Liking runs to Boys Individual title; Batavia pack gets Girls team title; Final kick the difference in Poglitsch Girls’ win

By Michael Newman

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Roselle – It came down to the fifth runner to decide the Boys Varsity Team Champion at Saturday’s DuKane Conference Champions.

It was a team, St. Charles East, looking for a conference and state title against a team, Wheaton-Warrenville South, that is looking for the repeat as conference and state champions. St. Charles East entered this meet ranked #1. Wheaton-Warrenville South was ranked #4.

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It was St. Charles East that had the slight edge on this day winning their first DuKane Conference title 32-34 where both teams left everything on the course in a classic team race.

The first mile of the race was the calm before the storm. Both teams from Wheaton-Warrenville South and St. Charles East ran side by side in a fast pace with Ryan Arnold of St. Charles North the only other runner snuggled in the two team’s pack. It was similar to the inaugural conference race from 2018 when both teams looked at each other waiting for the other to blink first.

It was St. Charles East that made the first move as Bob Liking and Micah Wilson took off up a hill just after the first mile opening about an immediate 20-meter lead on the rest of the pack.

“Our plan today was to make the move on that hill just after the mile,” Liking said. I think we dd a good job in executing that plan.”

Other moves were being made at this point. Luke Schildmeyer started to fall back from the pack. It was discovered after the race that he had a side cramp according to his coach Chris Bosworth.

It the meanwhile, Wheaton-Warrenville South had the advantage with five runners at that point in the top 10 holding a slight advantage.

The last mile of the race was exciting. Liking and Wilson had the top two spots. South’s Billy Hauenstein and David Zeller were trying to run down the two St. Charles runners. In the middle of the pack, Jared Peaslee and Ethan Seng were challenging for spots with East’s Aidan King and Zach Loomis. Right behind the four runners, Schildmeyer was holding his position and making up ground on South’s Jacob Kluckhohn who was beginning to fall back.

St. Charles East claimed the first two spots as Liking crossed the line in 14:38 followed by Wilson (14:47). Hauenstein and Zeller were next in third and fourth. Peaslee passed Loomis in the final straight to finish fifth while St. Charles North’s Ryan Arnold made a pass to claim sixth. Damian Rodriguez finished seventh as Batavia’s first runner. Less than a second separated Seng in ninth and King in tenth. King collapsed after crossing the line leaving everything on the course.

Through four runners, St. Charles East had a one point advantage 20-21.

It would come down to each team’s fifth runner to decide the conference championship. South’s Michael Atkins, who is normally the team’s sixth runner, moved up in the final mile and passed Schildmeyer as the two runners entered the track for the final 300-meters of the race.

Wheaton North’s Josh Gorup was about six seconds ahead of the two runners as he finished 11th. The attention now turned to the two runners. Atkins had a three step lead with 50-meters to go. Schildmeyer dug deep for an extra 1% of speed. He edged by Atkins in the final strides of their race as Schildmeyer crossed in 15:21.7. Atkins crossed in 15:22.2.

St. Charles East had the edge 32-34. If Atkins would have held off Schildmeyer, the scored would have been tied 33-33 and the title would have been a sixth-runner tiebreak. In this case, Connor Murphy was St Charles East’s sixth-runner finishing 16th. Wheaton South’s Jacob Kluckhohn was just behind him in 17th.

That’s how close this race was.

Batavia finished third with 87 points while Wheaton North scored 100 points to place fourth. St. Chares East’s five runner split was 43 seconds. Wheaton-Warrenville South had a split of 30 seconds on their top five runners.

The story in the Girls race was not the team aspect for excitement. It came down to the final 100-meters of the race to decide a winner.

Alice Abbott of St. Charles East took the lead by the first turn 300-meters into the race. By the time the race neared the first mile, Abbott, along with Batavia’s Katrina Schlenker and Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Samantha Poglitsch, separated themselves from the rest of the pack as the trio passed 1-mile in 5:26.

Not much changed in the middle of the mile in the race. Abbott was in the front pushing the pace. Schlenker and Poglitsch on her shoulder waiting for the moment to pass.

At 2-miles, the time to make the moves started to happen. Schlenker made a surge with Poglitsch replying to it with a surge of her own. Abbott at this point was starting to struggle as her stride seemed to be forced.

“We started making moves after 2-miles,” Poglitsch said after the race. “Katrina would make a surge and then I would. We kept trading off the lead pushing each other.”

Schlenker had missed almost the first month of the season due to an injury. In this race, you could not notice it as her stride looked like her stride of old.

The two runners entered the track for the final 300-meters of the race side by side. Both had great finishing speed with their best times at 400-meters under 60 seconds. They were even as they came off the final curve for the last 100-meters. The capacity crowd inside the stadium was on their feet cheering both runners to the line.

Schlenker made one more move but it was Poglitsch that had the final word taking four quick steps to separate herself from the Batavia sophomore.

It was a close finish. Poglitsch with the win in 16:51.9. Schlenker next in 16:53.5. Abbott was almost 30 seconds back in third (17:25).

“I felt more like myself in this race. I feel like I am getting back into it,” Schlenker said afterwards. “It was frustrating being out. It gave me a different perspective during that time that running is not all my life. God has a plan for you. Some races might not be good but there is a future for you.”

“Alice (Abbott) pushed the first two miles then Katrina took over. I could not ask for anything more. Katrina is an amazing runner. I told her welcome back after we finished,” Poglitsch said. “One of my teammates yelled at me at the end no one beats Sam Poglitsch on the track. My Coach (Rob Harvey) told me to smile when I passed him at the end. I kept thinking to myself ‘conference champ, conference champ’.”

Batavia ran a great team race to capture the conference title with 38 points. While Schlenker was battling for the lead, a pack of five Batavia runners led by Jenna Schifferer and Mia Gianfrancesco lingered back in the first mile between 14th and 19th places. In the second circuit of the three lap course, the Batavia runners made a move putting them in position to capture the conference title with 38 points.

Batavia placed five runners in the top 13 as Schifferer and Gianfrancesco crossed the line together in sixth and seventh-places. Audrey Pellico was the team’s fourth runner (10th) followed by Katie Cole (13th). The team’s split between their Schifferer and Cole was only 30 seconds.

Wheaton-Warrenville South and St. Charles East both scored 72 points with South finishing second on a sixth-runner tie break. The Lady Tigers were helped by the win from Poglitsch and a top 10 finish from Kaitlyn Nenninger.