Evan Parker (left) and Alex Krieg are among the 35 boys who have dipped under 15:00 this season (Laura Duffy photo)
- - -
Zach Thoman still leads the state with his 14:20 mark from the Granite City Invite during the season's first weekend. However, as stated before, this mark is severely inflated because Wilson Park contains a sizable portion of ashault for athletes to take advantage of. It is probably 15 seconds faster than the state's Detweiller Park.
The "real" number one time in the state goes to Finn Richards of Benet Academy, who ran a sizzling personal best of 14:22 at the Peoria Invite. Richards has been hot since the end of the track season despite not racing much. He has improved his three-mile time from 14:44, which could dip lower at the state meet.
Ben Crane of New Trier has been revered as the state's top distance runner, and he proved that over the weekend in Terre Haute, Indiana, at the Nike XC Town Twilight Invite, running 14:49 for 5000m. During that race, Crane ...
