Boys cross country: Warren mourns death of longtime coach Dawson
Longtime Warren cross country and track coach Bill Dawson passed away last week at the age of 64.
Dawson coached the Blue Devils for 27 years and taught math at the school for 34 years, retiring from teaching in 2018. He was also the head track coach, stepping down from that position in 2018.
Despite his retirement, Dawson remained as head boys cross country coach and was coaching this season. He was also the track long-distance track coach at Warren.
"Bill was a great guy that I had pleasure of knowing for 25 years," Warren athletic director Becky Belmont said. "A genuine and really nice person. His athletes loved him and competing for him. He had a great bond with his current team as well as his assistant coach Jason Jecmen whom he coached with for 27 years."
Arrangements are pending.
Kaneland, St. Charles East still on the run:
Kaneland was state champs in Class 2A while St. Charles East was the 3A titlist last fall. Both are off to great start in 2020.
Kaneland is 5-0 after the Knights knocked off Wheaton Academy 24-34 last Saturday in Kaneland.
"We are starting to find our stride a little bit," Kaneland coach Chad Clarey said. "The season schedule is much different than years past where we saw a lot of teams and had the chance to get pulled along by many other runners. In dual meets, that's a limiting factor. To this point, we've won the three dual meets that we've run. We see some good challenges on the horizon and will keep our aim on doing what we do best."
On Saturday, Isaiah Dallal led the Knights and won the event in 16:40. Teammate Aaron Lodwig was just 16 seconds back in 16:56.
Wheaton Academy, one of the top ranked Class 1A teams this season, picked up the next three spots with Christian Ruch, Sheldon Powell and Blake Wittstock finishing 3-4-5.
Kaneland was able to secure the meet title with a pack of four runners. Nolan Allen, Parker Malone, Logan Cunz and Charles Fitts finished 6 through 9 to give the Knights the win.
"Over the weekend, in a dual with Wheaton Academy, we had a pack split of 51 seconds," Clarey said. "In order to be successful, we will need that trend to continue."
Kaneland came back on Tuesday to beat both Sandwich and Marmion in a triangular meet. Kaneland scored 27 points to beat Marmion, which finished with 34.
Competing without two of their top runners, Kaneland had Lodwig step it up in the final 150 meters to win the event with a personal best 16:42.
Saints pick up 2 wins:
After knocking off Naperville Central in a dual meet last Friday, St. Charles East came back to win the Glenbard North quad on Monday.
Micah Wilson (14:54), who is a junior, was the top runner in the Saints' 22-37 win over Naperville Central while Luke Schildmeyer (15:06) was second and Zack Loomis fourth. Mitch Garcia, Matthew Connell, Connor Murphy and Tyler Tobin also ran well for St. Charles East.
Naperville Central was led by Arthur Graham (15:09), Brandon Kamp and Nicholas Keeling.
On Monday, the Saints scored 37 points to finish ahead of district rival St. Charles North's 47 points.
St. Charles East juggled their lineup, with freshman Jed Wilson leading the way for the Saints with a third-place finish in 16:22.5. Payton Fischer, Jack Kostas, Ed Nawrocki, Lexton Rockwell and Ethan Piercy ran in a pack for the Saints and finished 7-11.
St. Charles North's Noah Eng was impressive, winning with a 15:14.1, more than a minute ahead of Geneva sophomore Anthony Ross, who finished in 16:22.4.
Eng's teammate Eric Zankowski finished fifth while Alex Stone was 12th.
Geneva, which was third with 56 points, was paced by Adam Coats and Collin Opdyke.
Glenbard North junior Daniel Gallegos was fourth in 16:29.7.
Viator, Benet shine:
St. Viator's Michael Schumacher held off Benet's Niklas Anderson Saturday at the Benet Quad, which was run on a 2.95-mile course in Lisle at Benet Academy.
Schumacher finished in 15:21 to cross the line just before Anderson's 15:25.
Benet, which was ninth in the state last year in Class 2A, won the meet with 22 points to St. Viator's 41 points. Benet got strong performances from Sean Donnelly (15:49), Ryan Amidei (15:54) and Dom Ullmer (16:23). The trio finished third, fourth and fifth respectively. The Redwings also got help from Emmett Tully, Jack Robinson, Sage Osborne and Sean Kingston.
St. Viator's top runners were Nathan Kochera, Connor Flynn, Rowman McDonnell and Alexander Marchese.