Wheeling hopes for big benefits from long run

Nine teenagers running around in the middle of the night evokes a few negative thoughts.

Most would go along with the old line “nothing good happens after midnight.” So, what about running around at 3 a.m. or as the sun is about to rise?

For nine runners on Wheeling's boys cross country team, everything was good about the experience of the fifth annual Red Eye Relay in late July in Indiana. The 100-mile endurance test starts at Indiana University and has competitors literally seeing stars since it starts late on a Saturday afternoon and ends Sunday morning.

“It was definitely the most tiring relay I've ever been to,” said Wheeling senior Nick Modlin. “It was fun going through the whole night.

“Being at night definitely helped. With the cool air and a ton of adrenaline the mileage wasn't as bad. But there were killer hills.”

It was a hill of a challenge which can't be accurately displayed on maps of the 50-mile loop course which goes through the Indiana countryside north of Bloomington.

“The only thing that surprised me a lot were the hills,” said Wheeling senior Jose Ortiz. “I didn't expect the hills to be that big. The hills were monstrous.”

But Wheeling's team, which was named “Got To Get Them All,” was up to the challenge of running while most of us were sleeping.

They started at 7 p.m. Saturday and finished just past 6:30 a.m. Sunday. Their time of 11 hours, 32 minutes and eight seconds was good enough to finish third overall out of 75 teams.

“I didn't think it would be that organized but the people running it made it a lot of fun,” Ortiz said. “When you switched runners people were there encouraging you.”

What encouraged Wheeling cross country coach Tom Polak about the Red Eye Relay is it turned out to be exactly the team-building summer event he had in mind.

Polak said he was looking for a team relay race when he “literally stumbled” on the Red Eye on the Internet. The only problem was it was the week of the race last summer so he had to wait until this year.

Polak researched the event and talked with Naperville North girls cross country coach Dan Iverson, who has taken teams to the Red Eye in recent years. Polak pitched it to his team and they were excited about the challenge.

“But I stipulated it's a commitment to the team,” Polak said. “The kids who were committed all summer long got the opportunity to go.”

Modlin, Ortiz and senior Jordy Arriaga, juniors Chris Olszewski, Terrance Moran and Alfonso Figueroa, sophomore Edwin Arteaga and freshmen Brian and Edwin Hernandez all ran in the event with Cole Dammeier and Elias Cruz there as alternates. Each runner did at least two legs and three did three legs of lengths from 2½ to 8 miles.

Polak and assistant coach Jason Sendelbach each drove a van. One van stayed with whoever was running at the time and the other helped the next runner get ready at the next exchange zone.

The runners taking a break got a chance to rest, refuel with food and drink and inspire their teammates.

“Everyone else in the van would be cheering on whoever was running, listening to music or chatting,” Modlin said.

“We got to know each other better,” Arriaga said.

Arriaga said he also got to know himself better as a runner after three legs totaling 18 miles. He said the most he had run previously in a day was 15 miles.

On his second Red Eye leg he ran at a 6:10 pace on what he said was “really hilly” terrain. That bodes well since Arriaga didn't come out for cross county as a freshman but now is hoping to make it to the state meet.

“It definitely gave me confidence,” said Arriaga, who ran in the sectional last year. “It was the hardest thing I've ever done. It tested your limits and you say, ‘I can finally do this.'”

Polak and his runners believe the Red Eye could be a building block to a successful season. The bonds Polak hoped to see form were evident as his runners approached the finish line at Indiana's track and field complex.

“When we got on the track we all finished together and ran together,” Ortiz said. “We wanted to finish as a team and we did.”

Right about the time most people were just starting their day.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com