WWS runs away with Stampede

While everything from a muddy course to a slew of talented teams tried, nobody could tame the Tigers Saturday at the annual West Aurora Stampede held at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove.

Wheaton Warrenville South scored 76 points to win going away. St. Charles North took second with 121, just ahead of Geneva. Glenbard East (131) and Downers Grove North (154) rounded out the top five.

Aaron Peck led the Tigers by placing fourth.

"We're real happy we came together," Peck said. "It's a great step before we go into conference."

The DuPage Valley meet will be on the same Waubonsee course this coming Friday that the Tigers won on Saturday.

"We had a little trouble packing but we tried to just move forward and block the wind and I think we did that today," Peck said.

Peck ran at the front of the race for the first two miles. Race champion Ben Silver from Downers Grove North and Geneva's Kevin McDowell passed Peck shortly after the two-mile mark, then Geneva's Kevin Sparks passed Peck in the woods heading into the final stretch.

"Our main focus for next week is to get a conference title and I think we can do it," Peck said. "Everything is clicking right now."

Ryan Fredrickson and Keenan Havey followed Peck in 14th and 16th place, respectively.

"We pushed through, got our spots and held it," Havey said. "We've always raced well, just sometimes days like today shows more as far as places go."

Kyle Zankowski, who won his own home meet last week, led St. Charles North with a sixth-place finish. He caught four runners from the first to third mile to earn sixth on his first time running the course.

"It's a competitive meet," Zankowski said. "It was tough, a different course and it was cold. (A) good time for the weather and I had a tough week of training."

Ryan Senci (23rd), Billy Clink (24th), Will Novorolsky (32nd) and Kyle Kuczynski (36th) joined Zankowski in the North Stars' top five. St. Charles North is coming off an 8th-place finish at last year's Class 3A state meet.

"We want to be better than last year but it's tough because we are pretty young," Zankowski said.

McDowell and Sparks' 2-3 finish lifted Geneva to third. McDowell tried to overtake Silver, who finished 17th in the state last year, in the final mile.

"I knew who he was and I wanted to stick on him," McDowell said. "I tried making a move back in the woods and give it one last go, but it didn't work. He had a phenomenal race."

McDowell said he is back into cross country shape after missing the start of the season while finishing fourth in an international triathlon in Australia. He credits his teammate Sparks with making the transition easier.

"It takes a couple weeks to get back in the groove," McDowell said. "Now I'm really getting back into it, and Sparks has been awesome getting me back into (shape). He's been guiding me through. At practices we're always training together."

Justin Rodriguez, Ryan Ahern and Eric Black followed for Geneva in 34th, 39th and 46th, respectively.

"A couple weeks ago we had a so-so race, now we're really starting to come together," McDowell said. "It's going to be exciting going into conference and the state series."

Nate Young led fourth-place Glenbard East by placing fifth.

The one-two combination of Zach Young (15th) and Ben Kanute (21st) led Marmion to seventh. Bennett Marsh (44th), Chris Hebert (51st) and Matt Wenzel (75th) took third through fifth.

Host West Aurora finished ninth. Matthew Muth placed 18th in 16 minutes even, four seconds ahead of teammate Stephan Loran (20th).

Batavia's top four ran fairly close together, finishing 42nd, 48th, 58th and 69th. Mike Redmond led the charge, with Sam Stoner, Matt Lash and Kevin Gray not far behind.

Glenbard South finished 12th. Coach Andy Preuss said his team is ranked between 12th and 16th in Class 2A and is hoping to get their fifth runner Dave McGrath healthy.

The Raiders' No. 2 finisher Saturday, Collin White, was in 23rd late in the race but fell to 43rd, making Arsal Shareef's 33rd the top Raider. Preuss said White trained a little too hard Tuesday and that was the reason for the slow finish, adding White will be strong in the postseason.

"We're just trying to get ready for the next couple weeks," Preuss said. "If we can get everybody healthy and get them rested, we'll be OK. They are doing the right things, what the good teams used to do."