Havel's special run ends

PEORIA -- Hersey senior Kevin Havel had been waiting a long time for the 2007 state cross country meet. After placing fifth as a freshman, he had steadily gotten closer to capturing a state title.

With a second-place finish as a junior, Havel came into Saturday's race thinking, "this is my race, this is my time."

However, Havel's thoughts never materialized as he watched Neuqua Valley senior Chris Derrick win the state title while posting the first sub-14 minute finish at the state meet since 1977.

"I gave it my all," said Havel after finishing the three-mile course in 14:16. "I competed as hard as I could. What happened happened. I ran my hardest. That's all I can ask for."

Havel's championship ambitions looked good at the start as he was running shoulder-to-shoulder with Derrick for the first mile and a half of the race.

But the Neuqua Valley star used a powerful surge to jump ahead of Havel and the Hersey standout could never recover.

It was an ironic reversal for Havel, who prides himself on a high level of fitness and typically uses the middle of a race to bury his opponents.

"I just couldn't match his surge," Havel said. "He went on a really strong surge and I wasn't able to match what he did."

In the quest for that elusive individual title, Havel said he tried to keep pace with Derrick for as long as he could. However, that effort appeared to cost him second place, as York's Tom Achtien was able to pass Havel late in the race.

"He wanted to go for the win and he went for the win," Hersey coach Tim Phillips said. "At this point, I don't think there's a difference between second and third.

"He wanted to win so he had to go with (Derrick). Once the guy broke him it looked like he might have lost a little bit of focus. But he still was third so that's an outstanding career that he finished up."

Havel said his body didn't feel right on Saturday.

"I just didn't feel good," he said. "This is probably the first time at this course that I really didn't have a great finish or even a great race. I guess that's really the only black mark on my races here."

Despite the absence of a state title, Havel's prep career was still pretty special. He was only the second runner, after Wheeling's Jorge Torres (1995-98), to record four top-five finishes at the state meet.

"I hope I'm remembered as someone who always gave their best at these big meets, who always came here and surprised people with how good I was, how tenacious and aggressive I was," he said. "Hopefully I'll be remembered for finishing in the top-five all four years. I think that has been a really big honor to me."