New Trier together in Sandburg Invite win

Spencer Werner stays on course for individual win

By Michael Newman

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Midlothian – New Trier’s Boys Varsity Cross Country team had a simple answer for social distancing on Friday afternoon at Midlothian Meadows. It was keep six feet or more apart as long as your top five split is under 25 seconds.

The Sandburg All-Together Invitational was a solution for a weekend that normally would have big meets at Peoria and Lake Park, among others. This six team meet that included high powered teams in the Suburban Cook County region of the state was the first high stakes meet of this COVID-19 shortened season.

New Trier had the runners in the front to help them win with 33 points. Host Sandburg was the closest team to the Trevians as they scored 46 points to finish second.

RESULTS

An almost wrong turn by Spencer Werner of Loyola Academy with almost 800-meters to go did not stop him from winning. His time was 14:58 on this 2.98-mile course when he crossed the line first in this race.

Ismail Tineh of Sandburg pushed the pace through the first half of the race leading a group of 20 runners past the first mile in 4:54. The pace slowed down as the race entered a wooded section of the course. That is when the Loyola junior took the lead.

“I did not go out fast. I was just drafting in the pack,” said Werner. “I really wanted to test and assess my second mile. I knew I could go out in 5-minutes. I really wanted to see what I could do today.”

Werner led a New Trier pack of Nick Falk, Charlie Siebert, and Andrew Flynn through two-miles in 10:06. He extended his lead in the next half mile until he entered the main field of the course. He was supposed to turn left at that point. Werner hesitated and made a right turn before realizing he was going the way. He turned and was back on course not losing his lead.

“I had the lead. It was a little confusing at that point,” added Werner. “I had most of the course down with my coach.”

The New Trier pack had closed the gap after the Werner miscue. The Loyola responded making a surge in the final 600-meters to capture a six second win ahead of Falk (15:04) with Siebert (15:08),Hersey’s Sean Safford (15:09), and Flynn (15:11) following.

It is scary what New Trier could do at the end of the season if there was a state meet. The Trevians are still smarting from last season when they finished 10th overall in Peoria. There was focus on their eyes as they had five runners in the top 12 with only a 20 second split. George Cahill and Noah Rush finished 11th and 12th both crossing the line in 15:24. Their split on their seven runners in this race was only 30 seconds.

“We have been waiting for a race like this since last year’s state meet,” New Trier Coach Matthew Sloan said. “The guys ran super today. We are in great physical shape.”

That showed in their racing.

The same held true for Sandburg as they had an 18 second split on their five scoring runners. The problem was New Trier had three runners in before Sandburg’s pack crossed the line.

Brock Rice was Sandburg’s top runner running 15:12 and finishing sixth. Then followed Griffin Lehnhardt (15:17), Tineh (15:22), and freshman Grant Giblin (15:23) in order. Declan Tunney was the Eagles fifth runner placing 16th (15:30).

Hersey finished third (79 points behind Safford’s finish. Loyola Academy (102 points), Palatine (134 points), and Lincoln-Way Central (141 points) rounded out the field.

New Trier’s Gabe Nosek pulled away from the field in the second half of the race to win the Frosh/Soph race running a 16:36 winning time. Palatine’s Mason Krieg and Rohan Namboothiri finished second and third.

Palatine placed five runners in the top 12 to win the Frosh/Soph team title with 36 points. Mid-Suburban League rival Hersey scored 49 points to finish second.