UPDATED Story: DGN at First to the Finish Invite

Downers Grove North junior Ryan Clevenger has competed the past two seasons during the boys cross country regular season at Peoria’s Detweiller Park, the annual site of the state meet.

He never came close to the way he raced Saturday.

Clevenger did not just finish third, just ahead of all-state senior teammate Zack Smith, in Peoria High School’s the First to the Finish Invite. He joined Smith in the mix for the individual title.

“I felt more in the race and set up (to win), and I was way, way more physically fit than last year,” Clevenger said. “We set ourselves up to do well and third and fourth place in this big of a meet, we’re very happy with it. It’s my first time under 15:00. I was just happy that Zack was right beside me and we went 3-4.”

The Trojans’ excitement went beyond that. They finished third (192 points) behind Hinsdale Central (60) and Buffalo Grove (183) after entering the meet as the fifth-highest ranked team in the field.

Clevenger (14:44.68 for 3.0 miles) and Smith (14:45.76) only were beaten by Calvin Kraft of Fishers, Ind. (14:36.22) and Hinsdale Central senior Billy Magnesen (14:36.86), 32nd at state in 2012.

Senior Jared Spilky used a fierce finish to take 24th (15:19.07), followed by senior Marc Mathy (72nd, 15:43.04), juniors Zac Christensen (92nd, 15:52.08), Jack Diamond (138th, 16:06.55), Bruce Tamlin (148th, 16:10.55) and Jack McGinnis (232nd, 16:43.76) and seniors Andrew Adams (241st, 16:47.25) and Anthony Iacovetti (275th, 17:01.18). Teams were allowed 10 varsity entries.

For the second invite in a row, the Trojans raced without slightly injured senior and No. 3 runner Jeremy Craven. Yet they still were only nine points from second place and finished ahead of three teams rated above them in at least one of the three weekly state polls -- Neuqua Valley (246) and Lyons Township (272) and Naperville North (322), which were sixth, seventh and ninth Saturday. Saint Ignatius (209) and Lincoln-Way Central (225) were fourth and fifth.

”I felt going into it we should be minimum top five,” Downers North coach John Sipple said. “Overall, it was a pretty solid race for them. It’s hard to be too upset with some nice (personal records), especially for Clevenger, and just another good race getting back down for Zack.”

Smith is the only Downers North runner with state-meet experience, but several of the runners have seen regular-season action at Detweiller.

This year, the Trojans competed at the First to the Finish Invite, hosted this year by Peoria High School, rather than the upcoming Peoria Notre Dame Richard Spring Invitational Sept. 21.

With their performance, the Trojans have moved up to No. 6 (Illinois Track and Cross Country Association) and No. 7 (DyeStat Illinois) in this week’s two released 3A state rankings.

Smith has competed at state all three seasons, the past two as an individual qualifier. He was eighth at state last year in 14:33, equaling the fastest state time by any Downers North runner at Detweiller.

Smith was the only varsity runner who did not run a personal-best time for the Detweiller course Saturday. He ran a 13th-place 14:53 last year in September.

”There are a lot of good memories here over the past couple of years, a couple of state meets, some fast races,” Smith said. “It’s always fun being back here. It’s the best course in the state by far. You get a lot of people out here cheering you on and everything and it’s pretty awesome. Obviously, we want to be back down here in November for the state meet because that’s just a whole other level of excitement, but it’s pretty awesome just being here this time of year.”

Sipple said the Trojans attempt as best as they can to replicate the timeframe of the state meet weekend. The top group arrives Friday afternoon, trains on Detweiller that afternoon, and then stays overnight, just as they would if the team would qualify. Students had early release Friday, so the Trojans arrived at Detweiller about 90 minutes sooner.

With so many deserving runners, Sipple said that 14 runners made the trip Friday rather than the usual 12. The remaining Trojans who competed in the open boys race, left for Peoria Saturday morning.

”Running at Peoria is really important for our whole team,” Sipple said. “We want those guys to get that experience on Detweiller. It’s an awesome meet to be at. It’s fun. From the first guy to the last guy, there’s always somebody to compete against.”

Clevenger hopes to get that chance to race at state with his teammates Nov. 9. If that happens, Clevenger should be in contention for all-state honors with a top-25 finish. In his return to Detweiller, Clevenger shattered his 2012 time at the Richard Spring Invite by 59 seconds after a 1:32 improvement from his freshman race.

Clevenger’s 15:44 at last year’s invite would have put him around 75th place Saturday.

”I feel like last year I was lost in the race basically. I wasn’t really positioned at all,” Clevenger said. “I was just trying to run under 16:00. This year, it was more going for the win actually because I believed that I could have won it. It’s when you believe you can.”

Kraft had a slight lead throughout most of the early portion of the race with a trail pack of Clevenger, Smith, Magnesen and Hinsdale Central senior Kevin Huang (5th, 14:50.63) always within striking distance. Just after the two-mile mark, Magnesen surged to challenge and eventually pass Kraft. Magnesen led through most of the final straightaway before Kraft rallied with 30 meters left to prevail.

”(Clevenger and I) were running well as a team,” Smith said. “There was that one point up there, where Billy Magnesen made a hard move and that was really our only mistake of the race. We didn’t cover that with him.”

”We were planning on moving up there, too, (to catch Kraft), but (Magnesen) took off and we just didn’t have it,” Clevenger said. “We still moved up, but compared to his move, we looked a little slow.”

Spilky made one of the most impressive moves in the race just in the nick of time. In the final 800 meters, he cut his place in half as he made a remarkable move from being in the low 50s.

”(Downers North assistant coach Jill Blondell) is like, ‘You’re in 52^nd place.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I’m not going to get a medal (for top 50). I need to help my team,’ ” Spilky said.

“I should be up there so I just basically took off and surged and it felt awesome. That last 400 meters at Detweiller is amazing, always amazing. It’s so flat, the crowd’s going crazy. It’s really fun.”

Spilky had the extra energy because of a rough first mile in over 5:00 in which he got bottlenecked and pushed around. He still edged his 2012 invite time of 15:22.

”I wanted to run faster, but the start kind of screwed me over for that. I still ended up finishing pretty well so I’m happy with it,” Spilky said. “I know I can close now, so that’s really good. I was top 25 and if I’m top 25 in the state meet, I get an all-state medal. Granted this isn’t the state meet, but it still is good.”

With Craven’s absence, varsity newcomers such as Christensen have risen to the occasion. As the Trojans’ No. 5 finisher, Christensen ran an all-time personal best by breaking his best of 16:20 from the previous invite. He was an incredible 1:34 faster than his 17:26 at Detweiller in the 2012 invite’s frosh-soph race.

”It’s only my second varsity race so it’s definitely good for me to run with these guys and get more experience with everything,” Christensen said. ”I just know Jeremy’s been out so that’s left a fifth spot open for me and Jack Diamond so we’ve been kind of working together just to push each other, get up there, kind of fill that spot. We’ve all been working together. Hopefully, (the state meet is) what we’re all working towards.”

With a healthy Craven, the Trojans should have four of their top-five runners fairly secure. How well Mathy and several juniors progress could hold the key as to how well the Trojans will place at state should they earn their first state team berth since 2010.

”For Zac Christensen, this is his first time breaking 16:00 ever,” Sipple added. “Bruce Tamlin ran great. In his second varsity race, he ran 16:10. ”We know what our times mean right now for us and pretty confident that by the state meet time, we’ll know how fast that they’ll be able to run on that day."

Open race

Downers Grove North junior Joe Carter was enthusiastic about the start of the summer running program. 

It marked his official return to preparing for the upcoming cross country season. Carter was injured throughout the indoor and outdoor track seasons because of swelling under his left kneecap.

”I’m making big progress,” Carter said after Saturday’s First of the Finish Invitational. “From the workouts, I can tell I’m getting back into shape, back to where I was before.”

Carter had just received an emotional lift with his performance at Detweiller Park, the annual site of the state meet. He ran 16:36.03 over the 3.0 miles to take a team-best 22nd in the open race. 

Freshman Alec Danner (16:36.98) finished right next to Carter in 23rd, and senior twins Jack Ronan (29th, 16:42.92) and Sam Ronan (36th, 16:47.79) also among the top 40 in under 17:00. Senior Jack Michka (54th, 17:00.34), freshman Dan Albert (76th, 17:30.74) and junior Dillon Murphy (132nd, 17:58.53) rounded out the top-seven team finishers. Freshman Tristan Jahn (161st, 18:14.10), sophomore Ryan Cantlin (242nd, 18:50.65) and freshman Don Knapp (246th, 18:52.94) also broke 19:00.

Downers North (139 points) finished fifth, just ahead of sixth-place Lyons Township (147). Neuqua Valley (18) dominated with five in the top eight and seven in the top 15.

Carter, 1.41 seconds from the top 20, said he was pleased with where he finished but more so with how he competed. 

”It was a big step forward, trying to be able to push myself to my limits, beyond my limits again. I haven’t done that in a while so getting back to that is key,” Carter said.  ”It went pretty well. We just got out quick, got myself in a good position. I kept fighting during the race to try and keep my position.”

Danner not only was making his Detweiller debut. After being a frontrunner on the frosh-soph level for his first two races with the Trojans, he was competing in a giant field with juniors and seniors.

”It boosted up my confidence, having a good place, a good time out of a lot of people. I’m eager to get to practices and go to the next meet and see what I’ll do there,” Danner said.

“I’ve been improving my time and overall I felt good about this race. Being a freshman, it was a different experience, but I think it was good.” 

-- by Bill Stone