Meet Recap -- Lisle "Mane Event"

LISLE “Mane Event” Recap
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Lisle Community Park

For the first time this season, we made the short trip down Odgen Avenue to Community Park for the 30th annual “Mane Event” Invitational.

Different years, different meets, same course, same weather conditions: Heavy rains coming off of Lake Michigan marred the meet. The rain remained steady for the varsity races, which were the only two races we participated in on the day, as last minute lineup changes resulted in us not running anyone in the Boys Frosh-Soph race, and then the continued deteriorating course conditions forced the cancellation of the Open races.

Originally, Dominic, Connor, and Ben were scheduled to run in the Frosh-Soph Boys 4K race. With Matt and Sam both out of the lineup today, we made a last minute lineup change to switch Connor and Dominic to run in the Varsity Boys race so we would have a full seven man lineup and Ben would run in the open race instead. That meant our first race of the day was the Varsity Girls race.

In a steady rain that was growing more intense, the six varsity girls (we scratched Ashley at the last minute), who drew box 25 (which lined them up with the thick patch of trees) got out to an excellent start so that they wouldn’t get boxed in by the field or the trees.

Halle quickly established herself in top ten position as the field moved over the hill and down over the bridge to the mile marker, and maintained that position throughout the race. Peyton, Lisa, Lily, and Frankie followed close behind. In the second mile, Lisa would pass Peyton, but otherwise our top five would all be in or very close to the top 50 for the entire race.

Halle Nash would eventually finish in 8th place overall, with a time of 20:07 (19:28 converted), just six seconds off her career best set last year at Conference here at this course. That led a parade of five Sentinels in the top 53 spots. Lisa Niemiec finished 29th (21:39, 20:57) in what was her best race of the season yet. Peyton Nash, who was battling blisters yesterday, finished 37th in 22:00 (21:17 converted), quickly followed by Lily Arndt in 45th (22:17, 21:33) and Frankie Fabry in 53rd (22:38, 21:54). Hannah Abbatacola rounded out the Sentinel lineup with a 26:12 time (25:21 converted) as she continues to work her way back from injury.

The ladies would score 8-29-37-45-52-(124) for 171 points to earn a strong fifth place finish at this meet.

In the boys varsity race, we already knew that Sam was going to be out due to a prior commitment. Then we got word that Matt came down with an illness the night before and would be staying at home. That meant two of our top guys would not be running in this meet. With that in mind, we knew our finish position was not going to be what we had been hoping for. Regardless, it was still important that we put together a good race.

The rain continued to fall heavily (but not so heavily that splits were completely wiped out, like they were at Sectional last year). Dominic and Connor were added to the varsity lineup to take the place of Matt and Sam so we would have seven guys running.

The boys, though they were not assigned to Box 25 like the girls, got out to a good start. Jasper, Jason, and Kyle got out to good starts at the mile, as did Jake, Connor, Dominic and Tom. The middle mile was not one of our better ones of the season, but the boys on the whole still finished well, considering we were shorthanded without two of our top guys.

Jasper Requiron led the way for the boys today, finishing in 56th in 18:48 (18:11 converted), followed by freshman Jason Eiermann (19:05, 18:28) in 65th. Kyle Casper was our third man of the day, finishing in 78th (19:24, 18:46). Jake Dooley -- after getting out to a slow start in the first mile, moved up well through the second and third miles to finish as our fourth man in 20:02 (19:23 converted) -- a personal best for him on this course -- to earn 95th place.

Connor Alessi was the fifth man on the day, crushing his previous career best on this course to finish 100th in 20:19 (19:39). Dominic Santore ran a steady race to finish 113th in 21:10 (20:29), while Tom Dea rounded out our attack by finishing 120th (21:35, 20:53).

The boys scored 50-58-70-83-87-(97)-(102) to earn a 13th place finish with 348 points.

POST-MEET THOUGHTS:

It was announced at the start of the boys’ varsity race that the open races were to be cancelled. This was partially due to course conditions, but also because of the fact that there is a high school cross country meet that will be run at Community Park every Saturday this month -- next week, Benet hosts their own invitational there. Then the following weeks, Conference, IHSA Regional and IHSA Sectional meets will be run there.

It’s unfortunate for those who were scheduled to run in the open race -- Anita, Ben, Jacob, Katie, Mollie, Whittney, and Yannis -- but it is understandable. Thanks to those athletes for their understanding, even though they did not get a chance to run their race. They’ll get their chance Tuesday at Plano.

Although both the girls and the guys both ran solid races in atrocious conditions, there are still kinks to be worked out. We are getting closer though. We do have a couple of advantages: One, we are off next weekend so we are going to have a chance to work hard but also to hopefully shake off those nagging injuries as we prepare for Conference and the postseason run.

Two, we’ve got one more crack at this course in the Conference meet for everyone. Hopefully, better conditions prevail, but if they don’t, so what? We can’t control the weather. Varsity runners continuing on for the state series will get two more cracks at this course in the Regional and Sectional meet.

Lisle is our home away from home. We love this course!

LOOKING AHEAD:

Tuesday, October 4: Plano “Ross Greiter” Invitational -- this is our final meet of the season that will take place on a weekday. This is a larger Tuesday meet than usual-- last year, there were about 10 teams at this meet. Athletes will have an early dismissal from their 7th period classes,

Saturday, October 8 and Monday, October 10: Since we do not have a meet this weekend, practice on Saturday, October 8 and Monday, October 10th (Columbus Day) will be held at 8:00 am. All runners are expected to be at these practices.

Wednesday, October 12: Next Wednesday, October 12th is a SIP Day, which is a 12:35 pm dismissal. Currently, the plan is to hold practice immediately after school on this day, with a 12:45 pm start. Athletes will be finished with practice around 3:30 pm.

Saturday, October 15: CONFERENCE!!!