Crystal Lake Central edges Geneva for title
With runners from so many schools coming into the chute at about the same time Saturday morning at Kaneland's 40th annual Eddington Invitational, Knights coach Chad Clarey had a hard time telling which team came out on top.
Turns out it was just about as hard to tell an hour later. That's how close the top four teams ran.
Crystal Lake Central pulled out the win with 92 points, just ahead of Geneva's 93. Dundee-Crown came in third with 97 and Sycamore fourth at 98.
"We love seeing teams that come here," Clarey said. "It's a great meet year after year, there are a lot of good quality programs that bring great runners and athletes."
A week from now it could easily be Geneva that comes out on top. That's when the Vikings get Kevin McDowell, an all-stater last year, back in their lineup.
McDowell returned Monday from competing in an international triathlon, where he finished fourth in his 16-19 age group - the top finish from any U.S. competitor his age.
"He'll be a welcome addition next week," said Geneva coach Bob Thomson, who liked how his pack ran Saturday but still wants to see it close. "We have to close that gap, it's a little bigger than we like to see, but hey we are working hard and I'm proud of them."
Though Kevin Sparks led the Vikings with a fourth-place finish, he was disappointed that Crystal Lake Central's Ryan Alvarez and Sycamore's Tyson Kinsley passed him just before the finish line.
"It's always tough getting passed at the end by other competitors but I know I left it all out there so that's all I can ask for," Sparks said. "The other guys ran great races, they ran really smart so I'll take this onto next week and try to do better. Running up the hills on the back part of the course is pretty tough."
Sparks started the year with two "fantastic" races, including a personal record by 10 seconds last week at Peoria.
"I'm really happy with the start I'm off to," Sparks said. "Just a little setback here."
Justin Rodriguez (14th), Connor Bartel (17th), Ryan Ahern (24th) and Dylan Crawshaw (34th) followed Sparks.
Host Kaneland also was missing a key runner, its No. 1 Matt Reusche who has tenderness behind his knee, and the Knights didn't want to risk making it worse on what's a known as a rugged course.
Trevor Holm stepped into the top spot and set his personal record by 30 seconds, placing 16th in 16:47. "He really led our charge," Clarey said. "The pack was really evident for us. They raced their home course very well. The senior leaders did what they need to do."
That pack - Logan Markuson, Edgar Valle, Dominic Furco and Joe Levita - all finished between 24th and 30th. Kaneland took fifth with 122 points.
Clarey also liked the way his runners helped each other during the race.
"Listening to them talk, how they worked together, they knew which runners from other teams they wanted to key off," Clarey said.
Batavia finished eighth and saw its seven runners improve by a collective six minutes. That went from the No. 1 through No. 7 spots. Sam Stoner took 1:39 off his time with a 17:06 finish, and Andrew Alcott cut 40 seconds to run an 18:31. Others making strides included Kevin DiVerde, Kevin Gray and Scott Wloszczynski.
"I'm very happy," Batavia coach Mike DiDomenico said. "They were all open runners last year. The kids ran to their abilities. It might not show in overall team results, but when you got (runners dropping their times), you know you are doing good things and that's all I can ask. We're excited for that."
After taking ninth as a freshman and then second in a tight finish last year to Geneva's Andrew Nelson, Dundee-Crown's Anthony Manfrin won Saturday in 15:40.
Manfrin missed two weeks earlier this season with a strained right calf. His doctor told him he has a micro tear but the injury won't get worse if he can handle running with the pain.
He returned last week and took third in Peoria even without running his best race.
"I didn't run as well as I wanted at Peoria," said Manfrin. "This week I was looking for a confidence booster. It just felt off (last week), I felt like I saw dying. Today was definitely an improvement."
On Saturday, Manfrin continued to build his lead from about the mile mark on and won comfortably.
"I felt a lot more fluid in my run," Manfrin said. "I didn't feel that oxygen death in the last mile, just felt smooth and more relaxed so that's a good sign."
It also was a good day for the rest of the Chargers, who took third. Junior Jon Keable placed ninth, Jon Clark 21st and Robert Medina 29th.
Burlington Central placed 10th led by eighth-place runner Clint Kleim.