The course was in much better shape this year, and so was our team. On the strength of an individual championship from Matt Richtman, the team totaled 286 points to land in the Top 5 for a crystal trophy. Richtman hunted down two runners through the first mile and kicked to an :06 victory, the first ever for a Knight at this meet. Equally impressive, Daniel Occhipinti was able to crack the Top 30 and break the 16:00 barrier for the first time, running 15:58. With 30 points scored from our Top 2 runners, the power of the pack was felt just :47 later.
Sam Webster (70, 16:31) was just short of his career PR on this 80 degree day, and started a large wave of “diamond” Knights who finished just five seconds apart. Aidan Lodwig finished in the Top 100 (90, 16:40), just ahead of Heiser (16:43) who was our #5. Weilgos was on Heiser’s heels with an identical time (96), and Neal made his varsity debut memorable with a career best 16:45. Our 3-7 runners teamed up for four PR’s on the day.
Henry Nosek took a moderate approach to racing, following his race plan well and pacing his brother Seth to a 1:03 PR for 3 miles. Henry is looking forward to rejoining his pack mates next weekend at Eddington. Ethan Walker, in just his second high school race of his career, nearly broke 18:00, finishing off his day in 18:06. With so many ranked teams in the Varsity race, it was particularly satisfying to see the group pack up and run with fortitude in the new diamond jerseys.
As the Open Race started, a flood of more than 1,000 runners thundered down the slope at Detweiller. When the dust settled, Kaneland amassed 12 career PR’s for 3 miles in the race. Dallal led the charge by coming in 102nd (17:48), with Popovich chasing him down the stretch (17:51). Finn was following the race plan of hunting down “diamonds” at the end, finishing just 5 seconds off of Brady and earning a career PR in 17:56.
Orczykowski led the next wave of Knights who put four in the chute, just :06 apart. This makes watching the team so much fun! Kyle Or went 18:25 for a career PR, with Petrik earning a course PR just :02 later. Fitts was next across the line, earning a new PR of 18:29, and Drew Occhipinti cracked off a huge PR run at 18:31. The improvement from this crew is inspiring and has come after great intensity on the Crazy 8’s days the past two weeks.
Aaron Lodwig put up a career best for 3 miles at 19:07, and Dunne registered a course PR in 19:30. Fountain was just :03 back of Dunne, his first run under 20:00. Klingensmith established a new personal best on this course at 19:42, as did Abruzzo at 20:01. Purcell overcame a very bloody nose, proving his own Warrior Mindset strengths, to finish in 477th and in the top half of the field.
Malone ran three miles for the first time, setting the bar at 20:31 for his new time to beat. Kyle Wells was determined not to let his final chance at running Detweiller go by without a fight. His inspired effort to run 20:40 was exemplary. Freshman Ted Allen was able to run his GPS watch to perfection and compete for the very first time in our lineup. His execution of a restricted race plan allowed him to still finish sub 21:00, and well above the top 2/3 of all finishers.
Sussland managed a new standard to shoot for with three miles, running 23:13, while Jablonski raced to 906th in 23:39 on the day. Senior Matt Konrad dropped his mile pace by :12 from last week to finish in 23:56 and on a mission to improve. Top to bottom, this was a super effort on a warm and dusty day. The collective State of 2A cross country seems up for grabs in earning a Top 16 finish.
We must continue to work on our own milestones, and make every effort to move up in our own finish groups. While we have waves of runners finishing close together, we need to see runners pushing into new packs and pulling teammates up to the next level. We’re not yet where we need to be. Keep striving for more, and push those around you.
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