Schager, David earn All-American Honors at Nike Cross Nationals

5 Illinois teams place in top 13 at NXN

By Michael Newman

Grace Schager of Glenbard North finished her season as one of the top five individual female runners in high school. Tatum David of Richland County was in the top 10 on Saturday but still has one more race to run to complete her cross country runners.

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Both runners ran smart races to get them to great finishes on a sunny yet windy day at Glendoveer Golf Course on  Portland’s East side for the Nike Cross Nationals. Some observed that the usually waterlogged course was in the best shape in the years since the meet moved there. The performances reflected that.

The Girls race showed with Schager finishing fifth and Schager placing eighth as the top Illinois Individuals. Prospect moved up nicely through the race to finish fifth overall in the team competition. York also ran a strong race in finishing tenth overall in the top 23 teams.

The three Boys team made their presence known in the meet as Hinsdale Central finished eighth, Downers Grove North finished eleventh, and Plainfield South finished thirteenth.

Schager and David took cautious routes early in the race but were aggressive in the final mile to earn those All-American finishes. While eventual race winner Irene Riggs of Morgantown WV led the pack through an opening mile of 5:10 for a five second lead, the two Illinois runners hung back in the pack. David passed through the first mile in 14th in 5:20.6. Schager passed through the first mile in 22nd in 5:22.3.

Schager caught David in the second mile as the two runners were 12-13 at 11:08. Schager started to move in the final 1.1 miles moving up to seventh at 4-kilometers, sixth at 2.75 mile, and then her fifth-place finished timed at 17:16.8.

“It was scary this morning seeing the wind. I know I had run in worse conditions at the Illinois State Meet this year,” Schager said after her race. “It was nice to know I would be in a national race and running in a pack again. Being in the race I was looking for my Midwest teammates. Throughout the race I found Helen (Sachs) and found Tatum (David) and then found Sophia (Kennedy). It was really exciting. Instead of running alone, I was keying off and cheering on my Midwest teammates.”

David was still in 13th at 2.75-miles. She made a strong move in the final quarter moving up to finial finish of eighth-place with a 17:22.4 time. There were three Midwest Region Runners that finished in the top 10. This race she can build off from as the senior heads to San Diego next week to the CHAMPS National Championships.

“It was good being with the Midwest Girls this week. We are close and get along well with each other,” David said. “I did not go out as fast as I wanted, but it was nice to be in a pack to work off other runners. In the race I tried to keep moving up and it worked out. I loved how I finished. I have one more race (CHAMPS). My legs are tired after this, but I’ll be ready to go next week.”

Prospect and York capped up memorable seasons with top 10 finishes in this meet. Prospect started out in seventh-place after the first mile and then moved up strong to fifth and maintained that position to the finish. The Knights scored 189 points. The team only had a 20 second split on their top five perhaps running their best race of the season. Freshman Meg Peterson was the team’s top runner finishing 62nd overall (29th team place). Veronica Znajda was five seconds behind Peterson finishing 67th (33rd TP). Lily Ginsberg was next in 78th (39th TP) followed by Hailey Erickson in 82nd (43rd TP) and Cameron Kalaway in 84th (45th TP) as the team’s fourth and fifth runners. Ireland Wildhart (114th) and Samantha Patterson (143rd) were the team’s sixth and seventh runners.

York finished tenth overall scoring 278 points. The Dukes got out strong in ninth at the mile and maintained that position while moving up throughout the race. Bria Bennis, who finished third for York in the Illinois 3A State Meet, went out strong early and was the team’s first runner finishing 45th overall and only 17th in team places. York’s pack followed as they were 41 seconds behind Bennis. Their second through fourth runners were just separated by two seconds. Michaela Quinn was the team’s second runner finishing 97th (55th TP) followed by Katherine Klimek in 102nd (59th TP) and Lily Beerhalter in 104th (61st TP). Freshman Maggie Quinn was 22 seconds back as the team’s fifth runner finishing 129th (86th TP). The top five split was 65 seconds. It was only 24 seconds between the two Quinn sisters between second through fifth runners. Maggie Owens finished in 136th and Brooke Berger finished in 147th as the team’s sixth and seventh runners.

The three Illinois Boys teams ran strong throughout this race finishing between eighth and thirteenth showing how strong and close this state was this fall. Hinsdale Central went after this race from the start as they were in third-place at the mile, sixth at 2-miles. Hinsdale Central finished eighth overall in the team standings scoring 260 points. Aden Bandukwala and Daniel Watcke have keyed off each other this season and did again in this race. The two runners were around the top 45 at the mile. They moved up throughout with Bandukwala ended up as the team’s top runner placing 26th overall and just eighth in a team place. Watcke was just 2.2 seconds back finishing in 28th (10th TP). The team’s top five split was 86 seconds and 35 seconds between the third through fifth runners. Michael Skora led the pack finishing in 96th (56th TP). Max Lowe was next finishing in 110th (70th TP). Jessie Gamboa finished 158th (116th TP) as the team’s fifth runner. Nikita Kamenev finished in 176th and Grant Miller finished in 180th as the Red Devils’ sixth and seventh runner.

Downers Grove North did not know the week before that they would be in Portland for this race. A late night call last Saturday night confirmed that they would be on the starting line at Glendoveer as one of the four at-large teams. They ran better than some of the pre-meet predictions finishing eleventh overall with 288 points. They had the same point total as Corning NY who finished 10th. The Trojans were the second placing at-large teams finishing just behind seventh-place San Clemente CA.

Downers Grove North ran a smart race throughout moving up to get to where they finished. The Trojans were 16 at the mile, and then moved up to ninth at two miles. North had a 40 second split on their top five runners led by the 54th place finish (23rd TP) by junior Caden Weber. Fellow junior Ryan Eddington was next in 76th place (40th TP). Topher Ferris finished 93rd (53rd TP) as the team’s third runner followed by Grant Schroder in 124th (83rd TP) and Asa Gasper in 130th (89th TP). Leo Gartlan in 136th and Zach Bender in 163rd were the Trojans’ sixth and seventh runners.

Illinois Class 3A State Champion Plainfield South finished their dream season placing 13th at Nike Cross Nationals with 335 points. The Cougars ran a similar race as Downers North did moving up through the race as they were 15th at the mile and 10th at 2-miles. South ended up with a 62 second split on their top five runners. Camyn Viger had a great race as the team’s to runner finishing 38th overall and only 14th in the team places. Sophomore Dylan Maloney was the team’s fifth runner in 85th (47th TP) followed by Ethan Reynoso in 113rd (73rd TP), Owen O’Shea in 132nd (91st TP), and BJ Sorg in 152nd (110th TP). Jack Wright in 167th and Gavin Borger in 185th were South’s sixth and seventh runners in this race.