Lisle Sectional Recap: Boys Season Ends With 8th Place Finish

Saturday, October 31 2015 - IHSA 1A Sectionals - Lisle


IHSA CLASS 1A LISLE SECTIONAL BOYS RECAP

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Lisle Community Water Park

 

SPLITS | MILE SPLITS | UPDATED FINISH TIMES

COMPLETE BOYS RESULTS | IHSA SECTIONAL RESULTS PAGE

 

BOYS SEASON ENDS WITH 8TH PLACE FINISH IN TOUGH FIELD 

Okay, I’ll admit it: I couldn’t resist throwing “Water” in there between “Community” and “Park” up there in the header. It certainly felt like a water park instead of just a park with the drenching that we got today during the Sectional meet today. 

We knew going into today that it was likely to be a wet Sectional meet – though I don’t know if anyone expected the rain to be that heavy for that long. I am sure that many of you are still drying out from this morning’s meet, especially if you were around for both the girls and boys races.

We also knew going into today’s meet from the scouting that we had done out of the Regionals that feed into this Sectional that the boys were facing a tough fight to qualify out of this Sectional for a fourth consecutive trip downstate. We knew that Walther Christian and Timothy Christian were already ahead of us – both teams finished ahead of us at last week’s Regional meet.

From the Kankakee (McNamara) and Chicago (Luther North) Regionals, we also knew that the hosts from that regional featured an awesome pack and was a legitimate threat to win the Sectional title, but also that Northridge Prep out of the Luther North Regional were also one of the favorites to win the title. 

That made it four teams that were likely in solid position to qualify for State. That also meant that if the Sentinel men were to earn a fourth consecutive trip to State, we’d have to fight for that 5th and final qualifying spot, which was wide open and there were several other teams who could possibly claim that spot. Only one team would earn that spot. However you slice it, it was not going to be an easy meet for the men – rain or shine.

The ladies had already turned in an excellent performance, executing their race plan to perfection and though results hadn’t yet been announced, we knew that they had just secured a third consecutive trip downstate. The guys were looking to follow that stellar performance from the ladies and earn a trip to State of their own.

At the tone, the guys set off from the line – but then were recalled. As we later found out, there were multiple runners who fell shortly after the tone sounded. That was not surprising as the extremely wet conditions had turned the course into a river of standing water in many places, the start included.

The tone sounded a second time, and this time all runners were able to make it through the first 100 meters without falling and forcing a second recall and restart. After that, they were on their own.

With Tom Dea accompanying Coach Dunne to the mile mark to help count places – we were shouting out places to our runners both for team scoring purposes as well as for our top individuals and their possibility of qualifying for state alone.

Paul Gordon was the first to cross the mile mark, crossing at 5:32 in the middle of the chase pack. Jasper Requiron wasn’t far behind in 5:38 and Sam was just a step behind Jasper at 5:39. All were in good position to start out – it was time for them to move through the triangle, as Coach Wolf was now shouting out at them to do exactly that.

Behind our front trio, our second trio of Ryan Pleva, Robbie Burns, and Jake Dooley were also off to good starts. Ryan passed Tom and Coach at 6:00 on the dot at the mile, followed by Robbie and Jake at 6:08, right next to each other. 

As the race moved from the triangle to the lonely softball fields and to the soccer fields, Jake Juska and Coach Wolf had joined Tom and Coach Dunne near the two mile mark.

By this time, Sam had caught and passed both Jasper and Paul to cross the two mile mark in 11:37. Jasper followed quickly in 11:42 and Paul was right behind in 11:43. All three men were solidly in the top forty spots. Ryan came by the two mile at 12:34, with Robbie holding also holding strong through two at 12:57, and Jake Dooley passed by in 13:13.

Sam was our top finisher on the wet and muddy 5 kilometer course in 18:20, which converts to 17:44 for 3 miles and earned him a 27th place finish. Jasper was hot on Sam’s heels for a 18:23 clocking (17:47 converted) to finish 31st, and Paul finished in 18:29 (17:53 converted) for 34th.

Ryan, who proclaimed before his race that “he runs his best in the rain” proved it: Although it’s not a PR for him, he turned in a strong race in 19:41, which is a 19:00 converted time for 75th place. Not far behind Ryan was Robbie, who turned in his best race of the year with a 20:15 time, which converted to 19:35 for 3 miles and set a new personal best for 99th place. Jake Dooley ran to a 20:54 finish (20:13 converted) and a 114th place finish. 

The boys had run their race. Quick math told us that we had a raw score of 267 points – likely too high a total to qualify for state. That said however, in 2013, the boys also had a raw score of well over 200 points, yet finished 4th with 203 points to qualify for state. Although unlikely, there was still a chance.

The wait for results began. And it was a long wait. It was nearly 1:00 by the time the boys results were completed and announced. Unfortunately, a trip to State for the boys was not in the cards today. The boys scored 23-27-30-63-86-(100) to earn a 8th place finish, just 6 points out of 7th.

Congratulations go to McNamara on their Sectional title, as well as Northridge Prep, Walther Christian, Beecher, and Timothy Christian on earning tickets to compete in next weekend’s State meet. Represent the Lisle Sectional well, guys!

We know that our boys are disappointed that they were not able to achieve their goal of qualifying for State this year. It was a tough field for the boys this year, especially after losing four talented seniors from last season. It was an even tougher field for individual qualifiers, as the top seven runners that were not on advancing teams all finished in the top 12.

Our boys shouldn’t be too disappointed, though. I also want to take a moment to share this piece of information with you all: I (Coach Dunne) scored out the meet earlier this week—many of you know that I’m a stats nerd—and I had the boys projected to finish in 11th. They finished 8th on this day. The boys scored about 50 points better than my projections had them scoring after Regional. That is what you accomplished today, guys, and we couldn’t be prouder of all of you.

Every single one of our guys gave it their best effort. All of them made it a race and made the other teams earn it. And that is all that we can ask for as coaches. Sometimes, it just isn’t in the cards. Times today didn’t matter one bit given the conditions. Everyone had to deal with the sloppy, wet, muddy conditions.

Congratulations to our boys on a great season—frosh-soph and varsity. Just look at some of our team and individual accomplishments this year:

-3rd place at Conference

-3rd place at Regional

-Finished 3rd or better at Regional for the 11th consecutive season

-Advanced as a team to the Sectional meet for the 24th consecutive season, a streak that dates back to the 1992 season.

-3 All-Conference medalists (Paul 5th, Jasper 9th and Sam 11th)

-Paul was a Regional medalist

 

It has been a pleasure to coach each and every one of you. We hope that you all enjoyed running cross country this year and hope that each of you will join us for track season in the spring, and if you are a returning underclassman, continue on with cross country next summer and fall. We’ve got some big plans in mind already for next year.

Boys, the one thing that Coach Wolf and I want you to take away from today's meet is this: Use this 8th place finish as motivation for next year to earn the 16th State meet trip in Westmont Boys Cross Country history and return to Detweiller Park. This is just a bump in the road.

But that is all in the future. For now, get some well-deserved rest and let your body recover and enjoy all that you have accomplished, both individually and team-wise. You’ve earned it.

 

Finally, just a couple of important notes to wrap up the season: 

-All athletes should wash their uniforms (jerseys, shorts, sweat tops and pants) and put them in a plastic bag that is labeled with their name on it. Athletes should turn in these uniforms to Coach Wolf in Room 104 or Coach Dunne if you see him in the hallways. 

-Fall Sports Awards will be held on Monday, November 9th. Details for Fall Sports Awards will be announced later this week. Keep checking back on the website for details.