D-C is drawing rave reviews

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Longtime Dundee-Crown boys cross country coach Tom Smith subscribes to that theory.

Smith recalled some photos he has of his boys cross country team that were taken at last year's sectional and state meets.

"I have these pictures of these guys with smiles on their faces," said Smith, the dean of area cross country and track coaches who is now in his 29th season at D-C and has been the school's only cross country coach since Dundee and Crown merged in 1983. "They were into the moment."

That "into the moment" description isn't typical of a youthful team that surprised many by finishing 10th in Class 3A last year.

"We had a young team last year and everybody figured we'd say, 'Wait until next year,' " said Smith, who has directed two D-C teams to the state meet (1991 was the other time).

The Chargers didn't wait until next year and now are a year older and return 6 of the 7 state runners, including standout sophomore Anthony Manfrin, who opened plenty of eyes this summer by winning the freshman mile title at the Nike nationals in North Carolina. Manfrin finished 36th as a freshman in the Class 3A state meet.

Manfrin, who also ran in 2 events at the state track meet in Charleston this past spring, is one of 4 D-C returning runners that scored in the state meet. That list also includes senior Paul Smith (Tom Smith's son), sophomore Jon Keable and junior Nathan Prom. All 4 finished in the top 95 at the state meet. Juniors Mike Wiechmann and Jon Magnant also ran in the state meet. Manfrin and graduated Connor Kustief were D-C's top 2 runners last year with Paul Smith running consistently in the third position.

Paul Smith said the photos his dad has, do tell a distinct story.

"That's definitely one of the things that we have going for us," said Paul Smith. "We got to the starting line at the sectional meet and it wasn't, 'Oh this could be our last meet.' We thought it was just another meet. It was just time to run the 3 miles and see how fast we could go and add it up at the end and see where we stood."

For this current D-C group, summer preparations have been a key part of the team's development.

"We ran together all summer. We decided at the end of the cross country season that with a lot of guys coming back, we wanted to do something special," said Paul Smith. "The guys have put in a lot of miles. We've worked hard all summer at this."

The team is also particularly close off the race course.

"We're all pretty good friends," said Manfrin. "Most of us hang out together and that makes the training real fun. We're all close in age. We hang out on weekends and spend a lot of time with each other. We've gotten to know each other well. Being friends makes things easier."

"I think probably our biggest strength is how close we are in general," said Paul Smith. "You can constantly find us doing something outside of cross country."

One intangible D-C will now have to deal with is the fact the days of being this year's version of baseball's Tampa Bay Rays are long over.

"I don't know if we can fly under the radar as much as we flew under last year," said Paul Smith. "We have to handle the pressure either way. We'll have to handle it down the stretch. How we handle it is how good we can be."

In terms of the area cross country community, the word on D-C is definitely out.

"Dundee-Crown will be the team to watch this year-all the way to Peoria," said Cary-Grove coach Layne Holter, whose team won the Fox Valley Conference last year and returns 3 of its 5 state scorers from last year.

And the word on Manfrin is out as well, especially after his sterling summer performance. In addition to the Nike effort, Manfrin also won his age division at the Elgin Fox Trot and Algonquin Founders Days' road races.

"Anthony has a great chance to be all-state this year," said Paul Smith. "He'll hang a low number for us at most meets."

"No doubt, it was the same thing with him, too," said Tom Smith, of Manfrin's emergence last year. "He was there all year. It took almost the whole season for people to step back and say, 'Wow.' He's a key for us. He can hang that low number. When you have a frontrunner like Anthony, you have a chance."

Like last year, contributions from the entire roster will be a key for the Chargers.

"We had guys that were interchangeable," said Tom Smith, whose team last won the FVC title in the mid 1990s and is picked by many to be a major contender for the crown this year. "Those, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 guys were on a given meet and on a given day. We ran a different seventh guy the last 4 meets of the year and they handled it. It was each guy's turn to help the team and that made a difference. Different guys came through for us. We're counting on that being similar for us this year."

Paul Smith feels the presence of his dad has also contributed to the team's success.

"He's been doing this for 30 years," said Paul Smith, a 3-year varsity runner, whose younger brother, Ryan, is also on the team. "When he talks, it's probably a good idea to listen. He helped us a lot down the stretch. We all take what he has to say to heart pretty well."

"He knows pretty much everything about running," said Manfrin. "He's been doing this for awhile. He tells us it's up to us."

Ultimately, Tom Smith and his runners know all of the expectations and prognostications that are out there won't punch the team's return ticket to Peoria.

"The expectations are high, but we haven't beaten anybody yet," said Tom Smith. "Even before we walked off Detweiller (state course in Peoria last year) we knew we weren't going to be sneaking up on anybody. It's the old too early to tell thing. We'll build on what we accomplished last year. No doubt we want to contend for the conference and do well in the regional and get out of the sectional and get back to state and see what we can do there. Give these guys credit. They had a great summer. They are a very dedicated group."

The Chargers are ready to turn town the volume on the talking button.

"We're all ready and we're all pumped up," said Manfrin.

"We know what we have to do," said Paul Smith. "All we have to do is put our minds to it."