WW South wins Stampede

West Aurora had to move its annual Stampede race Saturday from Waubonsee Community College to Marmion, a course Wheaton Warrenville South had never seen before.

Greta Havey’s Tigers took a quick liking to it, finishing with 46 points to beat West Aurora (75), Neuqua Valley (94) and the rest of the 19-team field.

A jog and a walk through the course before the race proved enough for the Tigers to know how to attack it.

“We try to teach them as you are going through the course to look at your footing, look at areas you have to make some moves,” Havey said. “They send us an aerial map but you don’t know all the terrains, but that is part of cross country. I’m old school where you get a map and jog your course and then you race.

“I’m proud of them that they are handling the intensity that this time of year brings.”

Almost all the Tigers moved up as the race went on and they ended up with three runners in the top seven: Luke Schroer, third, Nolan McKenna, fourth, and Quinn Farley in seventh.

“Luke is not afraid to go out with those guys (the front-runners),” Havey said. “I’m real proud of how they managed from seeing them early (in the race). They were patient and when they needed to put the hammer down they were able to do that and finish off the race.”

Daryle Worley in 13th and Derek Andersen in 19th rounded out the Tigers’ top five. WW South had finished second to St. Charles North the previous week at LeRoy Oakes in St. Charles.

“They keep doing better every week,” Havey said. “Coming into conference this is a huge boost for us.”

Willowbrook senior Pat Niyork ran a 15:35 to win the race. He led the entire way.

“I took it out hard,” Niyork said. “My coach told me at the beginning of the year to picture yourself at the state meet every time. You don’t go out soft at the state meet, you go out hard. There was a good group for the first 800 but then I started trying to pull away keeping consistent miles.”

Niyork said his pace did slow a little in the second and third mile but he still had plenty left for his third invitational title this fall. Niyork previously won the Minooka and Leyden Invitationals.

“I just put a lot of trust in my coaches and training is going perfectly,” Niyork said.

Junior Alexh Meka finished fifth to lead third-place Neuqua Valley. Glenbard East’s Bill Booth was just two seconds behind Meka to take sixth for the fifth-place Rams.

It was a good day for Matt Sinnott’s Blackhawks who took second despite missing one of their normal top runners.

Junior Omar Gomez led the charge by taking second, 14 seconds behind Niyork with a 15:49 time.

“The first mile we took it at a comfortable pace,” Gomez said. “The second mile we picked it up. The last mile was just all out. Tried to catch the first place guy but he was a little to far out.”

Gomez earlier won the Aurora City Meet on the same course.

Seniors Josh Robinson and Calvin Robinson also placed in the top 10 in ninth and 10th, respectively. Robert Hererra was 22nd and Vontrel Hawkins 33rd.

“We looked pretty good,” Gomez said.

Marmion came in just outside the top five in sixth place despite missing several of its normal top seven who were serving suspensions.

“Today was good,” Marmion coach Dan Billish said. “There were some disciplinary issues we faced. I think the kids are learning from their mistakes but it’s going to leave us with some incomplete lineups until regionals. They responded in a positive way.”

Will Graft (17th, 16:34), John Graft (18th, 16:34), Kevin Grahovec (30th, 16:46), Ethan Young (36th, 16:54) and Eric Anderson (55th, 17:14) made up Marmion’s top five.

“We are being patient and the kids are learning week in and week out,” Billish said. “The suspensions have allowed other kids a chance to compete.”

Billish also was glad to get a chance to run the Stampede on the Marmion campus. The meet was much larger than the Royal-Cadet and City meets the Cadets hosted earlier.

“It preps the course for conference next week,” Billish said. “And I think it is great exposure for the course and possibly developing bigger meets in the future.”