ACC Charger Classic Recap -- September 27, 2014

Aurora Central Catholic "Charger Classic"
Saturday, September 27, 2014

On a beautiful day yesterday (although it warmed up much more quickly than any of us expected it to), we traveled to Oakhurst Forest Preserve in Aurora to compete in the annual Charger Classic Invitational. We have run at this meet every year since its inception in 1993. As the meet has grew over the years to include larger schools, and even some schools from out of state (this year, there were two: Linn-Marr from Iowa and Tates Creek from Kentucky), the meet was split into "Blue" and "Gold" divisions for the varsity races. The Blue Division consists of smaller schools, mainly from Class 1A (including us), but also some of the smaller Class 2A schools. The Gold Division consists of the larger schools in the field, the larger Class 2A schools and the Class 3A schools.

This year, however, there was a change in the way the meet was run. In years past, all schools would run together regardless of Blue or Gold Division classifications, but the meet would be scored separately based on the Blue and Gold Divisions. This year, however, they split the varsity races into the Blue and Gold Division races. All Blue Division schools ran together, and all Gold Division schools ran together. In the Frosh-Soph and open races, however, all runners ran together regardless of classification.

This is one of our favorite courses to run on. Although it is only 2.9 miles (instead of the 3.0 as they list it in the official results), make no mistake: This is one of the fastest courses that we run on during the season not named Detweiller Park. This meet also serves as a great way for us to learn how to run the course, as we will be returning here in late October for the IHSA Regional meet that will be hosted by Aurora Christian in the first round of the state series.

Four Frosh-Soph Boys Run Solid Races

Similar to Bureau Valley last week, we decided to run four of our guys at the frosh-soph level, meaning that we did not field a complete team in this race. Still, all four of our Frosh-Soph guys ran well in their season debuts at Oakhurst, with three of our runners (Sam Asa, Ryan Pleva, and Jake Juska) making their career debuts on this course today.

The four boys set the tone for the day by going out for a very quick first mile (all four were between 6:00 and 6:15!) and carried that through to solid finishes. Jake Juska turned in his best race of the year to finish 63rd in a field of 132 runners. Sam Asa would follow in 72nd place, then Ryan Pleva would finish 81st. Jacob Nader also ran a great race to finish 100th.

These are overall places, which includes runners that would have competed in the Gold Division if they had split this race into two like they do for the varsity races. If that were the case in the Frosh-Soph boys races, then among Blue Division schools, Jake would have finished 18th, Sam 24th, Ryan 28th, and Jacob 39th!

Great job, guys!

Strong Pack Racing Rewards Varsity Ladies with Third Place Trophy!

The theme of this season for the girls team is pack running, and today the pack would be crucial to the success of our girls varsity team. Today, we had five freshmen and two upperclassmen in our lineup for the varsity race, and from the moment the gun fired, the ladies were committed to running as a pack and kept that up through the entire race. All seven of our ladies turned in their fastest first miles of the season, and all seven of the ladies ran their first mile between 6:40 and 6:50 for a 10 second spread as they exited the forest! From there, they spread out a little more timewise, but remained packed together placewise.

Congratulations are in order to Imogene Asa and Emilia Maslany, who finished 15th and 19th respectively to earn individual trophies in a field of 81 runners to lead the Sentinel pack across the finish line. Not long after Emilia finished, Peyton Nash crossed the line in 22nd. Junior Brittany Eiermann then led the rest of the pack across the line, as she finished 32nd, then Lisa Niemiec was just a few steps behind her in 34th, Lily Arndt quickly followed to take 36th, and then Hannah finished the scoring for the Sentinels in 41st place.

The efforts of all seven ladies running as a pack paid dividends today as the ladies would score 15-19-22-32-34-(36)-(39) to score 122 points and earn a third place trophy in the Blue Division!

Back row, left to right: Amanda Yates (sr), Ashley Eiermann (fr), Lisa Niemiec (fr), Emilia Maslany (fr), Michelle Launi (so), Hannah Abbatacola (fr), Michelle Gorman (jr)

Front row, left to right: Victoria Thomas (sr), Halle Nash (fr), Peyton Nash (fr), Imogene Asa (sr), Brittany Eiermann (jr), Lily Arndt (fr)

Three Seniors Earn Individual Trophies En Route to Fourth Place Finish for Varsity Men

Next up were our varsity boys, as the temperature continued to quickly warm up to downright summery levels.

Like the frosh-soph boys and girls varsity runners, our five varsity boys got out to strong starts, and carried that through to the finish. Although once again we were led by our front three seniors running outstanding races to each earn individual trophies, the boys team would end up finishing in fourth place overall in the Blue Division, behind 2A ranked Wheaton Academy, the top-ranked Class 1A team in Rockford Christian, and a strong Wheaton (St. Francis) team.

Nick Dea would finish 8th (and have his trophy accepted by Sam Asa, as he had to leave early), Anthony Alessi also earned a top ten spot, taking 10th place. Both runners also broke 16:00 on the 2.9 mile course for the first time in their careers. Mitch Perrotta just missed the 16:00 barrier, but finished 14th to also earn a trophy, along with what he said was the "worst mispronunciation of my last name I've ever heard" while accepting his trophy. Jasper Requiron, who had been battling shin splints the last couple of days, turned in an outstanding race to finish 33rd, and Tony Cordero would run another fine race to finish 47th in a field of 95 runners.

Great races today guys!

Four Ladies Turn in Solid Races in Open Race

About an hour (and several degrees warmer) after the varsity boys the Gold Division varsity races had finished, the ladies stepped to the line to run their open race five minutes after the starter had fired the gun to start the boys' open race. In what turned out to be a combined field of 127 girls, our four ladies turned in solid races. All four ladies, like their teammates, got out to fast starts and that led to very solid finishes. Halle Nash would be our top finisher in this race, taking 35th place overall (combined between Blue and Gold Division runners), turning in her best race yet. Then Victoria Thomas crossed the line in 69th place. Amanda Yates would follow in 82st, and Michelle Gorman finished 103rd, and all four turned in very solid races.

If you were to split the Blue and Gold divisions apart like the varsity races, then Halle finished 2nd overall among Blue Division schools! Victoria

Great job today ladies!

Looking Ahead...

What a great day yesterday at Oakhurst! All athletes should go for a 3-5 mile cleanout run today, if they haven't done so already.

The calendar is rapidly approaching October. The season is moving quickly, and we will be hitting the postseason before you know it!

This week, we have our final home meet of the season on Tuesday, the so-called "Westmont 500", nicknamed by Coach Jakalski of Lisle. In addition to Lisle, we will also see conference rivals Seneca and Plano on Tuesday, along with Walther Christian, whom we also saw on Saturday. On Saturday, we will then return the favor and pay a visit to Lisle's Community Park for the 28th edition of the "Mane Event", which will be the first of three trips to this venue in October.

Unlike Oakhurst, however, this course is a 5K course (the longest distance permitted by the IHSA) and has a large hill in the first mile, which leads to much slower times than normal. This will be a good first test for us on Lisle's course, as we will return here for two of our most important meets of the season: Conference on October 18th, and Sectional on November 1st.

The journey to November 8th continues....