The course conditions were more fun than fast, but the Knights splashed their way to a team title in both the varsity and frosh soph divisions of the Interstate 8 Conference Championships. Led by Evan Nosek’s third conference championship in the sport, Kaneland placed four in the top 8 to net 31 points for the win. A smaller field made for an exciting race with some great times by all competitors on a slippery course that included about 3/4 of a mile on wet mud and leaves, as well as four crossings of a water filled ditch that made for some trouble.
Nosek took the early lead and then extended his efforts (15:33) to win by about 20 seconds. David Valkanov came off a finish of the week with an illness to take fourth in a solid time on the sloppy course at 16:00. In close proximity the whole way was teammate Evan Whildin who took 5th at 16:06. Zachary Murdock was the next Knight to the finish mats, running a very strong 16:36 for 8th overall. All of these points would be crucial in holding off strong team efforts from Sycamore and Morris.
In a difference making run, Liam Lentz hung close to important scorers to run the team tally to 31 points. Lentz ran 17:23 to finish 14th overall. Collin Reutimann built momentum in the second half of the race and ran 18th overall with a time of 17:56, which was a :45 course PR. Devon Kowalczyk joined his varsity teammates in celebrating a strong team effort. Kowalczyk was vying for the dirtiest uniform in the race when he fell in the water-filled ditch. Washed virtually clean, he got out to finish 26th overall at 18:56.
The frosh soph squad was next to Box 2, and they put up a strong team effort to take first with 28 points. Joey Schuch was the first Knight to the stripe, earning a runner-up finish with a career best time of 17:31. At Morris, they have a bell mounted to a post for any athlete to ring when they race to a personal record. It was a timely race to drop his career best below 18 minutes, and ring the bell. Jessub Hardy overcame a painful foot strike in the depths of the ditch that rocked his knee. Hardy kept his momentum moving forward depsite the discomfort and held on for fifth overall (18:36). Hardy finished just ahead of his hard charging teammate, Nathan Kowalczyk who finished with an identical time at 6th. Ricky Anderson had one of his best individual performances of the season, racing to 9th (19:12).
Jack Nevenhoven took some time to get into the scoring mix, but when he did, he kept charging right to an 11th place – ribbon earning – finish. Jack closed the scoring for the team at 28 points, just narrowly defeating a talented Sycamore squad by 5 points. Sahel Torres pushed to 14th overall, breaking 20 minutes at 19:55. Elijah Fiedler also put up a top time at 20:41, for 19th in the race.
The boys who raced in the Open were hungry for their chance to perform. The rains came back to make the finale something fun to see. Senior Ben Broz lost one shoe in the first mile, ditched the other, and raced to second overall at 18:58. Jack Polloway joined him in the chute, :26 later to finish 3rd overall. Sean Meagher took a different approach to racing today, and jumped out with the eventual winner from Sycamore. This strong start got him in a great position to challenge himself and ultimately led to a ringing of the PR bell. Meagher ran 19:34 and took 4th. Lucas Fiedler was our final competitor to cross the mats at the finish, and did so in dramatic fashion by ringing the same PR bell at 20:15, a career best.
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