From last to first, Fenwick takes home 2A Boys State title

Partlow pulls away from Georges in last half of race to claim individual title

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Peoria, Ill – The last time that Fenwick left Detweiller Park after a state meet, the Friars had finished last out of 26 teams. This state meet Saturday at Peoria’s Detweiller Park was a little different.

Fenwick had some hardware to bring back to the Oak Park school. There were no clouds to cover the sunshine and the spotlight that this team deserved.

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“We wanted to make this race like a bandaid,” Fenwick runner Lee O’Bryan said. “We wanted to make it hurt and make it fast.”

Fenwick led at the mile and never let up on that pressure. They scored 120 points to win their first state title in the program’s history. Fenwick becomes the second team to go from last to first in consecutive state meets in IHSA Boys State Meet history. Petersburg PORTA achieved that by finishing 20th in the 1978 Class A and then winning in 1979.

This was going to be a loaded race with Morton who won by two points ahead of Fenwick a month before on this course, and a up and coming Deerfield team their top competition in this meet. The race the month before in Peoria got Fenwick’s attention.

“We came into that meet as the #1 team,” added O’Bryan. “It was like a kick in the pants. It made us work even harder so we would be ready for today.”

Five runners finished in the top 87. Two of those runners, Grayden Rill (8th) and Nathaniel McKillop (20th), earned all-state honors. Dean O’Bryan (33rd), Zac Daley (43rd), and Lee O’Bryan (87th) completed Fenwick’s scoring top five.

Deerfield ran a great race in finishing second with 141 points. Lucas Moskovitz was all-state finishing 10th. He was followed by Ryan Bernstein (35th), Cole Bernstein (46th), Carter Levinson (63rd), and Evan Morris (63rd) followed.

Morton finished third (164 points) with Cade Zobrist all-state finishing ninth. There was a 25 second split from their second through fifth runners with Josh Weeks (39th), Yonas Wuthrich (52nd), Keegan Anderson (65th), and Layton Knoop (86th) part of that group.

Kaneland finished fourth (185 points) again led by freshman Evan Nosek and his all-state 21st place finish. Riverside-Brookfield placed 3 runners in the top 30 to finish fifth (235 points). Paul Proteau led the Bulldogs (3rd). Cooper Marrs struggled to cross the line, but he did in a 22nd place all-state finish.

The individual race was also a repeat in some way in what we saw at the Peoria Invitational the month before. The outcome of that race was the same on Saturday.

Alex Partlow of Carbondale broke away from Wilson Georges of Limestone in the back triangle of the course, then pulled away to run 14:11.9 for the state title. It was the second fastest time of the day on this course. Georges ran a personal best of 14:36 to finish second.

Partlow and Georges set the fast pace early passing the first mile in 4:37. A pack with Jake Phillips of Marist, Michael Schumacher of St. Viator, Yusuf Baig of Burlington Central, and Proteau were five seconds back.

Partlow’s move opened the race as he passed 2-miles in 9:27 with his momentum continuing to increase. Georges had dropped back eight seconds after that pass. Partlow hammered the final mile in 4:44 to cross the line as the state champion. Georges still looked strong as he crossed the line almost 25 seconds later.

Proteau closed in 4:49 to finish third (14:44). Phillips (14:50) and Baig (14:51) finished close together.