Wisser leads charge to Earlybird title

All summer long Hersey senior Billy Wisser had been looking forward to the 27th annual Fenton "Earlybird" Invitational.

Wisser learned in June that his cross country teammate and No. 1 runner Kevin Havel had scheduled a Sept. 1 college visit, giving Wisser a chance to temporarily emerge from Havel's shadow.

Wisser took full advantage, posting the third-best time in "Earlybird" history (15:17) and finishing 23 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

"He's in better shape than I expected," Huskies coach Tim Phillips said. "He works as hard as Kevin does, so it's great to see him be able to come out and earn his name on the traveling trophy."

Wisser admitted that he felt Havel's absence.

"I'm not used to it without Kevin," Wisser said. "Usually Kevin is there pushing me. (With the big lead) my mind shut down and I just wanted to win."

Junior teammate Erik Stanton (15:40) gave the Huskies the top two finishers and seniors Mike Tisza (16:17) and Eric Johansen (16:35) placed 12th and 19th, respectively.

However, three consecutive Hoffman Estates runners followed Stanton across the finish line as the Hawks edged Hersey 51-59 for first place.

Junior Matt Perez (15:45) and seniors Ross Goers (16:00) and Emilio Saraga (16:02) were followed closely by senior Chris Sutphen (16:10), giving Hoffman four in the top eight.

"I'm real impressed and real happy with that top four," Hawks coach Matt Dowd said. "They're real close on and off the course.

"They impressed me in the middle of the race. They really packed it up and solidified themselves."

The win was Hoffman's first Fenton Invitational title in school history.

"It feels good," Perez said. "It's just a great accomplishment. I think that most (of my teammates) didn't really realize what this summer did to them. I think today they really realized what it did."

Fenwick had 86 points to take third and Lake Park scored 99 to grab the fourth-place trophy.

Buffalo Grove finished ninth Saturday morning behind an inspired effort from senior Clay Locke. He started the race strong and was running with Wisser for the first 1½ miles.

However, Locke's initial effort caught up to him as he slowly fell back, finishing in 10th place.

"Very good race by Clay Locke," Bison coach Jamie Klotz said. "Even though he faded in the middle of that race, I was really pleased that he went out and tried to go as hard as he could with Wisser.

"It was a mistake, but it's a mistake that he's going to learn from and benefit from. He was still able to bring it back together."

Prospect finished 10th as its varsity squad sat out the race. Senior Brian Armgardt (17:41) paced the pack with junior David Gorak (17:43) and seniors Andrew Holcomb (17:44) and Brian Angell (17:54) following.

"The big thing we had done with them was talk about running as a pack," Prospect assistant coach Pete Wintermute said. "So that was good that they're starting to run together."

• A mild but sunny and cloudless day produced a scary scene. Maine East freshman Raag Shah collapsed and lost consciousness after crossing the finish line.

Shah was unresponsive and his blood pressure dropped, assistant coach Scott Schultes said, causing paramedics to take him to a local hospital. Schultes later said Shah was OK after he regained consciousness during the ambulance ride.

CL South Invitational: You didn't need to convince Huntley senior runner Todd Farbiak how tough the Veterans Acres course is.

"This is by far the toughest course we will run on," said Farbiak. "You can't simulate this in practice. Not running Tuesday, this was a tough first race of the season."

Farbiak overcame the toughness of the course and placed sixth with a 3-mile time of 17:33.2.

"I was 10th with about 100 yards to go and passed four guys," said Farbiak. "I am pleased with my finish. I know I have to keep improving as the season goes on."

McHenry, led by individual champion Curtis Weisenberger, won the team title with a score of 75. Weisenberger won the race with a 3-mile time of 17:14.6.

Dundee-Crown finished a solid second with a score of 92. The Chargers were led by senior Connor Kustief, who is a 4-year varsity performer. Kustief placed fourth and was followed in the Top 10 by Anthony Manfrin, who finished ninth. Paul Smith was 22nd with Mike Wiechmann 25th and Tyler Neumann 32nd.

"Connor is our leader and after that we weren't sure what we were going to get," said Smith. "We weren't sure how we stacked up. We have a lot of flexibility with our lineup. We don't have any standouts. We just have a good pack. For a first meet, we ran very well."

Cary-Grove, led by a fifth place finish from sophomore Phillip Fairleigh, was third with a score of 111. The next finisher for the Trojans was Donald Lang who was 13th. Jeff Boivin placed 29th, Adam Ressegie finished 30th and Kai Rikardsen was 34th.

Wauconda placed 17th with a score of 425. The top runner was Marc Anders with a 48th place finish. Mike Anselmo was 67th followed by Tim Kimes (108th), Dan Raupp (124th) and Brian Lindberg (167th).

In the 20-team field, Grant was 19th with a score of 464. Lance Littleton led Grant with a 94th-place finish. Jose Flores was 98th, Brad Williams finished 105th, Derek Hall 117th and Kameron Wehde 135th.

-- Dave Hess

Hornet-Red Devil Invite: Neuqua Valley's Chris Derrick re-wrote the record books Saturday, winning the Hornet-Red Devil Cross Country Invitational in 14 minutes, 30 seconds at Katherine Legge Park in Hinsdale. The Wildcats senior shattered the previous 3-mile course boys record of 14 minutes, 48 seconds held by former Wheaton Warrenville South runner Jon Popejoy.

"(Derrick) continues to amaze us," said Neuqua Valley coach Paul Vandersteen. "And I don't know where his ceiling is. He just keeps getting better and better."

Derrick took control of the race from the starting gun, quickly distancing himself from the competition.

"I was surprised no one went with me (in the beginning), but then I saw the clock at the mile and knew why," said Derrick, who had a seven-second lead after his first mile of 4:39. "I got relaxed the first mile and I just tried to keep my turnover going. I was really surprised by how much I broke (the record)."

Top-ranked Neuqua Valley cruised to the boys cross country title with 30 points, 50 points better than second-place Palatine. The Wildcats put four runners in the top ten, with three of those runners taking the top four spots -- senior Jim Riddle was second in 14:55 while junior Danny Pawola finished fourth.

Seventh-ranked Palatine was led by Mat Smoody's third-place performance. The returning 800-meter state champion and all-state cross country runner held off Pawola to finish in 15 minutes, 6 seconds, although he admits his sight was set on a different Neuqua Valley runner.

"The plan was to sit on Derrick until the 2-mile. I tried to but it didn't feel like I had my legs today," said Smoody. "I don't think (Derrick) has any fear. I don't think anything can faze him, with his confidence. He's a great runner."

Naperville Central finished third with 115 points behind senior Steve Couch's fifth-place performance. Hinsdale South's Brian Denk finished sixth overall, helping the Hornets to a fourth-place team finish with 141 points. Wheaton Warrenville South was seventh with 183 points. Senior Pete Casa led the team with his 10th-place performance.

-- Dennis Van Milligen