylon Nalley of Marion IL were battling front and center ahead of everyone else. The pair turned in a fast first mile in 4:41 before settling in during the back loop.
Conway, who had a fantastic track season, showed that he is still fit by pulling away from Nalley who dominated Detweiller last fall. With just one mile remaining (9:41- live results counter was off), Conway was safe and sound to a victory in 14:54 Nalley held on to second in 15:02.
The girls varsity race powers through an array of record hot and humid conditions at Detweiller Park
Peoria IL-
Historic Detweiller Park has seen record numbers before, but we think not in terms of racing climes that reached into the 100s on the Mercury scale. It was 99 degrees (real feel at 113F) when the kid's race set off just past 6 pm- unbearable to say the least.
The participation attendance was broken, which brought great news to the meet organizers. There were over 2000 runners that registered for the 16th offering of the Detweiller at Dark presented by PNC Bank. It was announced that nearly 800 boys and 600 girls lined up for the high school races.
