Knowlton wins Boys title for second straight time; Oswego East cruises to Boys team title

By Michael Newman

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Channahon, Ill – It seems that Vivian Van Eck has been behind someone during her running career at Minooka High School. The first two years it was Ashley Tutt and Mackenzie Callahan. Last year, it was Emily Shelton that would finish ahead.

RESULTS

In her senior year, it has been Van Eck that has stepped into the spotlight leading the Minooka Girls team.

She stepped out a little more Friday afternoon winning the Southwest Prairie Conference Girls Championship. Her time of 17:38 was almost 20 seconds ahead of second-place Madison Zarembski of Oswego East.

“I went into the race thinking that I would be in the back early in the race and was going to wait to make my move.,” Van Eck said. “At 800 Meters, I felt good, so I decided to take off.”

Van Eck pushed the pace from that point on for the rest of the race. She had company at the mile with Oswego’s trio of Isabelle Christiansen, Ella Hale, and Becca Corbett, Julianna Stogsdill of Plainfield North, and Zarembski. Just before the half way point in the race, Van Eck broke away from the pack securing the lead and the race win.

The team race within the individual race was fascinating to watch as pre-race favorites Minooka and Oswego were within a point of each other at two-miles. Minooka edged ahead in the final mile as their back of the pack moved up giving the Indians the team win 38 to 42 over Oswego.

Minooka placed six runners in the top 15 led by Van Eck’s win. Julia Dames was the team’s second runner as she finished fifth overall. Then Kathryn Cichon (7^th) and Alyssa Hrusosky (11^th) came across the line. Katelynn Gall (14^th) and Jocelyn Host (15^th) followed. Their split from Dames to Gall was 47 seconds. The addition of freshmen Cichon, Hrusosky, and Host have boosted Minooka to a team that could contend for a trophy in November.

“Those freshmen are amazing,” added Van Eck. “What they are doing right now is so awesome. I can’t wait to see what they do in the coming years.”

Oswego ran an improved race compared to their last one at Palatine on September 22.  Becca Corbett led the team with a third-place finish followed by Isabelle Christiansen (4^th) and Ella Hale (6^th). The three runners were separated by only 15 seconds. Paige Bohnert (13^th) and Caitlin Guist (16^th) rounded out the Panthers’ top five.

Plainfield North’s Juliana Stogsdill, who was one of the race leaders and one of the favorites in this race, finished eighth overall. The full story on the senior is that she developed a shin injury and had not run since the Naperville Twilight Invitational nine days ago. Her doctor gave her the go ahead to run Thursday evening. She should be back at full strength before her regional race.

The team race was over by the mile in the Boys race as Oswego East had four runners in the first five spots. The Wolves went on to place five runners in the top 11 to score 26 points for the team championship. The Wolves ran only a seven second split on their first four runners and a 30 second split on their top five. Luke Wentz led East with a second-place finish followed by Brad Wiggins (3^rd), Nicholas Bozarth (4^th), Heriberto Alvarez (6^th), and Maverick Lange (11^th). Minooka (72 points) and Plainfield South (81 points) finished second and third.

“We were all so pumped entering this race,” Wentz said. “What is so great about this team is that we are together as a pack. If one person is feeling off, there is another person right there to step in. We’re just pushing each other.”

Wentz was the one runner that was pushing throughout the race with Plainfield South’s Christian Knowlton the only other runner in the race willing to go with him. Knowlton stayed close to Wentz until the two mile when he started to make moves. Wentz would not let Knowlton go. Finally, in the last 800, Knowlton made his move on the way to his second straight conference title crossing the line in 15:20. He was ten seconds ahead of Wentz (15:30).

“I knew he (Wentz) would go out fast. I just wanted to stay close to him,” Knowlton said. “I tired to put the hammer down at 2-miles and he just stayed with me. I finally moved after the down hill in the final mile. I just kept my eyes up. I felt confident.”