Pair of Third Place Finishes at Eddington Invite

Riding a wave of momentum to the finish, our two team races ended with equal and unprecedented results. A pair of third place finishes were the perfect ending to a hot and “heated” day.

Daniel Occhipinti dropped a new course PR, remaining a top contender in a loaded field in fifth place. His teammates rose to the challenge, and packed up brilliantly. Adams ran 16:26 to net 22nd. Wielgos ran a :29 course PR for 27th, just 9 seconds later. Jake was followed immediately by Walker, who set a 1:05 course PR, and then Aidan Lodwig capped our scoring one second later with a :45 meet PR of his own. That was a 2-5 split of just :11!

Ethan Neal pushed the scoring of 15 other teams when he beat their runners who score, setting a :30 course PR at 16:53. Seth Nosek notched a :50 course best, and defeated scorers from 13 other teams. Our pack split from 1-5 for varsity stood at :55. 

Adding three other runners to this year’s race, we saw course PRs from Petrik (:09) at 17:42, Finn at 17:43, and Klingensmith (:14), all of who didn’t get to race in 2017 due to the heat.

In the frosh soph race, the temperatures continued to rise. Isaiah Dallal capped a top 10 finish, and earned a new :13 course PR at 17:33. Phillips set a career best time when he passed numerous runners en route to a 15th overall time of 17:48. Next to cross the finish was Allen, in 21st at 17:58, followed five places later by Fitts (running a :29 course PR).

Malone closed frosh soph scoring at 53rd overall, crushing his course best by :51 and  a :70 pack split. Just behind him, Popovich fought through the ache in his back to finish 55th in 18:46. Aaron Lodwig (:48 course PR) and Fountain (:35) paired up at the finish, just two seconds apart. Huber raced :32 faster than 2017, in 20:10. Scherden fought for his spot, running his course best 20:56. Sussland had a huge meet PR, running 2:23 faster than 2017 in equally steamy conditions. Rovinsky set a new career PR, finishing with teammate Fiedler in tow who managed a new standard to beat on the home course. Brazee was the next Knight through, running 23:39 for his first Eddington run. Casey Walters finished our frosh soph day, sprinting to the cooler in 31:25.

Our open runners got their chance to race in the heat, and wound up with some dazzling finishes. Kyle Orczykowski net an award winning finish, placing 15th in a meet best 19:01. A pair of Jacks (in diamonds) raced to a near mirror time with Holder running a 1:27 meet PR, and Webster a career best 20:24. Alex Johnston ran a course best mile pace for 24:46 in 90th overall.

Second To The Finish in Peoria

The forecast was awful, but the weather and our team performance were awfully good. Powered by a pack split of just 63 seconds, the varsity raced to a runner up finish in a field of numerous ranked teams. Daniel Occhipinti led the way with a stellar career best time of 15:22, to finish third overall. This is tied for the third fastest time on the Detweiller course by any Knight in our team history. Forty seconds later, Wielgos was crossing the line in the Top 20 again. Wielgos set a career PR by :10, finishing 19th overall.

In his first three mile effort (non 5K), junior Austin Adams has proven his value as a wild card that continues to make a difference with our lineup. Adams crossed the finish at 16:19, for 36th overall. Six seconds later, we had a final 1-2 punch to our scoring when Walker completed a career PR effort at 16:25 (dropping :48 off his best). Aidan Lodwig capped our amazing team finish with a FTTF best time of 16:26. Pushers Nosek and Neal also did some big damage by besting nearly every other teams’ third to fifth runners in the event. Nosek notched a :42 career PR for 3 miles, crossing in 64th place at 16:41, and Neal ran a career best as well to round out our team’s day in 72nd place (16:44).

The lineup was able to include three more racers, and our bonus runners established new career best results. Dallal improved his career best, running 17:17 to finish 138th out of 477 runners. Aaron Lodwig was next across for the Knights, bettering his career best by :46 at 17:30 (171). Sophomore Brady Popovich completed our day with the varsity race, running a new :18 PR of 17:33 (182).

The Open was enormous, including teams from all three classes. Our Knights fared very well on the muddy course, with numerous career bests. Senior Jacob Petrik equaled his best from 2017 with a 17:20, good for 72nd overall. Finn was next to cross at 17:38, with freshman Nolan Allen chasing to establish his best at 17:51. Charles Fitts improved his career best by :21, running 18:03, and Christian Phillips was on his heels at 18:04 to complete our team scoring. The Open runners combined for 18th against 69 scoring teams.

Christopher Fountain established the biggest “drop” of the week, slashing 1:04 off his career best from 2017, when he ended his run at 18:24. Klingensmith bettered his FTTF PR by :55, to complete his day at 18:37. Fellow senior, Kyle Orczykowski, was next in line when he ran a season’s best mile pace to finish in 18:40. Parker Malone dropped his career best by :35 to nab a new PR of 18:58.

Freshman Evan Scherden ran his first three-mile in 20:25, sprinting through the three blue mats at the finish. Will Huber competed in Peoria for the first time as well, and recorded a 20:32, finishing 621st. Jack Webster, also brand new to the sport had his first race ever, and broke the 7:00 mile pace barrier to complete the course in 20:38. Sussland also beat the mile pace barrier, finishing 20:58, and tying his career best in the process. Freshman Dominic Fiedler established a new standard of excellence by racing to 21:15, a time he will be working to break many times this fall.

David Brazee ran a career best 21:58, which erased his previous three-mile best by 52 seconds. Newcomer Jazper Rovinsky got his first taste of cross country racing and did a super job competing all the way to the finish line, crossing in 22:46. Freshman Casey Walters not only showed his best, but bettered his 2.35 scrimmage time while running more than a half mile longer course! Casey finished the day at 28:09, and looked so strong in the process.

This day was remarkable for many reasons, but most importantly the entire group came ready to run. We have so much work to do, and be assured that the competition that we faced and beat today will both look different in the future as well as find motivation from the results. Some teams may have had runners missing for ACT weekend, and others were competing for the very first time of the year. None of this diminishes our achievement as a team. The second place trophy is the best one we have ever earned at this loaded meet. With 5 of the Top 10 ranked schools in the meet, we got a taste of what is coming up.

Knights Run 3rd at CLS Invite

We might not have had a better start to the 2018 season than when we beat the weather, and scored two Top 5 team finishes at the CLS Invite. On a rugged, muddy Veteran’s Acres course, our varsity put up a solid 80 second pack split, earning seven medals in the process.

Daniel Occhipinti took the top pack to the limit and narrowly missed a runner up finish by 0.3 seconds. Wielgos net his own PR finish by racing to 16th overall. Our scoring was completed when our 3-5 runners crossed just six seconds apart. Lodwig and Walker at 18:02, and Adams in his first ever XC race at 18:08. For 3.1 of hills, mud, and mugginess, that’s pretty awesome!

Nosek and Neal were also close to this pack, and moving forward it will be exciting to see how this group improves as a unit. Our next wave competed as a pack as well, with Petrik leading a group of three to the finish line at 19:27, a new course best for Jacob. Klingensmith was next across the finish line one second later, followed by Finn just three seconds after. This is a great example of how we stick together in groups when we run, with one runner taking “the edge” and the others holding on with all they have.

Alex Johnston, also running his first official race, dropped his mile pace by over a minute from the scrimmage to cross at 23:13. Holder finished strong despite an aching leg, holding out for 23:50 of agony. We really started well as a varsity team this fall, and we will continue to climb against the State’s best with the bold and tough mindsets of Sharks.

Our frosh soph crew replicated the aggressive attack of the hills and terrain at Veteran’s Acres. Led by a pair of Top 10 finishes (Aa. Lodwig, 9th and Dallal, 10th) the team got into scoring, just two seconds apart. Next to sprint to the finish was Popovich, in 31st place and immediately followed by freshman teammate Nolan Allen at 32. Phillips, also running his first high school race came through just five seconds later to finalize our team points, good for fifth in a pretty competitive field.

Fountain served well as a “pusher” in the race as our 6th man, running a :38 PR on this course. Malone just barely missed a medal at 72nd, but moved up 31 places from 2017 and dropped :19 in time. Scherden was next to cross with a big mile pace improvement from the scrimmage. Huber managed the mud well enough to finish in the top 100 at 98. Cunz also looked impressive in his first run in a diamond jersey, running sub 7:00 mile pace. Fiedler was right on Logan’s heels, just two seconds later, also with a strong mile pace performance. Sussland sprinted across the line a full :30 faster than last fall. Brazee dropped mile pace by more than a minute versus his scrimmage performance, to finish at 15:32. Caleb Hwang won the dirtiest jersey award, showing toughness in rising after a fall on the course and still dropping his mile pace by :48 seconds since the scrimmage. Freshman Casey Walters demonstrated his own brand of toughness by dropping his mile pace significantly, en route to an awesome finishing kick. 

Eddington Volunteers, Please Sign Up!

KXC Families,
Please use THIS LINK to find spots for helping out with our 49th running of the Larry Eddington Invitational. As you well know, this is a big meet for us, and we can never pull it off without the outstanding support of our current and former KXC Families and runners.

Please note that you should sign up for a position on the Google Sheet, and that it's possible that if we don't have specific coverage for critical areas like the finish line, that we may move some pieces around. We will NOT change your time, however.

Please consider working shifts that do not interfere with your athlete's race(s). HOWEVER, if you would like to work portions of the course during your runner's event, please fill in accordingly.

We will have a VOLUNTEER MEETING on THURSDAY EVENING (9/13) at 5:45pm. It should only take about 20 minutes. If you still have a volunteer shirt from last year, please plan on bringing it.