DuPage County teams thrive downstate
PEORIA — DuPage County boys cross country teams showed again Saturday they can run with the best in the state.
Five DuPage teams finished in the top 10 at the Class 3A meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria, with Hinsdale Central winning the meet with 104 points, victory and a 34-point margin over Sandburg. Lyons Township was third.
Neuqua Valley grabbed fourth (181 points), with Glenbard West fifth (208), York sixth (228) and Naperville North seventh (249). Connor Horn led Neuqua, finishing seventh in 14:36 but fourth in the team compilation.
“We all wanted to go out hard, because we know the state meet can box people in sometimes,” Horn said. “We did that for the first half, and the goal was just to pick off as many people as possible. That went pretty well for us, I think.”
Horn's heroics were somewhat overshadowed by the game effort of teammate Caleb Ferguson, who was spiked in the right foot — and in two spots, no less — early in the race but soldiered on, never mind the cut and the blood and the pain.
“The pain I feel is worse than the pain from that,” Ferguson said after finishing in 15:30, out of contributing in the team points, but no less regarded thanks to his pluck.
Ryan Clevenger of Downers Grove North faded to fourth in the final mile after challenging and finished in 14:24. Jesse Reiser of McHenry won in 14:11.
Hinsdale South ran to a ninth-place finish in Class 2A, Charlie Nodus leading the way. Wheaton Academy took 11th, with Brandon Lach and Jonah Jones 20th and 24th in the team scoring, while Glenbard South was 22nd and St. Francis 24th. Montini was 20th in Class A.
But of all DuPage County teams, Hinsdale Central had the most to celebrate.
“We ran this course in First to the Finish early in the season, and we basically simulated the same thing today,” said Hinsdale Central's Blake Evertsen, 12th overall and eighth in the team standing. “Keep the pack tight, make sure we have contact with everyone. We knew if everyone ran to his potential, we could walk away with it. They killed us at sectionals, brought their A game. We knew after that performance, we were going to have to step it up that much more.
“We learned they wanted it just as much as we did.”