Above: Athletes file into the Stanford Auditorium for Thursday evening’s opening ceremonies (Mike Newman Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Thursday is arrival day for most of the teams in Portland site of the Nike Cross Nationals. After checking into their hotels, they are shuttled over to the Nike World Headquarters to sign in, pick up their race gear for Saturday’s race, and get the chance to socialize with runners from within their region and throughout the country.

This year’s race at Glendoveer Golf Course could be special. 59 individual state champions will be in the race. That is the most for any national meet according to the Nike Meet Staff. In addition, 25 state championship teams will be in the Boys and Girls race. Thursday was a wet day in the Portland area with on and off rain and temperatures in the low 40’s. Race officials have stated that the course is in very good conditions especially with the area hit with a dry spell the weeks preceding the meet. Runner swill get an idea of the conditions of the course when they take a run through Friday morning.

Here are a few things that we heard in the halls of the Tiger Woods Center on Thursday afternoon

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All four of the Illinois teams looked relaxed as they went through the processing, interviews, and then enjoying the few minutes of free time that they had in the athletic lounge. #1 Sandburg still has that chip on their shoulder even though they won the IHSA 3A State Championship almost a month ago. There is unfinished business for the team with memories of last season’s race at this meet which resulted in a 15^th place finish.

“This is the only goal that we have left. This is our last race together,” Sandburg senior Tom Brennen said. “All of us are done after this. This is our last cross country race. We get to go back to a place to one of our race last year which was one of our worst of the year. That thought has been at the back of our head for 363 days. It is fitting that we end or season ready to run our best race of the year.”

Sandburg welcomes back sophomore Dylan Jacobs to their lineup. He missed the IHSA State and the Midwest Regional Meet due to a hamstring injury that occurred at the Hinsdale Central Sectional on October 31. Jacobs said that he was healthy and ready to go to run this race.

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Lyons Township had to wait until last Saturday to find out that they would be making the trip to Portland. That thinking did not affect this team. They had the mindset that they would be on the starting line for this race Saturday morning.

“After the regional meet, we went into training very confident,” senior Connor Madell said. “We trained the past two weeks like we would be running in this race. It was quite a relief to find out that we were going. We did not miss a beat.”

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Neuqua Valley enters this meet with nothing to lose. But then again, they have run that way all season. This team could be one of the surprise teams in the top ten. Their ability to run as a pack has been the key to their success all season.

“I know the seniors here and the juniors have been running every workout together,” junior Jake McEneaney said. “Every kind of training whether it be winter, track, or cross country. We have run stride for stride with each other. Our racing we treat just like we do it in workouts where we tell each other not to drop off this guy and just go for it.”

Since IHSA coaches are not allowed to coach their squads in these post season competitions, senior Connor Horn has been the runner to compose the workouts that this team has been using to prepare themselves for Saturday’s race. Horn, who was the team’s #1 runner, missed the second half of the season due to a stress fracture. Regardless of whether this team finishes on Saturday, Horn could have a future mentoring younger runners through coaching in the future.

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Fithian Oakwood’s Jon Davis was having a great time hanging out with the other Midwest Individual qualifiers Thursday afternoon. When the name of one of the race favorites Austin Tamango (Brea Olinda HS), Davis’ eyes lit up. “I am glad that he is in this race.” When he asked if he was looking forward to Saturday’s race, his reply was simple: “I’m ready to go.”

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A pleasant surprise that I had Thursday afternoon was when Girls Pre-Race favorite Great Oak CA walked into the Tiger Woods Center was that former Yorkville runner and now Great Oak senior Skyler Bollinger was with the team. I did not think I would see her especially after she did not run in the California D1 state meet.

“I did not have my best race of the year at the sectional finals. It was too hot and I did not react too well to that,” Bollinger said. “I did not run last week but I will be on Saturday.” Bollinger has been a steady contributor to the team for a good part of the season. She could be one of the keys for Great Oaks in their chances of winning the Girls National Championship.

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More to come on Friday night…