DGN Girls And Boys Sweep Mike Kuharic Invite Titles

Downers Grove North varsity girls put on a dominating performance in Lagrange (Tony Jones photo)

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RESULTS I VIDEOS

Lagrange, IL-

A quality cross-country invitational named in memory of the legendary Lyons Twp coach Mike Kuharic was greeted with nice, unseasonably warm climes. It was a sunny morning, with temperatures in the upper 50s to low 60s throughout the bevy of races that warmly greeted athletes and fans alike.

Most of the teams invited to participate in the meet hosted by Lyons Township High School were of the 3A variety. Most notable were the girls' and boys' top-ranked Downers Grove North. The Trojans were able to haul off most of the winning accolades that spread over several race divisions.

Girls-

Downers North started their invitational in a subtle position imposed by their head coach, Tim McDonald. The Lady Trojans were ordered to sit together in a pack of six for as long as he deemed. Led by junior Lily Eddington, that's precisely what they did, despite senior upstart Amelie Ojeda of Willowbrook taking a commanding lead.

Ojeda led by over six seconds through the first mile in 5:49 and continued to pace the through two miles in 11:55. A lead by Ojeda that once was as large as nine seconds dwindled to nothing. She was captured and passed by several Eddington and several of her teammates. The final verdict was a 5000m win for Eddington by a second over teammate senior Alayna Todnem in 18:31.

Boys-

The contrast between the Trojan girls and boys was as clear as night and day. DGN went straight to the front of the pack and forced the pace. The speed of the race was not overpowering in the early going. Junior Philip Supial of DGN led the deep sea of runners at under 3:00 for the first kilometer.

The first mile was around 5:00, and Supial and a huge number of runners were still intact as they traversed the snake-like course. 

Supial opened a slight gap just before the halfway point, followed by teammate senior Grant Schroder and three Blue Valley Southwest HS runners out of Kansas. It was a close affair entering the final mile. 

The Trojans were able to close the race out with a strong push in the final half mile led by Supial's three-second victory over senor Canyon Buehler of Blue Valley Southwest in 15:31.