In our first race of the 2020 COVID season, we saw some really fine things, from start to finish. Aaron Lodwig stepped up to show an aggressive presence at the front of our pack. He was only 5 seconds off a career course PR, finishing 2nd in the varsity level. Allen was next to cross, just 7 seconds later. Phillips was just 9 seconds off of his own course PR, and served as our third man. Cunz finished in the top 5, running a home course career best 17:50.
Fitts finished the night for our team scoring, when he crossed in 7th at 18:27. He was 12 seconds ahead of Malone and Dallal, who served as pushers to LP’s score. Senior Liam Evans has been working on a great fall with hundreds of miles put in during the summer. It paid off with an :08 PR on the home course.
Fountain was next in for the diamond jerseys, racing to 11th overall at 19:27. Scherden was next to cross the finish at 19:41. Fiedler took 13th at 20:12. Brady Johnson took 15th on the night, racing to 21:45, ahead of LP’s 4 and 5. Hwang ended the night ahead of 5 Cavaliers in 23:06.
The frosh soph race was run just 5 minutes behind the varsity, something we have never tried to do at home before. The format worked well, and allowed for the front runners the chance to run down some finishers from the other level.
Freshman Palmer Behrends used his closing speed to pull away and barely edge teammate Brady Babka for the win. It was the first race of the careers of both boys at the HS level. Each broke the 19 minute barrier, which is a fine achievement for the first night of racing in the heat. Neal was next to cross at 19:37, with Smith coming in 19 seconds later. Smith had :30 on Bruhl, the fifth finisher of the level, which gave Kaneland a perfect 15 point score, also known in XC lore as a “whitewash.”
That term isn’t used unless the 6 and 7 runners also defeat the #1 of the opponent. So Reutimann did his part by finishing 6th at 21:37, and Farmer was in next at 21:42. Another impressive run came from freshman Devon Kowalczyk. Devon broke 22 minutes, when he managed a 21:59 in 8th overall. Lechocki kept the Knight train rolling to the line, earning 9th at 22:15. Brennan took a top 10 spot at 22:26, for his first high school race at 3 miles.
Gannon clocked in at 24:45 to net 12th. To finish the night, a stream of freshmen came sprinting to the line. Nate Crisci has been building momentum for three weeks, and notched his first three-mile effort at 27:08. Blickem just held on to outlast Broz at 27:38. Broz really has been coming on strong of late and is learning what speed and strength he really possesses. His mile pace on the longer course was nearly 4 minutes faster than it was in the scrimmage about 10 days ago. Great growth! Mullins also is learning this sport’s demands and finished off his day just 11 seconds later, at 27:50.
For the first time out, under weird circumstances, we got what we needed out of tonight. The points in every varsity race count toward seeds for the varsity conference meet. So when we have a chance to race, we must be ready to go. We must focus on the details that keep us sharp!
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