Downers Grove North finishes 4th in Boys race; 6 Illinois runners earn All-American honors.

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

Portland, Ore. – It was the same story for Naperville North’s Girls team in every race this season. Go out conservatively and work their way to the front. That practice in every race paid off in a big way at Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals at Portland’s Glendoveer Golf Course.

It was closer than expected as Naperville North finished second in the nation with 94 points. Fayetteville-Manlius NY won their 11^th NXN title in the last 12 years with 89 points.

Results | Photos | Videos

The Lady Huskies were in fifth-place after the first mile as Sarah Schmitt and Alex Morris were in the top 50 leading the team.

Then the team started to move in the middle part of the race with each runner moving up an average 30 spots. By this point, Schmitt was now in 12^th-place while Morris was in 19^th. They were in second-place trying to chase down the New York powerhouse.

They continued to move in the final stages of the race. Schmitt, who has been coming on strong at the end of the season, finished eighth overall and the third team runner. Morris followed in 12^th and the fourth team runner overall.

“The individual place is cool but that is definitely not the focus,” Schmitt said after the race. “We knew the race was going to go out fast,” Morris said. “We just wanted to execute the race plan where we stayed relaxed the first mile.”

Hannah Ricci was the team’s third runner as she finished 34^th. Megan Driscoll was Naperville North’s next finisher as she placed 71^st. Claire Hill was the team’s fifth runner as she finished 84^th. At the awards ceremony after the race, Hill received the Anchor Award as the best fifth runner of all the teams in the meet.

The split on the first five runners was 75 seconds. Freshmen Audrey Mendrys (127^th) and Maggie Gamboa (136^th) were the team’s sixth and seventh runners.

“We knew we were running not for us but our 83 other teammates back home,” Ricci said. “That really motivated us to get a good race in.”

Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West had been looking forward to this race ever since she finished 18^th last year. Hart was up front for the entire race resulting in a fourth-place finish. Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland NY took the lead from the start blowing through the first mile in a quick 5:06 leading the Kelsey Chmiel of Saratoga Springs NY and Hart by 16 seconds. Tuohy extended the lead to 30 seconds by the second mile. Tuohy crossed the line (16:44.7) setting a new course record. Chmiel was next 41 seconds behind Tuohy (17:25.0). Mariah Castillo of Saugus CA passed Hart in the final kilometer to finish third (17:36.8) followed by Hart (17:41.6).

“My plan was to stay in the pack. I thought that more girls would be in that front pack,” Hart said. “I think what I learned from last year is that you have to get out. It is really hard to move. It was hard for me to move last year. I got out at the beginning so that I could place high today.

Yorkville finished 18^th in their first appearance at NXN. Their first time on the course experience showed as they did not get out as well as they wanted to. By the time they got to the first 400-meters of the race, the Lady Foxes were towards the back of the pack.

“It was definitely more crowded than we thought it would be,” said the team’s top runner in the race Emily Eberhart.

“This was a race that was different than anything else,” Alyssa Edwards said. “There were some similarities like keeping our pack together. The atmosphere and the course were different than anything that we have experienced this season.”

Eberhart led the team finishing 100^th overall. Edwards and Helena Kleronomos came in together at 105^th and 106^th places. Hailey Simmons was the team’s fourth runner placing 142^nd followed by Sara Klemm who finished in 148^th. Nicole Greyer (163^rd-place) and Sam Moreno (180^th-place) were the team’s sixth and seventh runners. Yorkville did run a 42 second split on their top five. They return six of their seven runners from this NXN team along with Olivia Borowiak who missed the race due to an ankle injury. This experience on Saturday should pay off in 2018.

Downers Grove North strong plus three individual Illinois All-Americans

The runners from the Midwest region held its own in Saturday Boys race raising the question why a third at-large team was not chosen from this area. The five individual runners that qualified in Terre Haute made a statement finishing in the first 18 places.

“We had a tight group this year,” Danny Kilrea of Lyons Township said. “The comradery between us made us want to do much better. We all did good. We are happy.’

The Midwest runners made their presence known in the first mile of the race as Dylan Jacobs of Sandburg led the race up front with Conant Smith of Middletown OH, Kilrea, Dustin Horter of Lakota East OH, and Clayton Mendez of Whitney Young all in the top ten.

Kilrea made his move in the middle of the race like the past two regional races. The experience from last year’s race showed in the confidence from the Lyons Township runner as he took the lead just after the mile. Brodey Hasty of Brentwood TN and James Mwaura of Lincoln WA moved with Kilrea. Liam Anderson of Redwood CA and Aidan Troutner of Timpview UT stayed off the pace but close enough to react if the front pack made a move.

Hasty was the first to move just before a kilometer to go in the race. Mwaura and Kilrea stayed close not wanting to let the Tennessee runner go. Troutner and Anderson moved into the group heading into the final 600-meters of the race. Any one of those five runners were capable of winning.

It was Troutner, who was not expected to be near the leaders, that had the final say making a move on the final hill with a little more than 200-meters to go. Troutner and Hasty were neck and neck approaching the finish line. Troutner made one final move with 100-meters to go that was the difference. He crossed the line in disbelief realizing that he was the national champion. Troutner’s time of 15:03.9 was two seconds ahead of Hasty. Anderson was a surprise in third (15:07.6) with Mwaura fourth (15:12.6).

Kilrea’s pushing the pace made this race and it showed as he came across the line in fifth with what looked like no energy left. He gave it all on this day improving on last year’s 13^th-place finish.

“I stayed back and ran conservative the first mile. I let other people do the work,” Kilrea said. “I made a move at 3k testing the waters. I could then feel it with the mud on the course dragging me back to the pack. The conditions were so crazy so that anyone could take it. The last 800 was rough. I dropped three spots. It was really tough. There were pluses. I ran courageously. I am happy with that.”

Ohio runners Dustin Horter (6^th) and Conant Smith (8^th) finished in the top ten. Dylan Jacobs, after pushing the pace in the first mile, came back in the final 800-meters to finishing 13^th-place overall. It was an improvement on last year’s 18^th-place finish.

“I wanted to get out fast and I did. The rest of the pack kind of rolled up on me the second mile,” Jacobs said. “The Midwest pack came up on me and helped me out. It was a fun experience.”

Clayton Mendez was within two seconds of Jacobs as he finished 18^th-place overall earning his first All-American honors in Cross Country. He was an All-American last spring in track in the 2 Mile Run.

“Starting the season getting beat as bad as I did to Danny, I did not expect to be here,” said Mendez. “It was a great experience bonding with all of these guys and racing together.”

Downers Grove North ran the same race plan as they had been doing all season. The Trojans ran together as a pack running within 24 seconds of each other as they scored 187 points to finish fourth. Loudoun Valley VA won the Boys National Championship (89 points) followed by Fayetteville-Manlius NY (159 points) and Mountain Vista CO (163 points).

“The course was not that bad. I was not that muddy. We got out well like we wanted to,” Jacob Ridderhoff said.

“Last night we talked about being aggressive and getting out hard,” Nick Chudzik explained. The experience that they had on the course the year before helped them in this race.

Ridderhoff (55^th-place) and Chudzik (59^th-place) led the Trojans finishing less than two seconds of each other. Ryan Birkmeier, who had been the team’s sixth runner towards the end of the year, had his best race of the season as he placed 74^th overall. Jack Roberts was the team’s fourth runner as he placed 85^th.

Sam McCool showed guts and perseverance in finishing 96^th-place overall as the team’s fifth runner. McCool lost his shoe in the first 800-meters of the race and ran the rest of the race with one shoe on.

Miles Christensen (114^th-place) and Brendan Lockerby (189^th-place) were the team’s sixth and seventh runners.