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Monday Morning Finish Line - December 27, 2021

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ILXCTF - Mike Newman   Dec 26th 2021, 6:45pm
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MONDAY MORNING FINISH LINE

December 27, 2021

 

By Michael Newman [email protected]

 

Reflections.

It is the one thing that we see at the end of a calendar year. I like doing that too. I will do that after a track season, after a cross country season. It is a good way to better yourself. I did that when I ran. What worked. What did not work. I do that now looking at what I did that I liked and things that made me sick in reviewing them. You make decisions of the people you want to keep in your connections. You dismiss those that would not know the truth if it hit them in the face.

I look at my XC rankings at the end of the year obsessed on how I can improve. I can talk more about that next week. I look during the off time for me (like I have one, right) and find the stories that are uplifting. Please read Hinsdale Central’s Noah Lawrence and his blog about one of his runners Henry Gruber on how he put all of his heart into helping Hinsdale Central to a trophy in November. A few weeks later, his brother James saved Henry’s life when Henry’s heart stopped (Noah Lawrence Blog). It is uplifting. I can not do this beautiful piece any justice by writing any further. Just read what Noah tells us in that blog.

In a time that negative news in life and in social media has us looking for something to smile about. These are a few of the things that I will embrace about the past year.

It happened one night

The first weekend of the IHSA State Track & Field Championships last June was a return to normal for us. We did not have the year before due to pandemic conditions. The late start to the season pushed the end of the season into the middle of June. For all coaches and fans who wanted to see the state meet moved into June, we got a clear answers with ungodly heat that surrounded the Charleston area both weekends.

It was the 3A Girls Meet that caught everyone’s attention on June 12. Temperatures climbed into the 90’s but with a caveat of a big chance of rain that was supposed to hit the area in the late afternoon.

One of the featured races of that meet was the 1600 Meter Run. Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest earlier in the meet took the lead early like she had done during the track season and held on in the sweltering heat to win the 3200 Meter Run. Her chief competition would be Ali Ince from Normal Community. The freshman would have less time to recover after missing the state meet record but winning the 800 Meter Run.

Questions started running through my mind. Who would recover from the heat for what should be a fast 1600 Meter Run? That was the one thing I was looking forward to the answer of.

I was never able to answer that question. Just as the runners of the first section of the 1600 Meter Run left the check in tent, they were called back. Lightning was sighted in the stadium area and officials had to halt the meet and the momentum that had been building for this race.

Fans left the stadium and looked for safe places to hang out as the storm approached. I headed to my little room in the press box looking for silence and a chance to start writing my recap of the day’s action. I was tired and just wanted to go home. I came down with heat sickness where I thought I would not make it through the end of the meet. Get me in my car and face it north towards Chicago. The car would do the rest.

The storms hit. Meet officials had decisions to make. As the rain hit the track, the clock ticked later and later. The lights for the stadium had taken full effect. The beauty of the storm in this stadium had some beauty that I just watched from my little room.

Coaches called. What do you know? Is the meet going to continue? Those were the questions I would get. The IHSA had no answers but to sit and wait. It was the best strategy as we found out later. Friends called me. “We are having a beer at Marty’s. Come on over. We will buy you one!” I kindly declined. I knew there would be a meet starting up. I knew I had a long drive home afterwards.

The radar showed a let up of the weather. The IHSA proclaimed the meet would start up again at 9:30 PM. Three events remained: 1600 Meter Run, 200 Meter Dash, 4x400 Meter Relay.

The next 45 minutes that took place under the lights of O’Brien Stadium deep into a Saturday night would go down as perhaps the most memorable finish for a state meet in IHSA history.

The only thing that can express what happened after the meet started up is that the greatest Girls 1600 Meter Run took place with Ali Ince of Normal Community running the fastest time in IHSA State Meet History in the fastest field that meet has ever seen.

Ince’s time of 4:40.85 was the second fastest time ever run for an Illinois High School Girl trailing only Katelynne Hart. Ince’s time broke the State Meet Record set by Kayla Beattie in the 2011 state meet (4:43.65). Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest also broke Beattie’s record finishing second (4:42.55). Kate Dickman of Lyons Township finished third (4:44.54) as she was the third runner in this race that went under Katelynne Hart’s Class 3A State record of 4:47.36.

The delay just before the start of the 1600 Meter Run gave the two state champions (Welin and Ince) more time to recover and set in motion what happened under the stars.

Welin took the lead from the start leading the pack through the first 400-meters in 68.7. Dickman and Ince tucked in close behind Welin. Samantha Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South and Audrey Mendrys of Naperville North led the pack behind the three runners less than a second behind.

Welin led past 800-meters in 2:21.93 with Ince and Dickman close behind. The second lap had dropped to 73 seconds. Not a total drop of the pace but setting up what would happen next. The fans did not notice as they were screaming at the top of their lungs waking everyone up in the neighborhoods of O’Brien Field.

Welin picked up the pace on the third lap knowing she had to find a way to distance herself from the rest of the field. That was not happening as Ince moved into a second within an eyelash of Welin. Dickman was a second behind the two still in the hunt for a title. Mendrys was three seconds behind the pack, Poglitsch five seconds behind.

A memorable finish of this story was close at hand. Ince stormed to the lead on the backstretch with 250-meters left. Welin and Dickman were not giving up, but Ince had a surge that no one could stay up with. Ince entered the final 100-meters as the noise from the crowd shook the foundations of this stadium. Ince crossed the line breaking the record in a 66.5 final lap. Welin closed in a 68.6 lap. Dickman closed in 69.9.

There was movement in the final lap as the top nine finishers were all under 4:56.5. Catie McCabe of Hinsdale Central finished fourth (4:52.23). Lexi Affolter of St. Ignatius finished fifth (4:52.66) after finishing fourth in the 800 Meter Run earlier in the meet. Katrina Schlenker of Batavia finished sixth (4:52.99) after a disappointing 800 where she finished 11th. Mendrys (4:53.49), Poglitsch (4:54.53) were next in line followed by Naomi Ruff of South Elgin (4:56.03). Brooke Johnston of Lake Zurich (4:56.40), Brooke Berger of York (4:57.64), and Rachel Soukup of Prairie Ridge (4:58.21) were 10th, 11th, and 12th all under five minutes. In any other state meet, those three runners would have been in the top nine. This was one race that itself ahead of the rest.

The 200 Meter Dash that followed determined the team title in a way. Sydney Robinson of Whitney Young won the state title in the event. It was the fourth all-state performance from Mariam Azeez finishing third in that race that gave her team Lincoln-Way East the advantage of winning a state team title.

The 1600 Meter Run was great. The 200 Meter Dash was great. The 4x400 Meter Relay always has that excitement of ending a meet. The final race of the meet under the glow of the lights at Eastern Illinois University. Ali Ince of Normal Community took the baton in fifth-place. A thought blew through my mind is that there would be no way that this freshman could close the lead that Evanston had taken.

I learned in that moment never say never when watching Ali Ince race. She passed runners on the backstretch moving into second as she entered the far curve.

Maybe she still had a chance to win this?

Ince made the pass on Evanston’s Jacklynn Okereke in the final five meters of the race. The time difference between Normal and Evanston was just 38 hundredths of a second.

It was what happened after the race that caught my eye. Samantha Poglitsch and Kate Dickman had just finished running an incredible 1600 Meter Run. They were anchoring their teams in the relay. You would think there would be a look of pain shooting across the faces of these two young ladies as they finished. Both runners finished with smiles on their faces.

Was it them doing what was thought impossible pushing their teammates to all-state honors that had them smiling from cheek to cheek? Maybe it was that the season was over, and they had survived this season.

No one wanted to leave the stadium. The bond of togetherness was evident as Lincoln-Way East accepted the team championship. You could watch their celebration and see the definition of team in their faces.

The first 3 hours of that Saturday are still a blur to me. That final 45 minutes will remained etched in my mind for years to come.

The following weekend

There was supposed to be a let up of the heat for the Boys State Championships. The first two days were unfathomable with the 2A Meet delayed for three hours so that the athletes could compete in cooler conditions. Field events went on during the midday with track temperatures well over 100 degrees.

I’ll remember what Drew Rogers of Herscher did in this meet. He waited until the final lap to win the 3200 Meter Run. It had looked like the conditions had taken Rogers’ prisoner as he entered the final lap of the 1600 Meter Run in third-place. Rogers dug deep to win the race and setting the Class 2A State Meet Record in the event in the process.

It was the final races of Saturday in the 3A Meet that I will remember the most.

Brandon Battle of Edwardsville achieved the probable on this day as he swept the three sprint state titles. His school was in the mix for a state trophy. The 4x400 Meter Relay defined the team title.

Neuqua Valley and Minooka were the two teams in that relay that would decide on which team would win the state team title. The two teams were in separate sections of this event. Minooka would run first in the second section of the 4x400m Relay. Then it was Neuqua Valley’s turn to chase the time that Minooka had set.

Weather did not play a part in the meet unlike the other two meets that were held at O’Brien Field this week. The emotional and physical exhaustion of the moment showed in each team’s eyes.

Minooka stayed in contention on strong first two legs from Adrien Manning and Vincent Van Eck. Emerson Fayman ran a 50.99 third leg to stay within the lead set by Loyola Academy and trying to hold off York who was right on their shoulder.

Malik Armstrong brought the baton home for the Indians with a 50.08 anchor leg finishing second overall in 3:23.97 behind the time of Loyola Academy (3:23.42) and a second ahead of York’s third-place finish (3:24.91). Minooka had run 3:27.39 to win their sectional race. They ran more than three seconds faster when the moment counted. Their fate in this event was out of their hands. Minooka now had to wait to see if Neuqua Valley could better that time.

The lineup for Neuqua Valley would change one more time before they left the check in tent onto the track. Mitchell had not run for his team in their sectional race. He was with his teammates in the tent waiting to go after finishing fifth in the 200 Meter Dash. The other change they had in their quartet was the addition of Alexander Majus to the lineup and removing Nicolas Dovalovsky after he had just run a great 1600 Meter Run but had nothing left to give for his team even though he wanted to be in there.

Majus got Neuqua Valley into a good position before handing the baton off to Kevin Saju. The senior was just a JV runner on the cross-country team. The coaching staff saw promise in this young man in the sprints. Here he was keeping his team in contact within the lead in sixth place less than a second behind second-place Chatham-Glenwood. Kevin Howard had given everything he had in the third leg but dropped two spots to ninth place. More importantly, they were almost a second behind the pace that Minooka had set.

Max Mitchell took the baton and took off in pursuit of the pack ahead of him. This was his fourth race of the day for the senior. He was not the most imposing runner on the track standing five feet next to nothing. Mitchell did have the heart and guts to do what he needed to do. His split was an amazing 48.54 seconds. It was the third fastest split of all the runners in the event. He crossed the line in total exhaustion finishing sixth overall in that section.

All eyes turned to the scoreboard at the north end of the stadium waiting for the times to pop up. Neuqua Valley’s time of 3:23.45 showed and the team in the stands went crazy knowing that they had run faster the time of Minooka had set.

Three points for seventh place overall and 36 points for the Wildcats. Minooka earned one point moving them out of the tie with Normal West and into second.

The quartet from Neuqua Valley was collapsed on the side of the check-in tent exhausted not knowing if they had won. Confusing announcements from the PA made matters worse. The Neuqua Valley team and coaches knew. They had already evacuated the stands and headed to where their heroes would exit the track.

The foursome was told they had run faster than Minooka. They had won the state championship. Tears came out of the eyes of Kevin Saju. He was one of the heartbeats of this Neuqua Valley team. He just sat there with uncontrollable tears of joy streaming down his face.

The four runners finally got the energy to get up and leave the field where they were met by their teammates and family. The roar was so loud you could hear it west of the Mississippi River.

The 2020-2021 school year needed a finish this meet, this season. Neuqua Valley and Minooka produced that forever moment.

York Deja vu

It was something that I had seen before with this York Girls’ Cross-Country team this fall. I had the privilege to watch York’s Boys team of 1999 race so many times that fall. They ran the fastest team time ever at that year’s state meet scoring only 24 points. I would always shake my head in disbelief seeing what that team had achieved. They were that good. Every race was better than the last.

It was Deja vu for me as I watched York’s Girls team race this fall. I saw them cross the line in such a joyful unison that kept me thinking, “I’ve seen this before.”

I get the opportunity of watching York Boys team training session every Monday afternoon during the season. The Girls team would train at the same park in Elmhurst along with the IC Catholic Prep team. Watching the Girls team finish a race would get me thinking back to how this team would train on those Mondays.

Seven runners together in a pack. Not an inch of air separating them as they ran. That closeness would be repeated in meets not only during the race but before and after. Just like I saw with Lincoln-Way East during the track season I saw with this team. They celebrated the successes they had together as a team. They picked each other up when one did not have the race they wanted. I had experienced that when I was in high school. It was fun to see that again.

York Girls did not have to do anything different when they ran in Peoria at the beginning of November. Just run what they had done every meet this season.

They dominated to win the state championship. More importantly, they ran the third fastest team time (85:45) in IHSA State Meet history trailing two great teams from Naperville North and Yorkville in 2018.

Some national experts did not expect York to succeed in the national meets that they competed in. They won the NXR Midwest Regional with ease. They followed that up by finishing fourth at the RunningLane National Championships. Some people were surprised that a team that had no national racing experience but had the success that they had.

The secret was that they treated that race just like any other race they stepped to the line for this fall. “We have preached pack running all-season and did that the entire race,” said one of York’s top runners Bria Bennis said in a post-race interview after the RunningLane race. “We felt each other’s presence as we pushed each other along.”

Climbing to the Top of the Mountain

I cover so many meets during the spring and the fall. I try to tell some of those stories. One of those “neat stories” that I stumbled upon was the exploits that Naperville North’s top runner Lucy Westlake had experienced in her lifetime.

I write to the coach of teams before the season begins to get an idea of how the team will be. I wrote Dan Iverson of Naperville North asking him about his team. I wanted to know a little more about Lucy. She had been a role runner in the top five the previous three years. Now it was her chance to step up to their #1 spot.

“Lucy is a really accomplished, dedicated athlete and person. She is one of the most well-rounded individuals I have ever coached,” Coach Iverson told me in his reply. “She is a tremendous leader, hard worker, and her interests are wonderfully varied. She is truly a unique, wonderful kid. And her overall work ethic has put her in a position to run really, really well this fall. She certainly continues to make us better.”

The one thing that Iverson said is that Lucy climbed to the top of Denali this summer. It threw me for a loop. She missed the opportunity to run state track to do this. Westlake won the 3A race at First to the Finish Invitational in September. Her enthusiasm about her climbing.

“I ended my track season early missing sectionals and state. That was hard to do. I went to climb Denali in Alaska which is the highest mountain in North America,” Westlake explained after the race. “What I was trying to do was to become the youngest female to climb all 50 state high points. Climbing to the top of Denali was winning a cross-country race times 100. The view at the top was breathtaking.”

Westlake, who is also an accomplished triathlete, ended her IHSA high school cross-country career by finishing ninth in the State Meet 3A race. She recently committed to go to college at the University of Southern California. (Read more about Lucy here.)

She was not going to take it easy during this holiday break. “I’m going to go to Argentina to climb Aconcagua in January!”

She never lets up. That is a good thing to have as she continues in life as she climbs to the top of the mountain in what ever she decides what to do.

It is worth it

It was nice to have a close to normal cross-country season this fall. The only thing I missed was not being able to go to Portland in December for the Nike Cross Nationals which was not held this fall. I am looking forward to being back at that meet in 2022.

I took my advantage this fall to get back in the swing of things. I went to Detweiller Park four times. I’ve done some weird things at the park (besides running). I walked the course in my bare feet watching the dew splashing off the grass onto my ugly running toes. I had a picnic in the middle of the park once. I’ve taken a nap in the middle of the infield. I did that again this year for state.

The one thing that I wanted to do was to get to Detweiller Park before the sun rose on State Meet Saturday. Yes, I was tired for the entire day getting there super early, but it was worth it. Lights shined on the finish area as officials met before the start of the meet. I’ve seen the sun rise on Detweiller before meets in the past. I had never seen it like I did on that morning where the sun hit the top of the trees while the lower part of remains clouded in darkness. Peter Coe traveled down with the York team to a couple of state meets. He would always point out to Mr. Newton to take a moment and take in the beauty that surrounds you.

I have done that every time I get to go to that little hamlet north of Peoria on Route 29. I also was able to absorb the beauty of the six races that took place on that day.

-       Lianna Surtz of Rosary taking the lead from the start in the first race of the day, the Class 1A Girls race. She won her second xc title that morning. It was heartbreaking to see one of the Winnebago’s runner collapse and not being able to finish and their team’s chances of winning a state title. Tolono Unity won the title on that morning.

-       I was happy to see Ryder James of Paxton-Buckley-Loda win the 1A Boys State Championship. I have seen him after state races on the track and on the course disappointed. It is hard to see that in a young runner. It was great to see him celebrate a state title. His faith carried him through to that point. My respect for Drew Rogers of Herscher. He wanted that state title. An injury slowed him down where he finished second. “If I could not win, I am glad that Ryder did,” Rogers said about his lifelong friend. Latin School winning a team title with a freshman Daniel Goodman collapsing before the finish line yet finding strength to finish to secure that state championship for his team.

-       I was asked by one of Ava Parekh’s coaches, Jim Spivey, if I had any bad races after one of Ava’s races in Peoria in 2019. My answer was of course. Spivey told her “see?” Parekh’s race last November was one to remember as she won the state title. What was more memorable was to see her smile as she approached the finish line. She deserved that moment. The perseverance of Grayslake Central showed in Peoria after a year of struggling through injuries and illnesses. It was overwhelming to see them cry in joy after they found out they were state champions

-       Alex Partlow of Carbondale had one of the most dominating performances of the day as he pulled away from the field to win the 2A Boys race in 14:11.9. Wilson Georges of Limestone ran a personal best of 14:36 but had to settle for second in that race. It was one place lower than he wanted. He will be a state champion in my eyes especially how he managed the post-race interviews. Fenwick had finished last in the 2019 race. They jumped to the top in 2021 to claim the state championship with their best race.

-       We already talked about how dominating York Girls were in the 3A Girls race finishing ahead of Prospect and Hinsdale Central. The two 3A races had a common thread as four of the six trophy winners came from the WSC-Silver conference. Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest made it a sweep for the WSCS in winning the individual title. Welin overcame early season injuries to get to that title. Aly Negovetich of Grant ran her best when it counted in the state series to close on Welin in finishing second.

-       Sandburg was unquestionably the best Boys team in the state in 2021. They showed that by winning the final race of the meet in Class 3A. Their team running in that race was impressive to watch. Micah Wilson of St Chares East’s  race before state in Peoria resulted him finishing fifth in October. He changed his race plan that gave him the state title.

And finally…

I am not one to set New Year’s resolutions to start the year. In most cases, those resolutions are swept under the rug forgotten by the time we get to February.

We were hoping that we would get back to normal in the way we lived after a rocky 2020. We are heading to 2022 with a new virus variant sweeping the country. We are tired and what it to end. If we talk the talk and not walk the walk, getting back to a better normal could not come.

I have a little piece of paper taped to my monitor in my office that reminds me every morning of who I want to be.

BE BETTER

Be a better parent every day. Be a better person to the ones you love. Be better in wearing a mask when you are tired of doing that. Losing a friend to the virus is a reminder for that.

Be better in getting vaccinated. Be better in life. Be better reaching out to people that you think need help. Be better embracing the good things in life. Be better in dismissing the vices that may haunt us. Be better in your faith. Be better in being thankful.

More so, just be a better you. Some of our problems in our society come from us not being better in being better.

Be Better. Have a better 2022. I’ll check in with you next year hopefully being a better me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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