Photo: Lyons Township’s Danny Kilrea storms to the line in winning the 3A Boys race (Laura Duffy Photo Credit).

By Michael Newman

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Peoria – The cross-country course at Detweiller Park has seen some legendary performances from Craig Virgin’s 13:50.6 in 1972 to Judy Pendergast’s 15:53.8 in 2015. Both those races happened at the state meet in November.

No one had gone under 14:20 at the First to the Finish Invitational (formally Woodruff Invitational) until Saturday when Lyons Township’s Danny Kilrea set a standard that may be tough to touch.

His time of 14:02.3 is the fastest time ever at this meet. It is also the fastest time ever on this course for a regular season invitational race.

Where there were 10 other runners that went under 15 minutes in the 3A race, Kilrea was in another stratosphere with his winning time some 46 seconds ahead of second and third place Michael Obroin of St. Ignatius College Prep and Clayton Mendez of Whitney Young who crossed the line both in 14:48.5.

Kilrea brought the pack through the first mile in 4:39 with Mendez a step behind. Both runners went into the back triangle together. It was Kilrea that came out alone. It was not that Kilrea made a surge to drop the Whitney Young runner. He just maintained his pace that dropped the rest of the field. The Lyons Township senior was just running in a zone that no other athlete at Detweiller Park could touch. He did not kick it in at the end. He went through the mile in 4:39, two miles in 9:21, and crossed the line in 14:02.3. It was consistent 70-second quarters after the first mile.

“After my workout on Wednesday, I was feeling a little tight on Thursday and Friday,” Kilrea said. “I still felt that tightness a little bit today. But, the excitement of that race kind of knocks that out of your body. I felt fine through the mile, I felt like I was running alone from miles two and three. It took a little bit toll on me. I just tried to keep it strong and not slow down."

He was not peaking for this race. The 14:10 that he ran the week before for 3 miles on his home course is evidence to that. He has set a high standard right now in Illinois that no one can touch…for now.

Top-ranked Downers Grove North ran shorthanded heading into the 3A Boys race. Their top runner Jacob Ridderhoff was at home taking the ACT test. Their No. 2 runner Matt Moravec did not race as he had a minor tweak that Coach John Sipple did not want to chance. It was a good opportunity to test his squad to see what they had inside. If they were taking a test, they passed it on this day.

The Trojans came out on top winning the 3A team race with 139 points. Junior Jack Roberts stepped up at the team’s #1 runner on this day finishing eight overall. Ryan Birkmeier (10th) and Miles Christensen (21st) finished within 17 seconds of Roberts. Nick Chudzik (36th) and Brendan Lockerby (64th) were the other two scorers for North. It was discovered that Christensen and Chudzik were both under the weather according to Chudzik. No excuses but it just showed their team’s inner desire.

West Suburban Conference rivals took the next two spots. Hinsdale Central ran a 31 second split on their top five to finish second with 166 points. Downers Grove South, led by Stephen Pipilas and his sixth place finish, put three runners within the first 16 spots to finish third (206 points). Batavia bounced back from a sub-par race at St. Charles to finish fourth (257 points) followed by Fishers IN (266 points).

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The 3A Girls that preceded the 3A Boys race had drama of a different type. It narrowed down to a four-runner pack through two-miles as Naperville North’s Sarah Schmitt and Alex Morris, Evanston’s Enyaeva Michelin, and Libertyville’s Melissa Manetsch broke away from the rest of the field passing that point in 11:24.

Schmitt made the first move with 800 meters to go trying to break away but Michelin stayed close. The two ran side-by side until the final 150-meters when Michelin put her head down and went. She is running with a load of confidence right now. Last week she dropped her personal best from 18:24 to 17:20. When she crossed the line in 16:48.9, she dropped that personal best down another 32 seconds. Schmitt looked strong finishing in 16:50.7. Morris made it three runners under 17 minutes as she finished in 16:57.5. Manetsch continued her strong early season finishing fourth (17:11.9) followed by Barrington’s Jocelyn Long (17:20.1).

Even though Naperville North was missing their No. 3 runner Hannah Ricci due to ACT testing, it still had enough firepower to win the 3A team title with 83 points placing five runners in the first 27. The team's third through fifth runners came in within six seconds. Wagner Osborne led the pack finish 25th (18:20.5), Claire Hill in 26th (18:25.2), and Sophia Bruce in 27th (18:26.3).

Third-ranked Yorkville did not have the runners in the front, but they exhibited some good pack running finishing second with 109 points. The split between Emily Eberhardt (12th) and fifth runner Nicole Greyer (43rd) was 57 seconds. The split between Eberhardt and fourth-runner Helena Kleronomos (19th) was only 19 seconds.

No. 5 Downers Grove South, led by the Brenna Cohoon’s 11th place finish, had a 14-second split form their second through fifth runners in finishing third (123 points). No. 7 Edwardsville looked strong finishing fourth while #4 Hinsdale Central finished fifth. Both teams scored 143 points.

2A Race Highlights

The most anticipated race of the day was the team battle between the top two 2A teams in the state Belvidere North and Dunlap. The story of the race was the way that Dunlap’s team ran exhibiting some strong pack running. By the time the group passed one mile, Campbell Peterson was with the leaders but the rest of the four-runner pack led by Franny Verville were in the first eleven. Belvidere North had Madison Diercks and Gianna Sagona in the lead pack with Dunlap’s Peterson, Waterloo’s Jenna Schwartz, and Latin School’s Marianne Mihas. The rest of the pack was in the mid 20’s.

The dynamics of the race changed in the next mile. Schwartz began to push the pace with Diercks and Sagona trying to stay within reach of the Waterloo junior. The big mover was Danville’s Shanice Garbutt who was 26th at the mile and 20 seconds behind the pack. She was now in sixth at 2-miles looking energetic and moving closer to the front. Dunlap’s pack was still in great position and looked like they had a solid lock on the win.

Belvidere North moved the final mile. Diercks caught Schwartz in the final 400-meters as the Belvidere North sophomore went on for the win (17:16.5). It was a photo-finish as Petersen and Garbutt crossed the line 2-3 with both runners at 17:19. Then Schwartz at 17:23.

Dunlap won the team title but it was closer than the projected scores at two miles. Dunlap’s 47 points came from Peterson’s finish followed by Verville (eighth), Abby Johnson (11th), Ayah Aldadah (12th), and Kate Piper (14th). Belvidere North’s strong move was not enough as they scored 89 points. Sagona followed Diercks in fifth, then Sabrina Elder (ninth) and Sydnie Elder (17th). Fifth runner Mia Rodriguez was 60 seconds behind Elder in 57th place overall.

Third-ranked Vernon Hills finished third (163 points) led by the 19th place finish from Payton Makowskyj. The Cougars only had a split of 30 seconds on their scorers. No. 4 Waterloo (218 points) and No. 6 Washington (273 points) finished fourth and fifth.

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ACT testing hit in the 2A race as Sterling’s Jacob Gebhardt was not in attendance at Detweiller Park. The race came down to a two-runner race as Illiana Christian’s Austin Ohm had a six-second lead on Matt Richtman of Kaneland heading into the final mile. Richtman stayed close to Ohm waiting to make his move. That happened in the final 200 meters of the race where Richtman broke free. His margin of victory on Ohm was more than five seconds (14:52.7-14:58). The three runners came in within a second of each other led by Charleston’s Nick Oakley (15:05.1), Stephen Poorten of Sycamore (15:05.8), and Mt. Zion’s Mason Jones (15:06.5).

No. 2 Normal University exhibited patience moving through the pack throughout the race. It paid off as they scored 144 points to win the team title. Jared Schuckman led the way placing eighth overall followed by Matt Zacharias (19th), Dane Alexander (22nd), Tanner Gillam (37th), and Jackson McClure (58th). The split on the team's top five was 62 seconds.

Poorten’s fourth place finish led No.5 Sycamore to second overall with 167 points. No. 4 Danville was next with 199 points followed by No. 18 Riverside-Brookfield (245 points) and No. 6 Kaneland (286 points).

1A Race Highlights

With Athens’ Wyatt McIntyre not in attendance due to ACT testing, the race opened up nicely for Dawson Smith of Rock Falls who led after exiting the back triangle. The sophomore had the biggest margin of victory of all the six races (11.4 seconds) as he crossed the line in 15:10.9. His win gave Rock Falls the individual win for the second year in a row. His teammate and 1A state champion Brayden Hamblen won in 2016.

Jackson Stewart of St. Teresa led the pack in second followed by Seneca’s Christopher Collet three seconds behind Stewart.

Led by top 20 finishes by Cooper Hoffmann (10th) and Trevor Dunkel (16th), No. 4 Elmwood-Brimfield took the win with 172 points. No. 3 Athens, without McIntyre, was led by his brother Noah (14th) as they finished second overall (212 points). No. 8 Deer Creek Mackinaw (239 points), No. 6 Carlinville (252 points), and No. 2 Rockford Christian (277 points) rounded out the top five.

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It was the battle of who would step into the spotlight in this classification especially since the top five finishers in last year’s state meet had all graduated. On this day, it was all Rock Falls as they added a 1-2 finish in this race along with the Boys win by Dawson Smith. Bailee Fortney pulled away from teammate Alex Gomez in the final stretch to cross the line in 18:16.2. Gomez was next (18:21.1) followed by Tremont’s Lizzy Friedlinger (18:25.5) and Judah Christian’s Laura Krasa (18:27.0).

The 1-2 finish helped No. 15 Rock Falls with the surprise win with 104 points. This team is a squad to watch with three sophomores and two freshmen in the top five. No. 6 Eureka made their seasonal debut finishing second (181 points) led by the 16th place finish from Emma Argo. No. 18 Stanford Olympia (184 points), No. 3 Williamsville (190 points), and No. 16 Rockford Christian (246 points) rounded out the top five.