Threes are wild for Illinois runners at XC Town USA Meet of Champions

St. Charles East, Naperville North, Schildmeyer, and Parekh all finish third in championship races

By Michael Newman

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Overcast skies with winds at 20 mph gusting to 40 mph at times did not see to bother the runners competing Sunday in the high school divisions of the XC Town USA Meet of Champions, presented by Garrett Companies, at Terre Haute’s Lavern Gibson Championship XC Course.

MEET RESULTS

It was not going to matter if it was snowing sideways on this day. Some of these teams would be racing for the first and only time this fall. Illinois runners took the conditions in stride as two teams and two runners finished third in the two championship races.

The Girls Championship race will be something that people that were at the meet will be talking about for years to come. Sydney Thorvaldson of Rawlings WY had not lost a race in Wyoming since she was in sixth grade. She had gone undefeated entering this race and was not going to left that happen on this Sunday.

After 20 strides into the race, Thorvaldson already had the lead. It was something that she would relinquish for the rest of the time she was on this course. Her move at the beginning was against that strong wind, When she made the sweeping right turn away from the wind, it was her time to move further away from the pack.

Thorvaldson passed through the first mile in a swift 5:09. Illinois runners Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest and Ava Parekh of Latin School along with former Illinois runner Tatum David of IMG Academy FL were among 15 runners that passed that point in 5:32. The Wyoming runner already had a 23 second lead and was not coming back.

The runners in the next pack now were figuring who would finish second.

Thorvaldson passed 2-miles in 10:26. Her lead was now 40 seconds. The pack had started to spread out as now a quartet as Riley Stewart of Cherry Creek CO, Annalee Weaver of Stillwater Area MN, Parekh, and Carmen Alder of Pinecrest HS NC passed by that point in 11:07.

Thorvaldson’s stride looked the same as when she started the race as she got closer to the finish line. It looked as if she would break the course record of 16:49 set last year by Zofia Dudek. But by how much?

The answer was 16:38.3.

Despite the conditions, the high winds, Thorvaldson had lowered the course record.

Stewart maintained that 40 second gap running 17:18 to finish second. Parekh passed Weaver in the final 40-meters to finish third in 17:36 to Weaver’s 17:36.6.

Four more Illinois runners finished in the top 20. Josephine Welin ran 17:55 to finish 10th. Katrina Schlenker of Batavia ran 18:02 to finish 12th. Aly Negovetich of Grant Community ran 18:05 to finish 14th while Anna Perry of Eureka ran 18:10 to finish 16th. All of those runners are juniors along with Parekh making the 2021 season interesting to watch.

Cherry Creek CO was in charge of the team race throughout as they scored 90 points for the championship win. Valor Christian CO made a strong move in the final mile to move into second-place with 109 points.

Naperville North finished 3rd with 129 points paced by the 22nd place finish from Maggie Gamboa who ran 18:21. Audry Mendrys finished 11 seconds behind Gamboa (18:32) finishing in 29th. Campbell Petersen passed 15 runners in the final mile to run 18:42 to finish 38th. The three runners were separated by 21 seconds. Lucy Westlake (80th) and Sophie Golobitsch (99th) were the team’s fourth and fifth runners. The team had a 72 second split on their top five runners.

The two Open Races that preceded the championship race also had a flair to it with Winnebago winning the Blue Division Open while Prospect won the White Division open. The two races were combined to determine the winner of the division. Winnebago showed why they are one of the top five teams in Illinois this fall by scoring only 49 points to claim the win. Prospect, who did not run two of their top five runners, still finished second with 101 points led by the 10th place finish from Hailey Erickson.

Winnebago placed five runners in the first 31 in the Blue Division race. Overall, their scorers all finished in the top 59. Natalia Martino ended her high school cross country career by finishing fourth overall (19:03). Then came the Bago pack led by Kaylee Woolery finishing 24. Grace Erb (30), Marissa Roggensack (40), and Katie Erb (59) were the next three runners. The team’s top five split was 78 seconds. The split from Woolery to Katie Erb was only 33 seconds. Six of their top seven runners return for the 2021 season.

We had an idea how good this Newbury Park CA program was when their “B” team won the overall open race with 83 points. Lyons Township, who was announced earlier in the week that they had qualified for the Nike Cross Virtual Meet next weekend, finished second with 90 points. Owen Hays led his team with an overall 10th place finish.

California’s cross-country season is scheduled to start at the beginning of January. Newbury Park, who won the Nike Cross Nationals in 2019, showed that they are the top boys’ team in the nation leading from the start of the race and ending the meet by scoring only 32 points placing their top five runners in the first 12 team places and the top 33 places overall. Portland Jesuit OR led the teams after the California powerhouse by scoring 97 points to finish second.

The last time that St. Charles East ran on this course, it was a disappointing third-place finish last November at the NXR Midwest Regional. It was a little different on Sunday afternoon as they finished third overall (119 points) even without two of their top seven runners. Luke Schildmeyer ended his standout senior season as the team’s top runner finishing third overall. Micah Wilson was among the top 10 for the first 2-miles of the race, faded towards the end finishing 22 overall. Zack Loomis (34th) was the team’s third runner. Connor Murphy (90) and Matthew Connell (115) were the Saints’ fourth and fifth runners. The top three split for East was 36 seconds. Their top five split was 102 seconds.

Naperville North’s pack finished between 73 and 95 with only a 16 second top five split. The Huskies finished seventh (191 points) led by Tommy Paltzer (73) and Chase Burrell (78). Yorkville finished eighth (207 points) again with three of their top seven not in the lineup. The team’s top five split was 88 seconds led by the 43 place finish from Austin Popplewell.

There was a huge pack of at least 20 runners at the first mile with the leaders passing that point in 4:46. The wind was playing a role in this race as no one was willing to push the pace. As the race winded around Lavern Gibson, Judson Greer of Melissa TX waited until the wind was to his back to make his move taking the lead just before 2-miles (9:41). Ryan Schumacher of Portland Jesuit (OR) saw the move and reacted staying close to Greer. Greer made another move that was the race winner.

The Texas senior, who will be running in his state meet next Tuesday, showed that the moves were taking effect on him as he seemed to slow in the final 200-meters of the race. Greer still managed to hold on for the win (15:14) just two seconds ahead of Hobbs Kessler of Ann Arbor Skyline MI (15:16). Then came Schildmeyer who edged Nathan Walker of Fremont MI for third. Both were timed at 15:20. Nathan Moore of Uniontown Lake OH finished fifth just one second behind.

Four more Illinois runners finished in the top 25 behind Schildmeyer. Drew Rogers of Herscher ran 15:25 to finish 10th. Arthur Graham of Naperville Central finished in 15:40 placing 18th. St. Charles East’s Wilson (22nd) and Luke Wiley (25th) of Warren Township rounded out the Illinois runners in the first 25.