As Crystal Lake Central may have had the best runners in the field, it was the Knights of Kaneland who took the field by storm and nearly flipped the script on the Tigers. CLC had not won a Sectional title since 1996, and for a long-storied program with many successes, it was their turn to hold the plaque. We gave everything we had and wound up showing the field that we are indeed True Champions.
The format of three flights was new history for us as well. Not running in our usual pack made it very challenging to do what we do so well. Our goals of having small points in the last flight and the fastest fifth runner were achieved, even when on paper that was not to be the case.
In the first flight of the day, Christian Phillips didn’t wait long to move out to the front of the pack and take over the race. Brady Babka wisely hung in with the chase pack and eventually broke loose. Each ran their race plans to perfection, with Christian pacing the gator that was filming him, all the way to a 16:36 effort on the hilly course. Babka clocked in at 16:56, again with a big Sub 17 effort. On this day, it would be huge. Phillips finished the day in 22nd place, and Babka was 37th overall.
The second race featured some very gutsy efforts by our seniors. With strong power from CLC’s 3-4-5, they were heavy favorites coming into the race to use that power and win big. All three, on paper, were to defeat our #3 scorer. Aaron Lodwig stuck himself right in the mix at the front of the pack through two miles, and heading to the second surge point felt confident in taking the lead. With about a half mile to go, a CLC-led pack started moving forward. They took a 40m advantage on the field at 400m to go. Parker Malone found an extra gear, going uphill, and incredibly wiped out that advantage in 300m.
On the final turn of the race, Parker had caught the lead runners and was preparing for another blistering finish like those he uses on Isaiah in practices. At the turn, his shoulder caught the white PVC pipe flag and his 1-2-3 strides were 1-2-3 seconds on the ground as he was flung to the turf. Courageously, Malone gathered himself and completed his race with honor and grit, clocking in at 16:32 as our #2 runner, good for 18th place.
Not lost in the mix, Lodwig and Logan Cunz continued to battle and grind to the finish chute. Aaron grabbed 27th overall in the meet (16:46), with Cunz right behind in 28th at 16:51. All three were ahead of CLC’s #5 runner.
In the final race of the season, Isaiah Dallal and Nolan Allen had the toughest job of all. Neither had teammates to key off for the run. This unique format for racing is contradictory to how our team competes and achieves.
Dallal had the goal of running with the pack of elite Top 10 runners and score some small points. Seeded 10th on Regional efforts, Isaiah rose to 7th in the standings. He was the first finisher from our Regional in the field. His time of 16:03 was just two seconds off of CLC’s #1.
Allen had put himself in great position with the other 1-2s of the field at the half mile mark and held on to finish at 16:54, which also surpassed CLC’s #5 scorer. Nolan had the hardest job of the day in not having any other Knights to support him, and he battled valiantly throughout the run.
We took second by a score of 92-100. On the day, we could not be more proud of our boys who left all they had on the course. You are True Champions, and have made history again.
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF:
Our Three Seniors: Isaiah Dallal, Parker Malone, and Aaron Lodwig: These boys clearly showed that “seniors get the job done.” Dallal put himself right in the mix with other All State caliber runners and moved up to seventh in a deep field of performers. Lodwig set the tone for our squad in the second flight, working right up into the lead pack, and bringing his chasing teammates into the race. Malone had arguably one of the greatest kicks in KXC history going 7th to 3rd, and eyes on a win before the post altered his day. No doubt the HUNGER these boys exhibited was “the strength of wolves.”
STATE QUALIFIERS: While the IHSA could not put together an IHSA State Finals experience for the schools this year, due to COVID-19, our team’s placement at second would have earned
another trip to Peoria.
This would have been the 22nd State Qualifying team to advance to the Finals. While we will never know the final placement of this squad, in a “normal” year, it would be very hard not to see this group be a Top 10 program, and possibly a school record holder for pack split.
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