Bureau Valley Invitational Recap: Ladies Earn 4th Place Trophy!

BUREAU VALLEY "STORM" INVITATIONAL
September 19, 2015

COMPLETE RESULTS | SPLITS | MILE SPLITS | UPDATED FINISH TIMES

UPDATED TOP TEN TIMES LIST | UPDATED TOP TEN RUNNERS LIST

PHOTO ALBUM (thanks again, Jake Juska!)

Friday night before our meet at Bureau Valley, Mother Nature was not cooperating for many athletic activities in the Chicagoland and northern Illinois area. We were not alone: Our school's football game against Lisle for the Old Plank trophy, originally scheduled for 7:00 pm, was initially moved up to 5:00 pm, then once the team and the band were out at Lisle, the game ended up getting cancelled and rescheduled for Monday.

Fortunately, for us on Saturday, there would be no such issues at the Bureau Valley Invitational. Although it was still raining when we gathered at the school for our 6:00 am bus departure, it was not the ferocious rain like it had been earlier in the evening and overnight. As the bus continued westward on I-88 towards Bureau Valley, eventually the rain stopped and the skies began to clear somewhat.

Upon arrival at Bureau Valley, it was clear that the course would be a wet one -- the cinder track had a large puddle of water right where runners take off from the start before heading up the hill for the first of four times over the course of three miles (two times for the Frosh-Soph boys race).

We later found out that about twenty miles to the south of our destination, in Princeton -- by coincidence, where we'd stopped for lunch after our meet in Peoria last weekend -- got deluged with almost six inches of rain overnight. Bureau Valley didn't get nearly as much, but in any case though, there was more than enough water to go around.

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FROSH-SOPH BOYS (2.52 miles)

The Frosh-Soph boys race was the first race of the day, and it was a half mile shorter than the standard 3 miles that we have run at all meets so far this year. Although we did not have the services of Robbie or Pierre, which meant that we would not have a team score today, the quartet of Connor Alessi, Jake Dooley, Brandon Abington, and Ben Padgitt toed the line.

All four of our freshmen would get off to very good starts through the first mile, led by Jake Dooley. The quartet then held steady through the two mile, now led by Connor Alessi, and finished strong in the last half-mile. Connor would finish the 2.52 mile circuit in 17:06, good for 36th place in a field of 80 runners. Jake Dooley was thirteen seconds behind in 17:19, finishing 41st. Brandon Abington followed in 52nd place in a time of 18:08, and Ben Padgitt just missed the 19:00 barrier, taking 66th.

Although we did not score as a team, all four of our freshmen who competed on Saturday should be proud of themselves and their races on Saturday. Their hard work is already beginning to pay off!

Congratulations are also in order to Connor Alessi, who ran the 8th fastest Frosh-Soph Boys time and Jake Dooley who ran the 10th fastest Frosh-Soph Boys time on Saturday! Both boys also are 8th and 10th on the Top Ten Runners List at Bureau Valley!

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VARSITY GIRLS: WESTMONT LADIES EARN FOURTH PLACE TROPHY!

Left to right: Lisa Niemiec, Halle Nash, Hannah Abbatacola, Lily Arndt, Frankie Fabry, Brittany Eiermann, Peyton Nash and Ashley Eiermann

Friday afternoon, after our practice and weightlifting, Coach Wolf showed the girls how things had shaken out between some of the top teams at Peoria -- three of the teams that were ahead of us -- Kewanee (Annawan-Wethersfield) [Coop], Seneca, and Eureka -- were also participating in this meet. We had thought that Rockford Christian would also be participating, but their girls were not there. (The Rockford Christian boys, however, were, but did not bring their top varsity runners).

As a team, the ladies set a goal of earning a trophy -- at Bureau Valley, the top four teams earn trophies as well as the top thirty individuals.

After a two hour bus ride on Saturday morning, eight of our ladies took to the line, with their team goal to earn a trophy in mind. The ladies got out to a decent start, and then began passing people in the first triangle loop before the first mile. At that point, Halle began to take control and set her sights on green and white jerseys in front of her -- that meant Seneca or Eureka, two teams who we were going after in a field of 215 runners. By the end of the race, Halle had worked her way up into 9th place to earn an individual trophy in a time of 20:16. Lisa also ran very well to finish in 21:28, earning a 25th place individual trophy of her own.

Behind our two front runners, Lily had a simply awesome race to finish as our third runner in 22:08, taking 40th place, with Peyton -- who struggled much of the race, but still finished well ahead of what she ran last year at this meet -- not far behind in 46th in 22:20. Behind that duo, a trio of Hannah -- who ran a great race of her own in 23:03 (even if her time doesn't show it -- it doesn't feel like she ran slower than she did last year!), Frankie Fabry finished just seconds behind Hannah in 23:09, and Brittany finished just a few seconds behind Frankie in 23:14. That trio finished 71st, 74th, and 78th respectively. Ashley Eiermann would round out the Sentinel attack in 143rd place in 25:06.

The ladies would score 8-23-36-42-65-(68)-(72) for 174 points in a field of 27 teams, plus an additional five incomplete, non-scoring teams. That would be enough to secure a sweet and shiny fourth place trophy to bring back to Westmont, which now sits in Coach Marose's room.

Congratulations are in order to Halle, whose 20:16 now ranks as the 8th fastest time run by a Westmont girl in the five years we have been coming to this invitational! Halle also now ranks as the 5th fastest Westmont runner at Bureau Valley on the girls' side!

Congratulations are also in order to Lisa whose 21:28 ranks her as the 10th fastest Westmont runner at Bureau Valley on the girls' side!

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VARSITY BOYS EARN 16TH PLACE FINISH

While the girls had a very good race to earn a fourth place trophy against some tough competition, on the varsity boys side, our lack of experience -- especially after losing four seniors from last season -- showed today. That's not to say that the boys had a bad race -- far from it, in fact. The main problem was that some of our boys got out too slowly and paid the price for it. Getting out too slowly meant that we were playing catch-up for the rest of the race. That is a lesson learned. It's better to learn that lesson now rather than at the Sectional meet.

Jasper Requiron was our top finisher in the varsity boys race, earning 37th place overall in a field of 203 runners. Paul Gordon finished 62nd in 18:39. Sam Asa ran a very solid race to take 80th in 19:15, and Ryan Pleva also turned in another solid race, finishing 109th in 19:45. Tom Dea was our fifth man, finishing just under 21 minutes, in 20:59 for 153rd, and Jacob Nader rounded out the Sentinel scoring by finishing 181st in a season PR of 22:13.

The boys scored 33-55-71-95-119-(133) to finish 16th with 373 points in a field of 21 teams, plus 13 incomplete, non-scoring teams.

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LOOKING AHEAD: WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 21ST

This week ahead is another week of hard work coming up. We will have our first mile repeats of the season on Monday. Tuesday, we head up to Elmwood Park to continue a tradition of running dual meets with each other that dates back to 1979. On Tuesday, athletes will again have a 2:15 pm dismissal from 7th period for a 2:30 bus departure. Athletes are responsible for any work that they may miss on Tuesday afternoon. After our 38th dual meet with Elmwood Park, we return to work on Wednesday through Friday.

This Saturday, we'll remain close to home and take a short trip to a course that is one of our program's favorites -- Aurora's Oakhurst Forest Preserve -- for the Charger Classic, hosted by Aurora Central Catholic. It's a course that we'll return to on October 24th for the IHSA Regional meet. Get to know that course!

GO SENTINELS!