Leavey Invite called off

With six runners already being either treated by paramedics or taken away in ambulances, race officials decided to cancel the boys varsity race Saturday morning at the Jeff Leavey Invitational at LeRoy Oakes.

St. Charles East assistant athletic director Lori Drumtra made the announcement a little after the boys varsity race was scheduled to begin at 11:15 a.m. All the other races from fresh/soph boys and girls, the open races and the varsity girls had already been held, but with the temperatures rising and with all the available paramedics busy treating kids race officials deemed it unsafe to run the varsity boys.

“The fire chief, trainers, paramedics have been very busy today,” Drumtra said. “We had about six runners that needed to be dealt with by the paramedics. We’ve had a lot of ambulances coming and going.”

Boys coaches, while disappointed, understood that safety comes first.

“If they don’t have the emergency capacity to take care of it then it’s a good decision,” Geneva coach Bob Thomson said. “They said the hospital was backed up and ambulances full already. If someone was to have a situation you want to know there’s emergency help for those kids.

“From that standpoint I wholeheartedly agree with it but at the same time those (varsity) kids are probably in the best shape to handle the situation. But all it takes is one boy (to have troubles).”

The sophomore boys did get their race in. Batavia won with 67 points followed by Marmion, Downers Grove North, Waubonsie Valley and St. Ignatius. Geneva took sixth and St. Charles North was ninth.

Marmion sophomore Kevin Grahovec won the race in 16:07.8. Batavia placed the No. 3-5 finishers: Mitch Zabka, Ryan Wietes and Chris Orlow.

Nathan Klair led St. Charles North in ninth.

As for the varsity, the teams will have to wait a week for their first big invitationals. Many will be at Marmion next week for the Royal-Cadet invite.

“My boys are really disappointed,” said Thomson. “It happened to us three years ago and that was in October (at the West Aurora Stampede). It’s hard to argue. Paramedic decision.”