COME JOIN THE ZOMBIES!! Treat Race and "Run for Your Life" on October 8

 This Kaneland HS Cross Country program tradition, our Zombie Run, will have our student athletes play the kind and scary roles of Zombies. Of course during the first run of the evening, they are very kind to our younger runners by offering sweet treats ahead of Halloween. Runners as young as kindergarten are welcome to participate, but may want an older sibling or adult to guide them through the course. All these treat runners are encouraged to wear their favorite Halloween costumes as well. The run is short and walking is absolutely fine!

The "Run for Your Life" is an absolute blast! Our Zombies get a little hungrier from the first race and will be prepared to chase brave flagged runners who might escape with all three of their flags. Awards for this 1.2 mile run are available to all runners who survive!

Please go to the LINK TO THE RIGHT AND DOWN to find details pertaining to our Oct. 8th Zombie Run. If you're a minor, your guardian will need to sign a waiver in order to participate. Parents of participants can sign up the day of the event.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Zombie Run this year! Registration opens at 4pm. DON'T MISS THIS fantastic event that supports our program.

Third Consecutive Top 5 Finish for Both Levels at CLS Invite

 

While we went a little longer, we achieved something terrific at the varsity level this week. Running flag to flag as instructed, our team showed resilience and commitment. We lost places in the final results, but we gained an understanding that our pack is really alive and  strong. Christian Phillips was first to notice runners streaming off the path, but he held to his convictions. Phillips was 11th in the results at 18:04. Neal came into the chute just 8 seconds later at 18:12 for 15th. Allen turned in 17th for points, running the only course PR of the day (and he ran longer!) at 18:23. Brady Babka was next in, just 6 seconds later to make the pack split of 1-4 stand at :25. Brady finished 21st overall.

Scoring needed to be complete, and Lechocki was up to the task. He finished the day in a medal position at 63rd overall. Bruhl was the next Knight to place, finishing as a pusher at 70th and a time of 20:34 on the long course. Fielder was just out of the medals, but still ran a solid effort, finishing 74th (20:40). Nolan  Hosking, not feeling 100% still came to run and put up sub 7:00 mile pace to grab 91st (21:17). Brayden Farmer was closing on Nolan, and finished up his run two places later at 21:26. Smith also broke 7:00 pace, to end the day at 21:46. Scherden ended our varsity competition when he crossed in 23:42, for 131st. While the results said we finished 5th, we have a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks if we stay healthy, hungry, and humble.

Our frosh soph squad took to the rocky trails next and used some very fine grouping up to show they will be a force for the whole season. Evan Nosek clocked in at 11:56 on the rolling hilly course to take home a bobblehead award and 2nd overall. Teammate Zach Murdock was just into the chute ahead of a solid pack of Knights. Murdock ran 15th (12:49) followed by Brennan (16th, 12:52), and then Reutimann at 17th with a 12:59. Ten seconds between those finishers is just awesome! Keep making that pack “unbreakable.”

More solid and close placement for scoring came from Polloway, who ended scoring in 34th place at 13:52. Jack was quickly followed by Ramos at 14:04 (37th), and then Blickem just four seconds later (14:08, 42nd). Lentz was chasing diamonds all day, and closed to just :06 back of Blickem, earning the 46th place medal (14:14). Ben Broz didn’t want to go home empty handed, so he emptied the tank and finished strong at 14:25 for 54th. Neville was on Ben’s heels at the finish and also crossed to earn a medl at 56th (14:29). This pairing and packing up in racing is so powerful in results.

Jude Mullins rocked 7:07 mile pace on the 2.15 mile course of hills, rocks, and occasional pavement to end his day in 81st place, overall. Ryan Moreno had the absolute finish of the day, coming from behind to outlast a Rolling Meadows finisher at 127th, and 17:08. Lucas Fiedler kept up his pace and dropped his mile pace to 9:04, and finished 144th at 19:31. Lucas continues to work hard like his teammates, showing grit and guts.

If we are intentional about pack running, we will become “unbreakable.”

 

Varsity Takes 5th, and Frosh Soph Knights Win Sycamore Invite

It was the best weather and team performance of the season thus far, with loads of PRs to celebrate. The Knights took to the field against quite a few pre-season ranked squads, and took home a Top 5 finish in both races.

Christian Phillips stepped on the accelerator at the start and never moved his foot until cruising past the finish mats in a career best 15:59, good for 7th at the varsity level. Nolan Allen hopped off the late bus and with little warmup time was still able to manage a very solid 16:33, to earn the 25th place medal. Shortly thereafter, Cunz crossed, running sub 17 at 16:47 which landed him 27th.

Pairing up was an important strategy for success with Neal and Babka. They also were two places apart, with Trevor our #4 at 17:04 (36th) and Babka done in 17:05 (38). Bruhl powered through the new, flat course to set a new :09 career best time of 17:47 as our first pusher at 67th. Lechocki also managed a PR effort, best of his career by :26 and good for 74th. The change in weather and course helped Hosking to a new PR, smashing last Saturday’s time by :48 and running 18:32 (90th). Fiedler also took more than 2:00 off his Saturday effort to race in 18:39,  at 93rd overall. Smith chased Dom’s diamonds and ended the run 9 seconds later with a season’s best 18:48 (97th).

Farmer net a career best :50 on the day, running 103rd at 19:03. Scherden capped our varsity day not feeling great, but grinding out a 20:48 effort with loads of heart.

The frosh soph team DID get a full warmup and prep before their run, and made it count with 5 individual medals and a title. Evan Nosek took the individual title, running a young career best time of 16:11. David Valkanov used a fierce kick to earn the 5th place medal at 17:04, in his first Knight race. Brennan passed competitors all day long and took 11th in 17:27, good for a :51 PR. Reutimann also managed a 19th place medal, running a :38 best (17:50). Zachary Murdock dropped a full minute from County to end our championship scoring with his 24th place effort (18:00). Ramos and Polloway paired up as pushers to run a second apart at the finish. Ramos (37th, 18:47) got a :17 PR, Jack ran 1:21 faster than Saturday with 18:48, in 38th place.

Victor Valkanov showed he has some terrific potential, and a load of guts, kicking off his first race in 19:39 (52nd). Shortly thereafter, Lentz crossed in 19:42, a :34 best of season. Neville had a terrific race, passing more than ten runners since the mile mark to grab 63rd. The trio of Blickem, Broz, and Mullins pushed their pack to the finish, with Louis (21:04, 2:02 PR), Ben (21:05, 76th), and Jude (21:10, 2:48 PR). Westfall sizzled in the cool temps at 24:07, season’s best mile pace. Moreno got his first career race in at 3 miles with a strong 24:49 effort. Lucas Fiedler took a huge chunk out of his mile pace from Saturday to run 28:04 for the victorious frosh soph team.

There is a lot to be excited about with this whole team. We need to take care of our bodies, and start getting those morning runs in. They lower places and times! Great job.

 

 

Knights Net Pair of Top 5 Finishes at County

Always finding new ways to make history, it was a special day for all of Kane County when the Knights toed the line on a $3M cross country course that has been a dozen years in the making. Our first runners to reach the finish came in the 2.4 mile Open race.

Farmer took home a top ten finish when he ended his run in 8th overall, at 16:23. Broz was next to grab a medal, finishing 14th on the hilly course in 17:33. In :08, it was Scherden who crossed the blue mats for a 17:41 and 16th overall. Ten seconds later, it was Blickem earning his first medal of the year, with an 18th place effort.

Mullins and Neville were the next Knights to the stripe, with Jude getting 25th at 18:38 and Johnny earning 26th, in 18:48. Both runners finished in the top half of all competitors. Westfall had his first run in a Knights jersey end at 23:24, using a very strong kick! Lucas Fiedler had a season’s best mile pace, finishing his run in 51st at 24:42.

Our varsity and frosh soph teams competed in the same race, with the results split by level. Phillips led the charge, earning a top 10 medal, finishing at 16:44. Cunz was next to the chute, two places and :15 later for a 16:59. While competing in the FS division, Evan Nosek was the next Knight to clock in, running 17:09. Nosek scored two points for the FS team. Allen was another medalist, earning 19th overall at 17:25 as our third man in varsity. Trevor Neal used a strong surge through the middle of the race to lock down 27th in varsity at 17:48. Babka completed our scoring for fifth overall as a team, sprinting to the finish at 18:05 (34th).

Bruhl was our sixth runner on varsity, ending his day with an 18:54 at 46th. Over the next :30 we saw six Knights come to the line. Murdock set a 3 mile HS PR at 19:00, and earned a 17th place medal. Brennan was hot on Zach’s heels and just :04 later, he earned an 18th place medal. Immediately after, Reutimann made it to the ending with a 19:06 (19th place) performance. Nolan Hosking, in his second season with the team finally got to run his first race. Nolan ran to 19:20 in the varsity race, which was good for 54th. Three places and six seconds later, Lechocki crossed in 19:26. Kowalczyk, was the lone three miler who bettered his career best from 2020 when he ran :75 faster for a 19:32 effort, the fifth man for FS.

Smith ran a solid 6:41 mile pace, equivalent of his scrimmage, but on a much longer and hillier course. Adam was 19:51 at the end, with Behrends next to finish up his day at 20:03, good for 30th. Polloway set a career best time, running 20:09. Lentz was in shortly after, also with a career best 3 miles at 20:16 to net 36th. Eric Ramos ended the frosh soph day in the top half as well, at 20:36 and 45th place. On the varsity side, Dom Fiedler  was next in the chute for 72nd overall at the varsity level, and 20:53 to run sub 21.

We did quite well against the heat, and the field. We have a lot of great things to look forward to with this team!