White Knights Race to 3rd at Woodstock Sectional, Qualify for 18th Time as Team

You boys said it best on Friday. If it were not for the heartbreaking defeat by a few points at last fall’s Sectional, you’d not have appreciated nor worked as hard to attain this high finish at Woodstock.

Behind a single digit and a crazy :37 split between 2 and 6, we were able to earn a comfortable advantage over the rest of the ranked teams on this sloppy, rolling course.

Matt Richtman only lost one place from Regional to Sectional when he placed 6th overall, giving us a great start on the team tally. Having familiar foes in his pack, and gaining energy as he passed more from last week, he managed a :70 PR on the course and an automatic berth to Peoria.

Thankfully, his teammates were equally up to the challenge. Austin Kintz maneuvered his way through the course with many other #1’s and 2’s, but fell down before the two mile. He popped right back up and into the mix, and managed a PR time at Emricson Park as well. Kintz started a stream of White Knights scoring quickly thereafter.

Sophomore Sam Webster, teamed up with Spaetzel, Kuipers and Kantola, right from the start. This pack of white was seen (and commented on, afterward) by many opposing coaches. We seemed very well in control of our pack, and our wave of passing continued to build. From the mile mark to the finish, the pack moved up a solid 20 places.

Webster and Kantola continued to surge forward and our seniors followed suit. Webster earned 35th overall, a magnificent performance for his first EVER run in the Top 7. He bettered his time at Woodstock by 1:45.

Kantola also had a big PR day, running :59 faster than in ‘14. His finish of 16:59 was just 4 seconds off Sam. Spaetzel also came up big today, running a :33 PR on the course and making history as our #5.  Will Kuipers was locked into this pack until he fell on the slick, muddy hills with 400 to go. He courageously fought back and was just 7 seconds off Sean’s pace, with a 1:20 PR at Woodstock.

Kainrath did his best to locate the pack in the thick field and wet mess of Mile 1. Without them, he raced to 94th overall. Matt beat 13 scoring runner from other teams. We are going to make sure we are more visible to one another next week, as we run in the  IHSA Class 2A Finals.

Results Here