Schager breaks course record in Naperville Twilight win

Naperville North Girls, Downers Grove North Boys win team title; Newhart pulls away for Boys Varsity win

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Naperville, Ill – Make that two Judy Pendergast course records that Grace Schager has broken this cross country season. 

It was not a matter of if the Glenbard North senior would break the Naperville North XC course record on a night made for fast times with temperatures near 60 degrees with hardly any wind. Schager won the Naperville Twilight Invitational in one of the most anticipated races in this eight race meet. 

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Her winning time was 16:10.0 which was more than five seconds ahead of Pendergast’s then record time of 16:15.2. She was alone in doing that taking the lead 400-meters into the race. It was a race that she was look forward to running after not racing in more than two weeks after her win at Detweiller Park on September 17. 

“I was definitely nervous coming into this race, but my coach (Eric Day) talked me through it,” Schager said. “I did not need to be nervous. I had two weeks off. I definitely needed to refresh myself mentally after those two race (Harvey Braus Invitational and Richard Spring Invitational” 

Schager’s nervousness stopped as soon as the starter’s pistol went off. She went through the first mile in 5:19.1 and already had a 16 second lead on Scout Storms of Barrington. She passed 2-miles in 10:48 with a 42 second lead on Storms and Evelyn Hett of Jones. Prep. Schager picked up her pace in the final mile running 5:22 to finish in 16:10.0. 

“The goal this season is just to have fun,” Schager added. “I did not get to run last year because of a minor injury. So, running tonight was kind of a redemption for me. Running that first mile in 5:19 made me feel good to be back.” 

The battle for second-place in this race between Storms and Hett developed in the middle mile when Hett made up eight seconds on Storms to draw even with a mile to go. “The first two-miles of the race was about tactics,” Hett said after the race. The final mile was all about competing and racing.” 

Hett had a slight lead as the two runners stepped on the track for the final 500-meters of the race. Storms took over second at that point and held that position to the finish. Her time was 17:12.1. Hett ran 17:13.9 to finish third. “This course is super-fast. I just wanted to see how fast I could run tonight,” Storms said. The sophomore was a last minute entry in this race. “Evelyn (Hett) came up on me at the needle. I made a surge at 1200-meters, then 600-meters left and opened up my stride. I just gave it all I had.” 

Nine state ranked teams in the Girls Varsity field meant some unpredictability in the team standings. The one predictable factor was that host #6 Naperville North seems to always run good in this meet. It showed in the first mile where they held the team lead. That held up the rest of the race as they scored 53 points to win the team title. Julie Piot ran a personal best of 17:26.9 to finish fourth to lead her team. North had three other runners in the top 14 with Shania Tandon two seconds behind Piot in fifth, Logan Brennan in 11th, and Rianna Tandon in 14th. Anika Lovisa was the team’s fifth runner as she placed 37th. The team’s top five split was 76 seconds. 30 seconds separated their top four runners. 

#3 Naperville Central finished second with their top 5 runners in the first 30 that had a 66 second split. Kate Tueting in sixth and Liv Phillips in ninth led the Redhawks with top 10 finishes. #4 Lyons Township finished third with 94 points. The Lions had a 67 second split on their top five (27 seconds on their second through fifth runners) led by the seventh place finish from Catherine Sommerfeld. 

#15 Wheaton-Warrenville South ran their best race of the season so far and was a surprise in the top five scoring 108 points to finish fourth led by an eighth-place finish from Nicole Poglitsch. Their top five split was 71 seconds but only 36 seconds from their second through fifth runners. #5 Downers Grove North (118 points) and #8 Minooka (133 points) finished fifth and sixth. 

The excitement from the Girls Varsity race spilled over to the Boys Varsity race which was the final race of the meet. The pack was tight in the opening mile as Nick Strayer of Lyons Township took the pack through the first mile in 4:48 where only three seconds separated the top 15 runners. Liam Newhart of Oak Park-River Forest took over the lead just before the second mile as the race slowed to a 5-minute pace. Newhart did not look back in the final mile clocking a fast 4:44.3 time to cross the line with the win in 14:35.1. 

“I did not get out great tonight. It felt like the pace was more consistent for me,” Newhart said. “We have done a lot of 1k /800 repeats in workouts. I was in a lot of discomfort, but I knew I could push it harder. Racing is about working through discomfort but also causing discomfort for others in the race.” 

Newhart’s time was the third fastest in course and race history trailing only Thomas Shilgalis and Zack Kinne who ran faster in 2017. 

Oliver Burns of Plainfield North ran 14:46.5 to finish second. Strayer ran 14:49 to finish third. Michael Michelotti of Oak Park-River Forest (14:50) and Zac Close of Neuqua Valley (14:51) rounded out the top five individuals. 

Oak Park did have a three point lead on WSC-Silver Conference rival Downers Grove North at 2-miles in this race. The #3 Trojans charged back in the final mile to overtake the Huskies and win with 75 points. Topher Ferris and Caden Weber led North finishing eighth and ninth. Ryan Eddington (14th), Asa Gaspar (24th), and Leo Gartlan (25th) were the team’s other top five runners that only had a 31 second split. #4 Oak Park-River Forest scored 86 points to finish second led by Newhart and Michelotti, and Nick Parrell (10th) in the top 10. They had 5 runners in the top 53 with a 79 second split. 

#9 Plainfield North finished third (102 points) led by top 20 finishes by Burns and Ryan Tracey (17th). #7 Lyons Township finished fourth behind top 10 finishes from Strayer and Cillian Henning (7th). #23 Naperville Central finished fifth with 146 points led by the 11th place finish from Luke Noren.