Jacobs' Hennessy wins Eddington invite
Senior William Hennessy kept the Jacobs streak going Saturday morning at Kaneland's Larry Eddington Invitational at Elburn Woods.
Hennessy, second in the race last year to former teammate Nick Ellingson, spoke to Ellingson this week. Now at St. Mary's in California, Ellingson had some simple instructions.
“He told me to try to keep the Jacobs streak alive,” Hennessy said. “I'll probably call him up later and say, ‘Hey, guess what?'”
Hennessy made a furious charge to pass Burlington Central senior Clint Kliem at the final turn and take the victory in 15:47.9 to Kliem's 15:50.6.
“As I was coming around the final turn I thought it was now or never,” Hennessy said. “I just got whatever was left in the tank, which was wasn't much left. I'm honestly surprised I was able to go that fast.”
While history repeated itself for Jacobs, it also did for Kliem. He finished third at this race last year when both Ellingson and Hennessy passed him late.
“I tried running the race where I could gain enough of a lead where even if there was a kick it wouldn't matter,” Kliem said. “But going up the hills in the back he stayed right with me.”
Henessy and Kliem know each other well. They ran near identical times at Detweiller Park in Peoria last week in 15:10 and 15:12, respectively.
Kliem, who took fifth last week at the 2A meet at Detweiller, knows exactly what to work on as the postseason approaches.
“Just start working on speed work,” Kliem said. “I've got the endurance. It's just a matter of that last mile, that last half-mile kick.”
Crystal Lake Central followed its victory in the girls race with another title, this time with 88 points. Benet also repeated its runner-up finish from the girls race at 106 followed by Jacobs (114), Glenbard West (137) and Burlington Central (143).
Host Kaneland took sixth at 148, Batavia was seventh, Geneva ninth and West Aurora 11th while sitting its top four runners.
Matt Rurka (sixth, 16:13) and Anton Vershay (eighth, 16:28) both placed in the top 10 for Benet. Brandon Bonifer (11th, 16:43.2), Alec Larsen (15th, 16:51.1) and Ryan Ross (16th, 16:51.3) led the Glenbard West pack.
Seniors Chris Spadafora and Mike Redmond continued to run together at the front for Batavia, taking ninth and 10th respectively.
“I thought they did a great job,” Batavia coach Mike DiDomenico said. “They are our leaders, great kids, they lead by example. With their leadership it's going to bring our younger kids along. The goal is to continue to improve and hopefully at the end of the season we'll be knocking on that door.”
DiDomenico has been looking at different combinations for the rest of Batavia's lineup. Two of the top seven runners from last week at the Royal-Cadet missed Saturday because of injuries giving DiDomenico a chance to see some new faces. Sophomore Chris Orlow took 49th in 17:34, the closest finisher to Batavia's top two.
“Now we have some depth, we brought some new kids up and I think they responded well,” DiDomenico said. “The purpose of this is to see where everyone is at. I like what a I saw. We'll continue to evaluate and mix things up.”
Kaneland coach Chad Clarey doesn't usually move his younger runners up for this meet. But sophomore Kyle Carter got his chance Saturday and responded by leading the Knights in 17th place in 16:51.
“Kyle has shown promise of what he can be today which is the No. 1 runner for us,” Clarey said. “We wanted to see where he fits in with other runners from teams we'll see later. He did a great job. It's a fantastic time for his second year in cross country.”
Junior Conor Johnson took 20th and John Meisenger 22nd for the Knights. Like the rest of their teammates they were sporting new uniforms Saturday which Clarey said helped the runners stay together better than last week in Peoria.
“They banged it out together, very close the whole race,” Clarey said. “Better visibility. They couldn't find each other (last week).”
Clarey said Brandon Huber (43rd) and senior Clayton Brundige (46th) both set PRs on their home course.
“If our last scoring runner is in the 30s that's a good deal,” Clarey said. “We have some really nice teams here.”
It was an interesting day for Geneva. Two of the Vikings runners lost a shoe during the race.
Nathan Wendt (30th, 17:17) ran almost the whole race carrying one of his shoes. Blaine Bartel (47th, 17:33) lost his shoe in the second half of the race and was back out looking for it after the race ended.
“I told Nate in the future the 15-20 seconds to put the shoe on is probably worth it especially as rough as the hills are here with rocks and acorns,” Geneva coach Bob Thomson said. “Over the course of the race he could probably make it up.”
Thomson is looking forward to the unlimited number of runners allowed the Sterling meet next Saturday to get a better idea of what his long-term lineup will be.
“It will give us a chance for kids competing for spots, put kids head-to-head,” Thomson said. “A couple young boys are trying to make a name for themselves.”
West Aurora returned to the Eddington for the fist time since the 1990s and enjoyed the much shorter trip up Rt. 47 than previous years to Woodstock. Nate Pealstrom took 12th and Graham Isaacson 33rd as coach Matt Sinnott let his top four rest.
“We wanted to see our fifth and sixth, and Nate stepped up big and Graham showed he belongs on there,” Sinnott said. “We'll play around with some lineups before next week.”