The meet was a close as we thought it would be, with 21 points separating the top four teams. Our varsity runners stepped up to the challenge, and when we surged, we took advantage.
Daniel Occhipinti became just the fourth Kaneland harrier to ever win an individual conference championship. He was shadowed through much of the first lap of the course by a pack that included teammate, Austin Adams who was back from a layoff to lend critical support. Adams placed 7th overall, in 16:21, nearly a career PR.
Lodwig and Wielgos teamed up once again to help make history; locking down 10th and 11th places, separated by just :00.5 seconds. Walker closed out our scoring, coming across the line 10 seconds later, in a strong 15th place; also good for All Conference honors.
Ethan Neal fought through adversity on the hilly course to secure 23rd place, and pushed the critical scoring on Dekalb’s fifth runner. Isaiah Dallal took his first turn in the varsity Top 7 lineup, and raced to 26th overall. He beat scoring runners on five teams in the varsity race. The last time Kaneland’s varsity boys hoisted a conference team title award, it was 2001.
The frosh soph team fired off the line and out onto the hilly course with ferocity. The unrelenting course proved a formidable foe, in addition to a loaded field. The Knights took fourth, highlighted by Top 18 performances by Aaron Lodwig and Christian Phillips, who crossed one second apart.
Fountain was next to cross the finish line, :18 later to grab 25th. Allen was our next finisher at 26th, at 18:20. Popovich completed a stellar pack split of :30 (1-5), in 18:24. Fitts flowed in five seconds later in 29. Malone was our next Knight to the chute, in 32nd, bettering 16 scorers of four teams.
In the final race of the NIB XII Conference, it was Kaneland who had their name at the top of the standings. Our mixed group of young and experienced Knights showed their depth, and shined for the last time in a league meet. Our senior leadership shined bright on this otherwise gloomy looking fall day.
Blake Finn captured the individual title in the Open when he chased the Gator for a career 3-mile PR at 17:24. Petrik took second at 17:31, with another fine run. Klingensmith took home a seventh place ribbon at 18:22. Orczykowski matched up with a runner from Yorkville, and used his character to help both that runner and himself to a Top 10 finish.
More teammates building momentum through the race, and working together included Cunz and Scherden. Both ran :52 PRs for three miles, and Cunz finished with 27 points to help the team outlast YHS by a score of 45-59.
Huber raced to 40th overall, running 20:13. He was followed by Brazee, with a blazing kick to notch a 1:38 PR at 20:20. Sussland repeated the PR effort, knocking :32 off his previous best, on this hilly course. Fiedler didn’t want to be left out of that group, so he set a new career PR too, knocking :14 off his previous best.
Rovinsky kept the PR train rolling, and bettered his best by :20, ending at 21:20. Hwang took more time off his best, finishing ten seconds later. Webster showed great toughness despite the aches to complete the run in 21:38. Johnston also had a big PR run, knocking 1:20 off his career best. Walters was relentless in his pursuit of the competition and was rewarded with a new PR time of 27:59.
Big time effort displayed to close out a very tough regular season. State Series, next!
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