Eddington invite makes successful return to Elburn Woods
After a year away, Kaneland's annual Larry Eddington Invitational returned to its home at Elburn Woods Saturday, which meant runners got their chance at the course's famed hill, or "Big Foot" as Knights senior Brianna Bower calls it.
Bower handled the hill, and the slippery course. She finished fourth Saturday in 19 minutes, 8.4 seconds.
"It was fun," Bower said. "I like those tough courses when you have good competition because it really pushes you to go harder. We practice here once or twice a week. With Big Foot, it helps to know exactly what is coming. It's pretty hard but you can push through."
Last year Kaneland hosted a Class 2A sectional at the high school and moved the Eddington invite there to prepare for the sectional.
The invite came back to Elburn Woods Saturday with a challenge just as tough as the hill - how slick the course was after Friday's heavy rains.
"The hardest part today was areas that get slick because you don't want to fall," Bower said. "Coaches always tell you to use the downhills but it's hard sometimes when there are huge puddles and you feel like you are going to face plant if you go too fast."
Bower matched her fourth place she earned last week at the Wauconda Invitational. The only runners who came in ahead were Jenna Lutzow from Belvidere North who won in 18:33, Boylan's Delaney Appino in 18:35 and Benet's Clare McCabe who finished just 1.2 seconds ahead of Bower.
"It's all mental," Bower said. "You need to think you can stay with them. You need to be conditioned but you need to think you can do it. I think it might be just as much mental as physical. I guess it's just will power. You know you will be tired and every other girl out there will be tired. I guess whoever pushes the hardest will end up doing the best."
Belvidere North won the invite by a point over Crystal Lake Central, 55-56. Benet (84), Jacobs (152) and Hampshire (155) rounded out the top five of the 18 teams competing.
McCabe's third-place finish led Benet who also had Amanda DeSitter in 11th.
It was just the second race of the year for McCabe. She and Bower stayed close with Lutzow and Appino for most of the race before the two front-runners pulled away in the final mile.
"People hate hills and I find them not difficult," McCabe said. "I knew I had to push on the hills. I was doing that and they were too and I knew I had to stay with them. Around two miles they took off and I tried to push but they got it."
McCabe was encouraged with how her younger teammates ran.
"I think we did really well," McCabe said. "We have a lot of new varsity runners that are doing a really good job of working with nerves that may come with a new race."
Chole Walsh ran a 19:37 to take sixth place and lead Jacobs. Burlington Central's Megan Safranski cracked the top 10 in 10th, running a 19:53.
Boys race: Friday night's storms didn't just play havoc with the football schedule, it made for an even earlier day for Kaneland cross country coaches Chad Clarey and Doug Ecker.
Clarey got to Elburn Woods "before the crack of dawn" and worked on raking the gravel on the course's big hill after erosion had cut a 5-inch deep groove over 100 yards long.
Clarey and Ecker's work helped the annual Eddington Invitational go off without a hitch, though the conditions were not easy for the runners.
"The course is very soft, times were very slow, but for our boys I'm so pleased with how they competed," Clarey said. "They did a great job."
Kaneland took sixth place out of 20 teams, trailing Crystal Lake Central (87), Glenbard West (91), Jacobs (121), Belvidere North and East Aurora.
Clarey was glad to get the race back at Elburn Woods after last year's invite moved to the high school.
"This is our home, been this way over 25 years for sure," Clarey said. "We realize it's a hardship for our fans to ride that bus but at the same time when you talk to these kids at the end of the race and how excited they are to run such a challenging course, it really means something to them and it will be something they carry on the rest of their lives.
"Our volunteers and assistant coaches did a great job of making this turn out well."
Matt Richtman led Kaneland in seventh place. He moved up in the last half of the race, passing at least 10 runners in that stretch.
"This meet is special," said Richtman, who ran a 15:23 last week at Peoria. "This one is definitely different from a lot of other courses, a lot more challenging. I finished right where I wanted to. The first mile was a little slow for all of us but after that we picked it up."
Kaneland seniors Austin Kintz and Sean Spaetzel followed Richtman in 14th and 26th, respectively.
"I felt our seniors were our true stories of the day in addition to Matt's great work," Clarey said. "The way they stepped up, very pleased with those guys."
Senior Eric Neumann led Glenbard West in fourth in 15:58.3, just seven seconds back of winner Cole Barkocy from Crystal Lake Central.
West Aurora senior Connor McCue took sixth in 16:16.
Kyle Ross was pleased with his eighth-place run in 16:30 which paced a Jacobs top five that also included junior Garrett Brenizer (15th, 16:40.6), freshman Zachary Albrecht (23rd, 16:58.1), senior James Hennessy (25th, 17:08.3) and senior Austin Albrecht (50th, 17:38.1).
"We all finished right where we wanted," Ross said. "There were a lot of muddy spots out there. Tough to get traction especially up that hill it was like a mudslide. Definitely tough to overcome but it was a good race by our whole team."
Jacobs improved from a sixth-place finish two weeks ago at St. Charles East's Leavy Invitational.
"This is great," Ross said. "It's a pretty big meet so it's a big honor to get top 10 (individually). We have a good season ahead of us so we're definitely excited."