Sato makes final move to win Boys Mile at Distance Night at Palatine

 

Ince wins third Girls 800 Meter Run title; Patience gives Sirios 2 Mile Girls win; Horeni, Ybarra take home wins in Boys races

 

By Michael Newman

 

Palatine, Ill – Distance Night in Palatine lived up to expectations with almost every race coming down to the final lap, final 100-meters to decide a winner. It was a typical DNIP night with temperatures in the mid 40’s with a breeze that were hardly noticeable according the runners in the races. Fans and athletes were warmed up by the hot races they were witness to.

 

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It took one definitive move for Trey Sato of Grayslake Central to make to claim a highly anticipated Boys 1 Mile win to end the meet. Gavin Genisio of Benton took charge of the race from the start. He was looking for a fast time at this meet, so he led after the first lap with a 61.9 split. The rest of the field was 2-3 seconds behind with Patrick Hilby of Aurora Central Catholic, Camyn Viger of Plainfield South, Brady Golomb of York, and Trey Sato of Grayslake Central more than a second behind. All 17 were runners were within a second of each other.

 

Genisio still pushed the pace with none of the runners wanting to make a move. Genisio passed two laps in 2:05.18. Brian Burns, the sophomore from South Boone MO, made a move in the middle of the pack to lead it in 2:08.29. From Burns to the last runner in the pack, Charlie Vater of Iola-Scandinavia, the time difference between the 16 runners was just under 2 seconds. The pace was stuck between 63-64 seconds showing there would not be a record run.

 

There was the matter of determining a winner. Genisio still had the lead with 500-meters left in the race, but you could see in his legs and strides that he was beginning to struggle especially with the rest of the field closing in on him. Genisio had the lead at the bell (3:11.03) but Sato was now less than a half of a second from the lead with his momentum faster than that of the leader. Sato had the lead by the time he hit the back stretch of the track.

 

Sato ran his final lap in 60.53 seconds as he ran 4:12.08 to win this race over a heavy weight field. Hilby moved from fourth to second in the final lap but could not catch Sato. Hilby still ran a fine time of 4:14.00 to finish second with a 61.1 final lap. Viger passed Golomb in the final ten-meters to finish third. Viger ran 4:16.43, Golomb ran 4:16.57. Graham Stevener of Kirkwood MO ran 4:16.84 in finishing fifth.

 

Genisio, Dylon Nalley of Marion, and Gabriel McLain of Benton all had raced the night before at the Eastern Relays in Louisville, Kentucky and made the six hour trip up to Chicago to run in this race. All ran good times with Genisio leading throughout and ending up in sixth at 4:16.91. Nalley set a new school record for the second night in a row finishing seventh (4:16.96). McLain ran 4:17.19 to finish eighth. Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central was in 17th place entering the final lap of the race. He ended up placing ninth (4:18.60).

 

Allison Ince of Normal Community could have made it two wins in the Mile at this meet but decided to go for the trifecta in the Girls 800 Meter Run. This was a race where she could work on different parts of this two lap race that would help her later in the season. Her chief competition in this race was sophomore Charlize-Trinity McKenzie of Cedarburg WI. The two runners passed the first lap in second with Ince almost a second ahead of McKenzie in the lead.

 

Ince does a great job of concentrating on the third part of the race from 400- to 600 meters to extend the lead. That happened in this race. She made another surge at 600-meters to extend her lead even more. Ince did win for the third time in this meet with a time of 2:07.35. McKenzie held her position in the final 200 -meters with a 2:12.31 time.

 

“I was not satisfied with how I finished at Arcadia,” Ince said after the race. “I wanted to concentrate on that aspect of my race here. I was looking for the win here, so I am happy about that.”

 

Lola Satre-Morales of Naperville Central led the pack moving from sixth to third on the second lap to finish third (2:14.90) ahead of Mia Forystek of Lincoln-Way Central (2:15.35) and Katie Roche of Sandburg (2:16.80).

 

Other Championship Races

The winner of the Girls 1 Mile race did not get decided until the final 300-meters of the race. Becca Heitzig of Lincoln and Elyse Wilmes of Father Tolton MO traded the lead for the first three laps of the race with Heitzig a slight lead ahead of a pack that included Wilmes, Elena Rybak of Father McGivney, Annika Swan of St. Ignatius Prep, and Liv Phillips of Naperville Central. Wilmes, who has a personal best of 2:06 for 800-meters, showed that speed closing in a 67.8 final lap to win with a 4:51.37 time. Heitzig closed in 69 second to run 4:52.42 to finish second. Rybak (4:55.89), Swan (4:56.48), and Phillips (4:57.29) finished third through fifth. Grace Mullin of Chicago Christian moved from eleventh to sixth on the final lap to run under five-minutes for the first time (4:59.69) finishing ahead of Scout Storms of Barrington (5:01.31).

 

Dylan Ybarra of O’Fallon ran a patient race biding his time to make his move to take the lead. No real moves happened in the first mile with 13 runners together at that point with Joe Bregenzer of Barrington leading that group at 4:37.39 at the mile. Jackson Barrett of Tuscola moved to the lead just after that point running a 67 second fifth lap. Barrett led by a second entering the final lap with Bregenzer, Ybarra, and Tommy Nitz of Huntley just a second behind. Ybarra has the best finishing field of the four and it showed when he took the lead just before 200-meters left in the race. The O’Fallon senior closed in 62 seconds to take home the win (9:08.14) with a huge personal best. Barrett also closed in a personal best of 9:10.65 to finish second. Bregenzer (9:13.02), Nitz (9:14.35), and Levi Rowan of Kirkwood MO (9:15.14) rounding out the top five ahead with Ryan Eddington of Downers Grove North running 9:17.92 placing sixth.

 

Mia Sirois of Barrington did not run like the freshman runner that she is. She let the race come to her taking the lead just before the mile. She ran 5:20 for the first mile negative splitting the second mile in 5:15 to win the Girls 2 Mile timed at 10:35.90. Sundara Weber of Sandwich passed Molly Farrell of Marshall on the final lap to run 10:39.23 to finish second. Farrell, who led the first three laps of this race, ran 10:41.94 to finish third. Six runners total ran under 11-minutes in this race led by Zoe Carter of Normal University in fourth (10:50.34), Julie Piot of Naperville North placing fifth (10:57.80), and Kate Foltz of Tuscola placing sixth (10:59.25).

 

Seven runners were within 1.7 seconds of each other in the Boys 800 Meter Run. The 15 runners in the field were within a second of each other as John Ihrke of Glenbrook North led at 400-meters in 56.50 seconds. Owen Horeni of Yorkville waited to the final 100-meters to have full control of the lead. Horeni finished in 1:55.30 for the win with Ihrke at 1:55.86 finishing second. Gavin Borger of Plainfield South was in last at the end of the first lap, moved in the final lap running 1:56.03 to finish third. Seven runners ran under 1:57. Led by Joseph Snyder of Kirkwood MO in fourth (1:56.05), Doug Martin of McHenry in fifth (1:56.50), Foster Shelbert of Naperville Central in sixth (1:56.52) and Preston Ellis of Payton Prep finishing seventh (1:56.62).

 

1 Mile Run Race Highlights

The only record in this meet came at the beginning in the Freshman Mile. Landon Harris of Granite City won the Middle School Mile before the start of regular meet. Harris took the lead at the start and was in command passing into the final lap in 3:19.96 with Tom Jochum of Glenbard South less than a second behind. Harris picked up the pace in the final lap of the race hoping for the win.

 

“He pulled away on the final lap and I figured that I would finish second,” Jochum said after his race. “My mind changed when I started to get closer coming off the curve.” Jochim caught Harris just before the finish line as the Glenbard South freshman runner set a new meet record with the win (4:25.74) with Harris finishing second (4:26.12). Liam Bettis of Taylorville ran 4:32.54 to finish third.

 

There were a number of runners in the third section of the 1 Mile Run in any other year that would have been placed in the final section. This was one of the most exciting finishes of the night with four runners under 4:20, eight runners under 4:21. Ben Crane of New Trier and Will Foltz of Tuscola pushed the pace most of the way. Josiah Hortin of Tuscola made his move at the right moment taking lead down the home stretch to win in 4:17.19 with Crane running 4:17.67 with Hortin’s teammate Will Foltz running 4:17.96 placing third ahead of Dylan Maloney of Plainfield South (4:18.63). Austin Brown of Metea Valley finished fifth (4:20.07) ahead of Carson Maroon of St. Joseph-Ogden (4:20.14), Charle Halden of Glenbard West (4:20.44), and Alexander Krieg of Palatine (4:20.92).

 

The second section of the Boys 1 Mile Run did not really have any drama. It belonged to Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville when he took the lead at the half way point of the race. In actuality kept his pace between 63 to 66 seconds in his four laps as he ran a huge personal best of 4:20.21 to win by over two seconds ahead of Jackson Summy of Lakes Community (4:22.57). Colin Knowles of Batavia finished third (4:23.91) just ahead of Nathan Ciarlette of Joliet Catholic (4:23.93).

 

It was the finishing kick that determined the winner in the opening section of the Boys Mile. Braden Hoff of Lincoln-Way Central was in seventh place entering the final lap of the race. Hoff ran a 61.9 final lap to give him the win with a 4:24.68 time. Emmet Bradford of York was sixth with a lap to go. The junior ran 4:26.01 to finish second ahead of Christian Harris of Morton (4:26.08) and New Trier’s Jordan Kreiner (4:26.71) and Joey Papanicholas (4:27.15) finished fourth and fifth.

 

The fourth section of the Girls 1 Mile Run was an impressive race with three runners finishing under 5:10. Lily Babiak of Waubonsie Valley took the lead in the third lap, Emily Stecky of DePaul College Prep then took over t=on the final lap. The Chicago freshman ran a personal best of 5:03.31 for the win. Babiak ran a school record of 5:04.24 to finish second. Kaleigh Burns of Barrington ran 5:07.06 to finish third.

 

The win by Nadia Bowden of Lincoln-Way Central in the Girls 1 Mile Run was the second win at this meet by the senior. She won Section 1 of the mile last year. Bowden took the lead from Maya Ledesma on the third lap, then had to hold off Ledesma to run 5:08.81 for the win. Ledesma was less than a second behind with a 5:09.21 to place second. Marlie Czarniewski of Plainfield North led the pack running 5:17.78 to finish third ahead of Rachel Behrens of Chatham-Glenwood (5:18.13).

 

The Girls Section Two 1 Mile Run was close with the top 10 finishers finishing within five seconds. Ashley Zeibert of Rochester passed Isa Hasty of Fremd in the final 15-meters to take home the win in a 5:20.18 time. Hasty finished second (5:20.58) to finish ahead of Kaylee Wilson of Warren Township (5:21.10) and Danielle Mudd of Waterloo (5:21.71).

 

It was Angelica Hil of Barrington that controlled the pace of Section 1 of the Girls 1 Mile Run taking the lead during the second lap. Hil ran 5:22.68 for the win with Kaitlyn Ward of Plainfield North (5:24.87) and Annabelle Reeder of Yorkville (5:25.74) finishing second and third.

 

2 Mile Run Highlights

The third section of the Boys 2 Mile Run had 10 runners within two seconds of each other entering the final two laps of the race before Liam O’Connor of Oak Park-River Forest took over. O’Connor ran 2:13 for the final half to run a personal best of 9:22.29 to hold off Greyson Ellensohn of St. Charles East (9:22.77) for the win. The top six runners finished under 9:27 in this race with Zach Frayder of Hersey placing third (9:24.19) finishing ahead of Jedidiah  Wilson of St. Charles East (9:25.41), Finn Richards of Benet Academy (9:25.69), and Owynn Garrelts of Maine South (9:26.60).

 

Jeremiah Lanum of Bradley-Bourbonnais passed Rob Geissenberger of Hersey in the final lap to run 9:32.30 for the win in the second section of the 2 Mile Run. Geissenberger ran 9:33.13 to finish second ahead of Zach Saltiel of York (9:36.27), Brayden Kloeppel of O’Fallon (9:37.47), and Zach Bender of Downers Grove North (9:40.08).

 

The move on the final lap from Mateus Salomao of Hersey gave him in the opening 2 Mile Run of the meet. The Hersey sophomore ran 9:35.79 for the win, less than a second ahead of Jamie Chandler of Deerfield (9:36.02) Jake Younger of Yorkville (9:38.01) and Graham Faris of Glenbard West (finished third and fourth.

 

Cameron Crump of Waterloo , Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South, and Skyler Balzer of McHenry broke away from the rest of the field in the third lap of the race. Crump took the lead at the mile (5:29) with the Bazer and Poglitsch a second behind. Crump had a three second after six laps with Balzer closing the gap entering the final lap. The McHenry senior ran 11:08.45 to claim the win ahead of Crump (11:09.98) and Poglitsch (11:13.13). Makaylin Viet (11:16.74) of Father Tolton MO finished fourth.

 

Avery Hacker of Batavia took the lead from Ashlynn Lindt of Montini Catholic with two laps to go. Hacker, just a freshman, ran over a 20 second personal best of 11:06.43 to win the second section of this race. Sophie Krueger of Morton (11:11.94), Lindt (11:18.98), and Haley Rahman of Huntley (11:21.56) were the next three finishers.

 

Abby Barrett of Wheaton-Warrenville South took the lead away from the Antonella DeAvila of Edwardsville during the penultimate lap of the first section of the 2 Mile Run and never looked back. Barrett ran 11:35.51for the win with Ashlyn Chopra of Chatham-Glenwood (11:39.06) and Audrey Heil of Metamora (11:42.25 finishing second and third. DeAvila ran 11:46.28 to place fourth.

 

800 Meter Run Highlights

Zach Thoman of O’Fallon closed the third section of this distance running negative splits to win this race. Thoman ran 1:56.56 for the win by almost two seconds with Calvin-Allaband-Gamble of Whitney Young (1:58.31) and Michael Michelotti of Oak Park-River Forest (1:58.41) finished second and third. Eight runners led by Allaband-Gamble were separated by under a second in this race.

 

Jameson Tenopir of Cary-Grove was sixth entering the final lap of second section. He made his move in the final 100-meters to take the lead and the win (1:57.77) with Felipe Wickler of Batavia a close second (1:57.88). Rameez Abrar of Metea Valley ran 1:58.78 to finish third.

 

Nathan Gehrmann of West Aurora was close to Michael Wilson of St. Charles East at the end of the first lap in the opening section of this distance. Gehrmann pulled away in the final 200-meters to win in 1:57.12 with Austun Ward of Oswego East and Paul Quint of Glenbard South finished second and third with the same time (1:58.76). Tim Meehan of Glenbard West ran 1:58.89 to place fourth.

 

Brooke Zeibert of Rochester was the second runner in her family to win a race in this meet. Her sister Ashley won earlier in one of the section of the mile. Zeibert was fourth at the end of first lap. She went on to run to win the third section in 2:18.49 finishing ahead of Madison King of Joliet Central (2:19.54), Sydney Sukel of Barrington (2:19.93), and Abby Machesky of Crystal Lake South (2:20.02).

 

A lighter moment in the meet came in the first two sections of this event. Sammie Findysz of Fremd was supposed to run in the second section of the 800 Meter Run. She lined up in the opening section by mistake. She went on to run a huge personal best of 2:19.85 to win the first section of the event with Morgan Sauber of Huntley finishing second (2:20.43). Findysz’s time stood even with the mix-up. Meet management allowed the performance to stand. Jayne Hermann of Washington ran 2:20.32 to win the section ahead of Olivia Coll of Edwardsville (2:22.69).