Jesse Reiser in control in winning Boys Individual race; Sarah Kettel surprise win in Girls Individual race; Carmel makes it five in a row to Portland with their Girls team win

By Michael Newman

DyeStat Illinois Editor

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Terre Haute -– There was a renewed assurance in the eyes of the Sandburg IL runners as they stepped to the line before the start of the Boys Championship Race at the NXN Midwest Regional Sunday afternoon. The Eagles did not run their best race of the season the week before in placing second in the Illinois 3A State meet race.

“I told them after the race there has been one minute all season that you did not look like yourselves,” Sandburg Coach John O’Malley told his team after the state meet race. “The first minute of the race they were running defensively. I wanted to see fearlessness in this race.”

They were boxed in at the first turn at Detweiller Park last week slowing them down and putting them out of title contention. With the first turn of the Lavern Gibson National course coming 900 meters into the race, Sandburg put them in the position that they wanted to be in. Their pack was among the first 40 runners at the half way point of the race. They came in within 7.5 seconds of each other to easily win the team championship with 111 points.

“We had bit of a chip on our shoulder. We did not run up to our potential last week,” said Sean Torpy who was the first runner for Sandburg in this race. “It was fun to come out here today and redeem ourselves.”

“We just wanted to rebound after last week. We felt it wasn’t our best effort of the year,” said Sandburg club coach Mike Keane. “We did not look bad. I think we were a little flat especially what happened last week. We feel we should get two good weeks of training and ease off heading towards Portland. We should be good heading forward.”

Sean Torpy led Sandburg with a 25^th place finish (15:43.5). Max Lehnhardt (27^th, 15:44.3), Greg Burzinski (33^rd, 15:46.5), Chris Torpy (37^th, 15:47.9), and Tom Brennen (48^th, 15:50.9) were close behind giving Sandburg that lethal 7.5 second split.

It was also redemption for the next two teams in the Boys standings. Carmel IN lost their state meet at the beginning of the month by seven points. They ran their best race of the season placing second on Sunday.

“This is a great feeling. We have been there the last three years. We’ve had so many setbacks this season so it was good to get our goal,” junior Ben Veatch said. “We lost our state meet and kept our heads up. We came out here and did what we needed to do.”

The surprise of the meet was the third place finish by York. The Dukes were left for dead after barely making it to the state meet. Two straight good races have made them the hottest team perhaps in the nation right now. Led by 13^th place finish by the best freshman in the country Charlie Kern who finished 13th, York scored 250 points to place third. They were tied with Missouri Class 4 State Champion Lafayette. A better 6^th runner for the Dukes gave them the third spot.

“We’ve always run well here. We stepped it up last week at the state meet,” said York senior Matt Plowman. “We knew we had to step it up again and if we did that we would have a chance at placing. We were able to do that.”

Lafayette is a team to watch in the future with all of their top five back in 2015. Spots three through six were close with only 12 points separating four teams. Neuqua Valley placed fifth nine points behind Lafayette (259 points). Illinois 3A Champion Hinsdale Central was three points in sixth (262 points). The Red Devils were hurt when Blake Evertsen fell on the first turn of the race. He got up and still was the first man for his team but he would have been farther towards the front perhaps giving this team a higher finish.

The conditions on the course were a 180 degree turn from the year before. Running in the 2013 NXN Midwest race was like running in quicksand as the course was rain saturated. The course on Sunday was almost in perfect conditions. The weather cooperated with temperatures around 32 degrees with basically no wind. It guaranteed that with the talent that was on the line that it would also be a fast one.

The pace was quick the first mile with a large pack going through in a fast 4:44. Dylan Quisenberry (Lafayette HS, Wildwood MO), Tyler Gillam & Michael Karls (Festus HS MO), Matt Pereira (Lake Zurich HS IL), Jesse Reiser (McHenry HS IL), and Colin Burdette (Davidson HS, Hilliard OH) were leading a pack of at least 50 runners. In the second mile which turns and rolls up and down, that pack was defined with Reiser refusing to let anyone by him. He had earned that a year ago when he finished second in this race.

“I felt after the first mile I really wanted to win,” Reiser said afterwards. “I really did not want anyone taking the lead on me.”

Reiser went through the 2 miles in 9:46 refusing to let any runner by him. Ryan Robinson (Waterford Mott HS MI) was right on Reiser right side matching every move that the Illinois state champion was making. Ben Veatch (Carmel HS IN), Ryan Clevenger (North HS, Downers Grove IL), Zach Dale (Conant HS, Hoffman Estates IL), Pereira, and Seth Williams (Columbus North HS OH) were close by. In the last kilometer of the race, Robinson kept making moves to try to pass for the lead that Reiser denied. In the last 400 meters, both Perrier and Robinson were in an all-out sprint. Reiser crossed first in 15:01.9. Robinson was next one second back.

Veatch, the Indiana state champion, finished third in 15:05.9 bettering his state race time by four seconds. Pereira, only a sophomore, finished fourth in 15:06.2 securing a trip to Portland. Clevenger redeemed himself after a fifth place finish at state in Illinois, finished fifth qualifying for NXN Nationals. Zach Snider (Breubeuf Prep, Indianapolis IN) edged Zach Dale across the line for sixth place. Only four tenths of a second separated two. Since Veatch was part of a qualifying team, Snider will go to Portland as an individual.

Illinois showed its strength in the race placing four individuals in the first seven and four teams in the first six.

“I always wanted to cross and hit the tape like that,” Reiser added. “It was a matter of survive and advance for me in this race. My competiveness took over at the end.”

“My goals at the beginning of the season were to get top three at state and qualify for one of the national meets,” Matt Pereira said. “After my performances early in the season, I did not think I would get that. After the state meet, I was pretty confident coming into this race. When it came down to the finish, it felt just like state.”

“This whole week I have been feeling like garbage. I thought I was totally beat,” Ryan Clevenger said. “Last week did not go out as planned. This week, I can’t even explain it. This is amazing. I am so happy.”

Audrey Belf (Seaholm HS, Birmingham MI) and Anna Sophia Keller (St. Anthony HS, Effingham IL) opened up a lead on the pack in the Girls Championship Race going through the mile in 5:20. Sarah Kettel (Capital Home School, Lansing MI) had settled in the top five waiting for the right moment to make her move.

Keller took up the race leading duties going past the two miles in 10:52. Belf was right on her side letting the Illinois sophomore take the lead duties. Kettel was moving up striding to catch the two. With a kilometer to go, Kettel was on the side of the two runners waiting for her moment to lead. The junior was not on the state scene not running in the Michigan state meet. She did run 17:25 to win the Michigan state meet for home schooled athletes. She was not on the radar of a runner to watch but her undefeated season showed she deserved to be up front.

The three came in towards the finish together with Kettel in the lead that she would not let go. She crossed the line in 17:28.8 more than a second ahead of Belf, the Michigan D1 champion. Keller was less than a second back in third. There was a seven second gap then Rachel Bonner (Port Huron MI), who was fourth in the Michigan D1 meet, finished fourth in this race qualifying her for Portland. Ohio D2 Champion Dominique Clairmonte (Lexington HS) took the final qualifying spot in fifth more than a second behind Bonner. Michigan runners made their presence known in this race putting three individuals in the first five.

“Sarah ran a real smart race. We have a great representation from Michigan. It should be great,” Belf said. “We were really excited to race as a team here this year. It has been something we have wanted to do for the last couple of years. It was great coming down with my team and bonding.”

“I never know until I go into the race what my strategy is going to be. I did not want to race all of my energy at the beginning,” Keller said. “It felt really good. I thought I could have run better. I’m proud I was able to get into the top three.”

Carmel continued their string to making the trip to the NXN Nationals in winning the Girls Team race with 103 points. It was closer than most thought. Naperville North, the Illinois 3A state champion, was only ten points in second place. IL 3A runner-up Palatine was only six points back in third place (119 points).

For the first half of the race, it looked like it could be a 1-2 sweep for the Illinois schools as they had control of the team battle. Slowly but surely, Carmel moved up through the race. In the last kilometer, the Greyhounds took command of the race. Their split was only thirty seconds.

“We knew we had to qualify first. We did not want to get ahead of ourselves,” Hailey Harris said. “We just wanted to run the nest that we could and we did it.”

Madelyn Dalton was the first runner in for Carmel placing 15^th (18:03.3). She was followed by Haley Harris (17^th, 18:06.1), Megan Kress (30^th, 18:23.2), Stacy Morozov (34^th, 18:25.9), and Kelsey Harris (48^th, 18:37.5).

Naperville North makes a repeat appearance in Portland with their second place finish. As the y have all season, the Huskies packed it up towards the front with a secondary pack behind them. North placed three runners between 16^th through 24^th led by the 16^th place finish by Judy Pendergast.

“We run with a pack mentality,” said Naperville North senior Elly DeTurris. She was North’s third runner in this race finishing 24^th. “We run together and work together as a family. We just tried to go out and do the best that we could and we did.”

Palatine was in the same boat last year after they finished third in this same race. They waited for a call about their at-large qualifying status which never came. They should get that call this season with a strong second place finish at the Illinois 3A meet and then the third place finish in this race. Being only six points back of second place should make their trip close to automatic. Kelly O’Brien was the first Pirate finisher placing 7^th to lead her team.

“We knew we could do really well. We were confident,” said Palatine’s Amy Kieliszewski. She was her team’s second runner placing 27^th. “We wanted to race like we did last Saturday confident in what we could do. We were focused and had some fun with that.”

The presence of Michigan schools in this race should grow in future years especially after the MHSAA has relaxed their post-season rules of teams participating. Seaholm, the D1 state champion, finished 4^th with 189 points. Northville MI finished only six points behind fifth place New Trier IL.