Photo: Jacob Ridderhoff crosses the line winning the EIU Showdown Wednesday in Naperville (Mike Newman Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Naperville – August is not the month where state titles are declared. It is the month where state titles are earned. It also when journeys to Peoria begin in Illinois.

Such was the case Wednesday afternoon at Greene Valley Forest Preserve in Naperville. The state’s top ranked team in the state Downers Grove North was hosting the EIU Showdown. The opening meet of the season is more of a gathering of former Eastern Illinois University runners that meet up. They do bring their teams also.

Downers Grove North did show that they will be the team to be reckoned with this November in Peoria in the Boys Varsity race. It did not look that way for the two miles of the race. They did pull way in the final mile to put five runners in the first seven scoring 19 points. This race was all about working on portions of their race. It was all about November and beyond.

“Today was just about working on parts of our race. I’m happy with our performance,” Downers Grove North Coach John Sipple said. “I wanted them to be under control for most of the race. Then we would work on our move the last mile of the race.”

They did move.

Sipple preached to his team before the start of the race that they need to always be passing. It did not look like that when about 20 runners passed by the first mile in what seemed a pedestrian 5:10.

The pace picked up the second mile as Downers North’s Riley Birkmeier started to push the pace with his teammates close behind. Zach Albrecht of Jacobs closed the gap as did Birkmeier’s teammate Jacob Ridderhoff. The trio went through in 10:18 and were picking up the pace even more.

The last mile by Ridderhoff was covered in 5:02. He looked comfortable crossing the line in 15:20. Matt Moravec passed Albrecht to give North a 1-2 finished as he crossed the line in 15:23. Albrecht was two seconds back. Birkmeier followed (15:38) just ahead of his teammate Nick Chudzik (15:41). Downers Grove North’s Jack Roberts was the team’s fifth runner as he placed seventh (15:46).

“It was a good race. We tried to get out a little more conservative and pack it together,” Ridderhoff said. “Coach wanted up to let it rip. We finished strong. It turned out pretty well.”

The Trojans’ split on the top five runners was only 26 seconds. They were without two of their top seven as Miles Christensen and Sam McCool were held out. Those two runners would have been interwoven somewhere within that top five if they had competed.

“I was really impressed by the way that Brendan Lockerby ran today,” Sipple added. Lockerby was the team’s sixth runner finishing 14^th overall. “He is a half-miler that worked hard this summer. I liked the way he moved at the end passing a lot of runners.”

#11 Plainfield North finished second with 68 points. They had two runners in the top ten with Omar Paramo sixth and Ben Otstott ninth. Jacobs, behind Albrecht’s finish, was third with 73 points.

The Girls Varsity race had the spotlight on #25 Plainfield North who put five runners in the top eight to easily win the team title with 19 points. Burlington Central (64 points) and Jacobs (66 points) finished second and third.

Plainfield North’s Juliana Stogsdill had a big lead in last year’s race before losing it in the final mile to Shepard’s Kelli Callahan. That did not happen on Wednesday.

“My coach told me before the race to start pushing the pace in that second mile,” Stogsdill said after the race. “I did not want to take it out too fast like I did last year. I just wanted to progressively get faster.”

She did just that. Stogsdill’s lead at the half way point on the rest of the pack was 15 seconds. It doubled by the time she passed 2 miles.

The junior crossed the line easily in 18:57. Plainfield North took the next two spots with Megan Patton in second (19:34) and Katie Nalley in third (19:38). Nalley, who is the granddaughter of Hall of Fame Coach Carlin Nalley, gives Plainfield North a strong presence up front along with Stogsdill and Patton. Mariam Hussain in seventh and Becca Lau in eighth rounded out the top five for Plainfield North.