St. Charles N. cruises to River title
Mike Bianchina heard Zach Heuer’s footsteps coming Saturday morning at the Upstate Eight Conference River Division meet at LeRoy Oakes, but there was nothing he could do to slow them.
Heuer, a St. Charles North senior, caught the Geneva junior Bianchina in the final 400 meters, taking the conference championship in 15:24.9 to Bianchina’s 15:27.2.
“I could see him behind me,” Bianchina said. “I was taking a couple quick glances back. I couldn’t quite get him. I thought he was dropping off (earlier in the third mile), is he tired or what? Then I saw him right behind me. I just didn’t have anything left.”
About halfway through the race, Heuer and Bianchina were in a lead group pack that also included Batavia’s Chris Spadafora and Mike Redmond, and St. Charles North’s Declan Duggan and Spencer Gray.
Heuer said he made his move after the second mile after “reality check,” which is the way he usually likes to race saving his best for last.
“I generally am not the fastest starter,” Heuer said. “My first mile I’m not up in the front of the pack. I build for the second and third mile.”
Bianchina’s runner-up finish was quite an impressive improvement after he took 12th just two weeks earlier on the same course at the St. Charles North Invitational.
“Last year I didn’t run well until got down to state,” Bianchina said. “(I’ve had) more consistent training this year, got a lot of base mileage in over the summer. Getting more pumped up for races, doing team stuff to get ready for them. It’s definitely much more of a team thing, especially at Geneva.”
As close as the race for the individual champion was, the quest for the team title was never in doubt. St. Charles North ran away with the title at 24 points while Batavia and Geneva tied at 52. The Bulldogs earned second place based on sixth runner Chris Koch taking 20th, one spot ahead of the Vikings’ sixth runner.
Following Heuer, Duggan took third, Gray fourth, Grant Markowicz seventh and Nicholas Borger ninth for the North Stars.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what we can do the next couple weeks,” Heuer said. ”I’m proud of the team. It was a great race.
“We have all trained together and building throughout the years. The team we had as frosh-soph two years ago we’ve just been consistently getting better each year.”
Batavia put three runners in the Top 10 — Spadafora fifth, Redmond sixth and Trevor Hollis in eighth. Mitch Zabka (14th) and Kevin Millen (19th) rounded out their top five.
After Bianchina, Geneva’s pack stayed close: Ryan Rasmussen 10th, Peter Archibald 11th, Dan Herrera 13th and Nathan Wendt 16th.
“It’s a good race for the entire team,” Bianchina said. “We were feeling pretty positive about it.”
Larkin (124), Elgin (143), Streamwood (176) and St. Charles East (191) finished fourth through seventh.