Only 10 points separate the top 4 teams in the Boys Race; Glenbard West controls the Girls team championship; course records for Irwin Loud and Lindsey Payne

By Michael Newman

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Glendale Heights, Ill --- The term that coaches like to use when there is so much talent in a competition is a “meat-grinder”. That description fits well with the West Suburban Conference and their Silver Division. At last year’s 3A Boys State Meet, four of the top six teams at the end of the race were from this conference led by Hinsdale Central defending their state championship and Lyons Township placing third. With dual meets not counting towards the conference championship beginning this season, the importance of Saturday’s race was raised to another level at Glenbard West’s home course at Camera Park. It didn’t need the loss of the dual meets to raise this importance of this meeting of these seven teams (five of them ranked in the 3A top 25). The race had state meet feel as the runners finished through the finish chute. It was fitting that the race started at high noon.

It was long time cross country #4 York had the final say in the Boys race of this meet. The Dukes made a furious charge in the final half mile of the race to win the team title with 51 points. You could see the seriousness of the meet as York’s #1 runner Charlie Kern passed two runners in the final 10 meters to finish 4^th overall. The Dukes #2 runner Max Denning (who finished 7^th overall) passed 4 runners in the final 200 meters to get his finish place. And it went on from there.

“I told our boys before the meet if we won today it would be 100% pure ecstasy. All seven guys ran their best race of their life,” York Coach Joe Newton said. “We still have some sharpening that we need to do to get to where we need to be.”

The race went as expected early on as Irwin Loud (Oak Park-River Forest HS) took the pace out hard passing the mile in 4:45 with Blake Evertsen (Hinsdale Central HS) right by his side. Connor Madell (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange) was a couple meters behind the two and ahead of an enormous pack of 30 runners looking for the right position in the race. Remember, there were only 43 runners in this race. Runners from York, #2 Lyons Township, #5 Hinsdale Central, and #6 Oak Park-River Forest were looking at each other waiting to see who would blink first and make the first move.

It was Lyons Township that was the first aggressor as Danny Kilrea and Matt Begeman started to move and had the edge in the team race as they went to the final mile. Hinsdale Central had a slight edge ahead of York and Oak Park-River Forest. One runner that was not towards the front like he typically has been was Lyons Township junior Vince Zona. Lyons Township Coach Michael Danner said after the race that his star junior was under the weather but was still racing. Glenbard West’s #1 runner Eric Neumann, who won the Naperville Twilight Meet the week before, was with the leaders at the mile but had to drop out just before the 2 mile. He was also sick and talked his coaches to let him run. That is how important this race was for him. His illness got the better on him on this day.

Loud had opened up a ten meter lead on Evertsen going past the 2 mile in 9:45. 10 seconds later came Madell ahead of a pack with Kern, Kilrea, and Alec Danner (Downers Grove North HS). The fireworks began as Loud approached the finish line. He crossed in 14:03 setting a new course record for this 2.88 mile distance. The old course record was set six years ago by York’s Andrew Smith when he ran 14:26 to win this conference meet. Loud absolutely shattered it. Then came Evertsen in strong only 8 seconds back in 14:11. Madell moved in the last 800 and was another 6 seconds back in third. Then came Kern’s move just ahead of Kilrea and Danner only separated by less than a second. There was a 14 second gap and then rush hour began at the finish area started with Denning. His teammate Jon May placed 9^th with teammates Tom Devereux (15^th) and Robert Tomaska (16^th) following. York finished with a 30 second split on their top five.

Lyons Township finished 2^nd with 57 points and only six back from York. Matt Begeman had a big race as the Lions’ 3^rd runner placing 8^th. Alex Pall was 19^th as the team’s 4^th man. Then came in Zona placing 22^nd. Their split on five with 48 seconds. It would have been smaller with Zona in his normal spot if he were healthy. It was not meant to be. If that would have happened, the team would have come out on top. On this day, it was York’s turn.

“Everyone ran well. We had one issue. We will move forward and hopefully be ready down the line,” Lyons Township Coach Michael Danner said. “It is easy for kids that are having an off day to get lost out there with only 7 runners and 7 teams. It’s easy to get dropped.”

The surprise of the race was how Oak Park-River Forest finished. They seemed out of it at 2 miles. A pack of 3 led by Henry Harper moved in the last half mile as they finished 11-12-13. That was enough for a third place finish with 60 points. They were only 9 back of York. Hinsdale Central came up 1 point behind Oak Park in 4^th. The Red Devils had a 49 second split on their five placing 5 in the first 18. Their split on their 2^nd through 5^th runners was only 18 seconds. In any other conference meet, that effort would have gotten them a championship. In this meat grinder, it was only good for fourth but only ten points behind first.

“It was a tough battle. York ran great. Oak Park and Lyons ran great. It just speaks to the depth of the conference,” Hinsdale Central Coach Jim Westphal said. “Sometimes it is hard to walk away when you get beat real good. Then you reflect on it and you think that it was not that terribly bad. After I saw the point spread I felt a little bit better than what I saw play out in person. There will be some positive takeaways from this but also some constructive criticism that comes along with it.”

#14 Downers Grove North was a distant fifth with 120 points behind Alec Danner’s 6^th place finish. Glenbard West, without their #1 runner Neumann, scored 149 points. The Hilltoppers are still a good enough team to make the state field. That is how tough that this conference is.

#3 Glenbard West took care of business in the Girls race bouncing back from a 4^th place finish the week before at the Naperville Twilight Meet. The Hilltoppers were the highest rated teams starting this meet and it showed. They placed 5 runners in the top 15 scoring only 34 points. #5 Lyons Township, paced by the 3^rd place finish of freshman Sarah Barcelona, scored 67 points to place 2^nd.

The outcome of the individual race was easy to predict. Lindsey Payne (Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn) took the lead after the first turn and did not hesitate from there. She also set a course record (breaking her own) by close to 30 seconds running 16:09 for the win. Hinsdale Central’s Reilly Revord was 29 seconds back in 2^nd crossing in 16:38. Then came in Barcelona almost 20 seconds later.

“I think that we ran better than we did last week,” said Glenbard West Coach Paul Hass. “We challenged Kathryn Kenwood to stay close to Grace Rogers today. She did that. We also got a great performance from Katie Hohe who was with Kathryn and Grace. We still have some work still to do.”

Kenwood (5^th), Rogers (6^th), and Hohe (7^th) came in within 4 seconds of each other. Abby Shaver was the team’s 5^th runner with a 15^th place finish. The split on this group was 26 seconds which is one of their best splits of the season for those positions.

#16 Hinsdale Central finished third (80 points) led by the finish of Revord and the 10^th place finish of Grace McCabe. #22 York was next led by top ten finishes by Elizabeth Hagstrom (4^th) and Sarah May (9^th).