Naperville Central grad wins Midwest Distance Classic 800 Meter Run; Reidy alone in Girls 800 win

Photo – Thomas Shilgalis on his way to 800 Meter Run win (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Naperville, Ill – Thomas Shilgalis kept his final high school race in Illinois close to home. The future University of Michigan student/athlete had spent his last four years of high school at Naperville Central High School. He only had to travel a mile to North Central College’s fabled Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium track to run in the 800 Meter Run at the Midwest Distance Classic Saturday evening.

RESULTS | VIDEOS | PHOTOS

Shilgalis, the Illinois 3A state champion in the distance and top seed in the race, failed to disappoint. He took the lead when the pace setter Cameron Howard stepped off the track just after 400-meters going through that point in a sizzling 54.5 seconds. Shilgalis extended his lead the next 200-meters passing 600-meters in 1:22.5.

He was alone at the finishing with a season’s best of 1:52.55. Ben Rosa of Lake Forest moved from the middle of the pack in the final 200-meters to run 1:54.59 to finish second just ahead of Minooka’s Jason Hoffman (1:54.69). Rory Cavan of Glenbard West (1:55.31) and Daniel Klysh of York (1:56.48) rounded out the top five.

Just as there was no doubt about the win from Shilgalis, there was little doubt that Erin Reidy of Downers Grove South would not do the same in the Girls 800 Meter Run since she had a personal best of close to five seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Reidy and pace setter David Fish blew away from the rest of the pack in the first 200-meters of the race. The two runners passed 400-meters in a fast 61.8 seconds.

Fish led Reidy to 600-meters at 1:34.6 when he stepped off the track. Reidy was by herself the final 200-meters where she crossed the line in a winning in 2:10.53 improving her personal best by almost a second. Lydia Camp of Harvest Christian Academy finished second (2:18.67) ahead of Knoxville’s Breena Shreeves (2:20.05).

There was no drama as well in the Boys 1 Mile Run. Keeton Thornsberry of Holy Cross KY entered this meet with the top seed time by close to five seconds. He too failed to disappoint as he rolled to the win. Pace setter Zach Hird pulled Thornsberry along with Nick Hruskoci of Indianapolis Cathedral IN and Jerry Jorgenson of Treynor through an opening half-mile of 2:05.8.

Thornsberry made his move with 600-meters left pulling away from the other two runners. The Kentucky 1A stet champ ran a personal best of 4:14.59 for the win with Hruskoci (4:20.60) and Jorgenson (4:23.36) finishing second and third.

Other Meet Notes

Ella Behrens of Whitney Young had one of the top performances in this meet in the Girls 3200 Meter Run. Behrens stuck with pacesetter David Fish pulling away from the pack after passing the first 1600-meters in 5:16.

Fish paced Behrens for seven of the eight laps of the race leaving the future Washington University MO student-athlete to finish the final lap by herself. Behrens achieved a personal best (10:38.90) for the win ahead of Barrington’s Molly FitzPatrick (10:48.27) and Downers Grove South’s Brenna Cohoon (10:57.99).

Rachel Richtman of Kaneland had a little help in winning the Girls 1 Mile Run from her sister Rebecca who was the designated pace setter in the race. The two Richtman’s pulled away from Yorkville’s Nicole Greyer just after 800-meters. When Rebecca stepped off the track 200-meters later, Rachel continued the pace. Richtman ran a personal best (5:10.76) for the win with Greyer finish second (5:17.85).

Jack Kovach of Brebeuf Jesuit IN took the lead from Reece Smith of Garner IA in the final three laps of the Boys 3200 Meter Run. Kovach went on to run 9:10.27 for the win with Smith (9:20.32) and Sam Hall of Dowling Catholic IA (9:22.15) finished second and third.

The most exciting finish came in the opening race of the meet. Max Barrios of Von Steuben and Zach Rose of Payton Prep had never run the Steeplechase in any meet before. It did not show when the two Chicago Public League runners entered the final lap side by side in the Boys 2000 Meter Steeplechase.

Barrios had the lead as the two cleared the final barrier. It was Rose who made the final move passing Barrios with 20-meters left in the race. The two were separated by less than a second with Rose earning the win (6:32.29) ahead of Barrios (6:32.64).

Meet organizers and the meet announcer were proclaiming the Girls 4x800 Meter Relay as a “World Record Attempt. (See Meet Press Release). A team of three runners from different Indiana schools and another runner from Ohio were attempting to run faster than a team of Vere Tech Jamaica ran (8:37.91) in the 1991 Penn Relays. The IAAF, the international governing body of athletes, only recognizes the 4x100 and 4x400 Meter Relays as records in the U-20 (under 20 years old age group) division. So, how was it a world record attempt?

It also would help if there was another team in the race. This quartet was the only team entered.

The definition of the word race is:

“a competition between runners, horses, vehicles, boats, etc., to see which is the fastest in covering a set course.”

There was only one runner that toed the line when the starter’s pistol went off. This was not a race as the race organizers stated. This was just a glorified time trial.

The quartet of Maddie Russin of Crown Point IN, Maddie Ullom of Mason OH, Marissa Rivera of Culver Academies IN, and Abby Lynch of Brownsburg IN did have a great effort achieving a fast time running this event solo. The three juniors and a sophomore were credited with an 8:47.66 time in the relay.