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Fast start propels Wilson to 3A Boys State Championship

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ILXCTF - Mike Newman   Nov 8th 2021, 1:52pm
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Fast start propels Wilson to 3A Boys State Championship

 

Sandburg completes two-year journey to state team championship

 

By Michael Newman [email protected]

 

Peoria, Ill – The final race at Detweiller Park on Saturday is usually the loudest, the one that has most fans swarming from point to point on the course. The first state meet back after a year away because of the COVID-19 pandemic meant we would have a real cross-country championship on a championship course under blue skies with no threat of bad weather.

The final race was perfect. Great racing with a flair of the dramatic.

RESULTS | RACE HIGHLIGHTS | MEET WEBSITE

Micah Wilson of St. Charles East had learned what he did wrong when he raced a month ago on this course.

“I wasn’t feeling good. It was just before I got sick, Wilson said. “I knew I was better than I showed in that race. I knew if I would have stuck to my race plan, which was not a true showing of what I could do.

Wilson knew that if he was going to win this state title, he would have to completely destroy the pack that would dog his every move if the pace was slower.

The pace was fast as Wilson, Nick Falk of New Trier, Luke Wiley of Warren, Riley Newport of DeKalb, Declan Tunney of Sandburg, Marcellus Mines of Joliet West, and Roy Lewellyn of Downers Grove North were some of the runners that went through the mile in 4:34. The plan was working as the pace was stretching out. It also claimed a casualty in the second mile. Mines had injured his foot at the Quincy Sectional last week. Doctors had cleared him to run. The injury forced him out of the race. He is a sophomore. He will be back.

Wilson continued to put pressure on the rest of the race making a series of moves in the triangle. When he came out an got to the two-mile mark in 9:21.7. Wiley was the closest more than a second behind. Falk was another four seconds back but staying in touch with the lead. Newport was the surprise in the race as he stayed close to both Wiley and Falk and running on the side of Tunney.

Wilson stretched the lead even further with a half mile to go and it looked like he had the win similar to what Josephine Welin had experienced in the 3A Girls race.

Falk was closing on Wilson with his kick that he put on display in the Peoria race a month ago when he ran 14:23 for the win. Wilson heard the crowd, heard the cheering for the New Trier runner, and took one peak behind. He pumped a little harder in his final steps towards the finish line crossing his arms in the air and winning with the fastest time of the day, 14:11.2.

Falk did what he needed to do but just could not get Wilson. He ended a great race running 14:14 to finish second. In most years, that time would have won a state title. Newport moved past Wiley and could not catch Falk as he ran a school record of 14:15.

“I know I wanted this,” Wilson added. “I started thinking about people that have influenced me. My coach, my friends, my family. I am so blessed to have this gift. I was so grateful for this race.”

Wiley ran 14:19 to finish fourth ahead of Tunney (14:29), Lewellyn (14:31), Camyn Viger of Plainfield South (14:31), and Ryan Watts of Edwardsville (14:32).

It all started last fall after the Southwest Suburban Conference Meet when several members of Sandburg’s Boys Cross Country team were quarantined due to COVID-19. Their successful season was all of a sudden put to a halt. All that happened is that their drive to being the best continued another season.

All of 2021 Sandburg was a step ahead of the rest of the state. When they stepped into Box 3 all they did was write the final chapter of this two-year story.

If there is a perfect race in cross-country, this Sandburg executed that plan. After the race was over, Sandburg had three all-state runners and a second state championship in the program’s history. The Eagles scored 130 points to claim the championship.

While the race pace was hectic in the front, Sandburg took the comfortable pace to put them in a better position. Declan Tunney did his thing being towards the front. Then came their pack that just moved up in the middle of the race to shut the door on the rest of the field.

Tunney’s fifth-place finish led the team. Brock Rice (19th) and Sean Marquardt (20th) ran together throughout both crossing the line in 14:48. Grant Giblin was the team’s fourth runner in 49th. Trent Anderson was the team’s fifth runner placing 58th. The team had a 46 second split.

The finish in this team race mirrored what happened the week before at an ever-tough Hinsdale Central Sectional. The Boys team of Hinsdale Central followed what their Girls team accomplished by finishing second with 175 points. Daniel Watcke earned all-state honors by finishing 14th running 14:46. Perhaps the surprise of this race came from Aden Bandukwala. The little-known sophomore was on Hinsdale Central’s winning 4x400m Relay quartet at last June’s IHSA State Track & Field Championship. What he did in the final mile was move from 45th to 29th to be the second runner on this team. It is the story that will become legendary in their program.

Colby Revord finished 36th ahead of teammates Henry Gruber (52nd) and Abhinav Reddy (75th). The top five split was 34 seconds. It was only 20 seconds from Bandukwala and Reddy.

Downers Grove North was only four points back in third with 179 points. It was even more amazing in how they accomplished that. Two of their top five runners Caden Weber and Topher Ferris was knocked down at the first turn in the race. They picked themselves up and moved up throughout the race.

That meant that the team needed to step up. The Trojans did have their top runner Roy Llewellyn step up to finish sixth overall. Karan Shetty finished 40th. Kyle McNally, who missed parts of this season due to injury, stepped up in a big way with his best race of the season running 15:08 to finish 42nd. Ferris and Weber finished incredibly in 60th and 61st to help their team to this trophy. North had a five-runner split of 46 seconds.

New Trier missed a trophy finishing fourth with 196 points led by Falk’s finish and then a seven second split from their second through fifth runners. Oswego first appearance in the state meet in 27 years resulted in a fifth-place finish just one point behind New Trier with 197 points. Ethan Forsell earned all-state status by finishing 17th.

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