By Michael Newman

DyeStat Illinois Editor

[email protected]

Palatine --- It is usually in sprint events at track meets where races are won by hundredths of a second and a matter of inches. It should not happen in cross country races should it?

That was the case in each of the varsity races in the Palatine Invitational at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve on Saturday morning. Kaitlyn Lacy (Male HS, Louisville KY) won the Girls race by less than a second ahead of Brooke Wilson in the Girls race. It was even closer in the Boys race when Charlie Kern (York HS, Elmhurst) edged Brian Griffith (Lake Zurich HS) by a matter of inches.

For the first time in weeks, conditions were favorable to some fast times. It was overcast most of the meet with temperatures near 70 degrees. Most importantly the course was not soft because of rain that has plagued the past two week weekends. A firm course led to some fast times.

A top field in the Boys race guaranteed that there could be a fast race. Mike Ostrow  (Prairie Ridge HS, Crystal Lake) led the pack through a 4:50 first mile with Jack Aho (Grayslake Central HS), Blake Evertsen (Hinsdale Central HS), Irwin Loud (Oak Park-River Forest HS), and four Lake Zurich runners (Brian Griffith, Kyle Griffith, Matt Pereira, and Patrick Burns) close behind. The pace slowed down the second mile with runners pushing towards the leading testing the pace of others. Just before the 1 ½ mile point, Pereira made a push that the group quickly reacted to. As they approached the left turn into the prairie trail, it was Aho that had the lead with Loud, Carter Cheeseman (Brentwood Academy, TN) and Brian Leonard (Palatine HS) close on his shoulder. Lurking in the back of the pack around 12^th place was York’s Kern trying to stay in contact.

The action started after the group passed the second mile in 9:49 with a final fast mile coming up. Little surges were still happening in the front pack but there was no clear break that was happening. The races’ end developed in the final 800 meters to go when Evertsen tried to make a definite move to break the will of the pack. It was successful as Aho, Loud, Griffith, and Reese Jordan (Maine South HS, Park Ridge) stayed close. Kern was five meters behind that group but was in striking distance.

Griffith finally passed Evertsen with 300 meters to go almost duplicating the move that won him the race the week before in Peoria. As the crowd yelled the runners in, Griffith was in a full sprint as he closed in to the finish line. On the right side, here came Kern. Neither of the two runners refused to budge in the final 100 meters each picking up the pace even faster. In the final strides before both hit the blue finish mats, Kern edged slightly ahead winning by just two tenths of a second (14:36.0 – 14:36.2). It was the closest finish believed in Palatine Invitational history. It was one of the fastest races also as Kern and Griffith were only three seconds off of Jack Driggs’ 14:33 record from three years ago.

“I was able to break away with more than 100 meters to go,” Griffith said. “Kern just came up from behind. Last week, I was able to catch up to (Dylan) Jacobs at the end. This week someone was coming from behind to catch me.”

“I was doubting myself a little bit (half way through the race). I lost too much contact from the front group,” Kern said. “At 800 meters to go, I was confident that I would be able to catch the pack. The 300’s at the end of our workouts helped me with that.”

Jack Aho was in full sprint as he finished third two seconds behind Kern and Griffith (14:38.3). “Jack has a great set of wheels to finish a race,” his coach Jimmy Centella said after the race. “The two ahead of him are completely in a different league.” Evertsen was next three seconds back. Reese Jordan displayed that he is one of the top runners in the state just a second behind in fifth. It was then a five second gap as Loud finished sixth (14:47.3) just three seconds ahead of Jeremy Adams (Jones College Prep, Chicago).

It was the pack of Lake Zurich that had the edge on the day holding off an impressive pack from St. Xavier KY 124 – 143. Lake Zurich’s top four paid off in a big way. Following Griffith in to the finish were Kyle Griffith (15^th) and Matt Pereira (16^th) that were within a second of each other. Patrick Burns (27^th) was the team’s fourth man fifteen seconds behind Griffith / Pereira. The big plus was that Lake Zurich’s fifth man Eric Metzger (64^th) ran 15:44 giving the Bears a 68 second split on their top five.

“It was an exciting race from the front. It was great to see our three guys up there,” Lake Zurich Coach JB Hanson. “Kyle and Matt looked better than last week but they still have improvement to come. I guess I am happy that we won. We have never won this meet before.”

St. Xavier was impressive in their second place finish. Patrick Schaefer led the way for his team with a 17^th place finish. Their pack of Grady Shiflet (29^th), Cooper Marchal (30^th), Zach Larkin (33^rd), and Ryan Guenther (34^th) were only separated by four seconds with an overall five man split of 22 seconds.

Hinsdale Central finished third (205 points) led by Evertsen’s finish. Their split on five was 65 seconds which could be a concern heading towards the state series. Hersey finished fourth (243 points) without some of their top runners in the race. Sophomore Ryan Buch, normally the team’s #2 runner, was held out of the race due to a minor injury. Josh Methner, who is the team’s #3 runner, raced in the freshman race in which he won along with teammate Max Svienty who finished third. The Huskies still a 50 second split on their top five led by the eleventh place finish by Jacob Krupa. York ran an improved race compared to the week before in Peoria finishing fifth (261 points) led by Kern’s win and the thirteenth place finish by Sean MacGregor.

The finish of the Girls Varsity race was similar to what happened in the Boys. The pack broke away early with Jocelyn Long (Barrington HS) leading Kaitlyn Lacy, Nicole Greyer (Yorkville HS), Brooke Wilson, Maggie Scholle (Lane Tech HS, Chicago) and Isabelle Sparreo (Stevenson HS, Lincolnshire) as they went through the first mile in 5:44. The pace started to pick up the second mile as Lacy and Greyer started to push the pace with Wilson and Long right on their shoulders. The final mile was a race of attrition with Wilson continuing to throw in surges trying to break away from the race. Only Lacy was able to stay toward the front as the two challenged for the win.

The final 150 meters of the race made it memorable. The two runners came towards the finish side by side. With 60 meters from the line, Lacy tried to pass on the left at the same time that Wilson made a move in the same direction. Lacy cut her stride for half a second giving Wilson the slight advantage but then cut to the right passing the Prospect senior for good. Only a tenth of a second separated the two with Lacy (17:02.0) the edge and the win ahead of Wilson (17:02.1).

“She (Wilson) kind of made a move to the left with 100 meters to go,” Lacy said. “I was starting to get cutoff. My first instinct was to cut and go to the right side and just go for it.”

Long and Sparreo came in next sprinting side by side to the finish. Long had the edge at the line (17:08.5) ahead of Sparreo (17:08.9). Scholle finished fifth (17:24.3) ahead of Greyer (17:29.3).

Yorkville showed why they will be in contention for the 3A State championship in Illinois with a 39 second split on their top five and only 73 points to secure the win. Greyer led the way with her sixth place finish followed by Alyssa Edwards (14^th), Olivia Borowiak (17^th), Maddie Dearborn (21^st), and Alexis Grandys (24^th). The split on their #2 through #5 runners was only 19 seconds.

Lyons Township ran their best race of the season to finish second (162 points) led by finishes from Sarah Barcelona (11^th) and Emily Henkel (16^th). Hersey built off of their good race at Peoria the week before placing third (199 points) led by Sarah Harden (13^th) and Hailey Bowes (18^th).  Host Palatine finished fourth (204 points) just two points ahead of Prospect (206 points).