Jacobs puts it all together at Bartlett Invite
Jacobs boys cross country coach Kevin Christian has been waiting for his Golden Eagles to soar. And in the windy and cool conditions at the Bartlett Invitational, his team did just that.
Jacobs had 5 of the top 18 finishers to easily win the 13-team invitational at Sunrise Park Saturday with a score of 45 points. The Eagles finished well ahead of Lincoln-Way Central, which was second with 101 points. Conant was third with 122, followed by Schaumburg’s 128 and Bartlett’s 142.
“I am very happy with our boys,” Christian said. “Every meet someone has had an off day or someone has been sick. And we have been waiting for them to put it together and today is the day. They went after it right from the gun.”
The Eagles were led by Matt Johnson, who finished second with a time of 15:48.2. Tyler Estell was 7th (15:58.5), Pat Nerja 8th (15:59.4), Ryan Ross 10th (16:01.3) and Sebastian Baran 18th (16:13.8).
“I am little tired,” Johnson said. “It was cold and windy. But I wanted to stay near the leader and I did just that.”
“Matt has put in the work,” Christian said. “Every workout he has looked stronger and stronger. I don’t think he is done improving.”
Schaumburg’s Evan Prizy was looking to improve on his second-place finish from last year. The senior reached that goal by winning the meet in a time of 15:42.4.
“It was a good run and the temperature was very nice,” Prizy said. “Coming through the first 800, I felt it was a little slow for my taste so I tried to bring the front pack up a little bit. I let the others take the wind for a bit and then made my move on the final turn.”
Prizy had familiar company in the top 15 with teammate Juan Barajas finishing 3rd in a time of 15:49.9 and Travis Rauch, who was 14th (16:05.6).
“I just wanted to stay near my teammate,” Barajas said. “I kept him in sight, even when he pulled away down the stretch run.”
Conant got strong finishes from Zach Dale, who was 5th with a time of 15:52.3, and Joe Sulentic, who finished 13th.
Host Bartlett was led by Connor Rachford who was 12th, Anthony Peters who was 15th and his brother Alex, who was 26th. Huntley was led by a pair of freshmen. Keagan Smith was 9th while Seth Conroy finished 11th.
Other notable finishers were Glenbard North’s Tyler Dixon, who was 16th and teammate Joey Campagna, who was 21st while South Elgin’s Matt Stover was 24th.