UPDATED Story: DGN at Minooka Invite
Thursday, September 26 2013Downers Grove North junior Jack Diamond still may be known more for his middle-distance abilities in track, but he’s emerging as a competitive cross country runner.
When Diamond received the chance to represent the varsity in the No. 5 of seven flight races at Minooka’s Flight Invitational Saturday, Diamond knew he had a chance to do well.
He did. He won.
It was among seven top-three finishes by the Trojans in all of the respective flights as they captured the team title in their first trip to the event at Channahon Community Park.
Diamond covered the 3.0 miles in 16:14.0 to win by four seconds over Conant sophomore Chris Serrano.
“It was the first time I’d taken a lead in a race for a while so it was nice,” Diamond said. “It took a while to get used to it, though, and then once I was out front, I felt really good about myself and just felt like no one could really catch me.”
The combined places of the seven races determined team scores. Out of a possible seven points, the Trojans won with 14 to hold off Conant (19 points) and Marmion (29).
Junior Ryan Clevenger also won his flight (No. 2 in 15:04) while senior Zack Smith ran an impressive 14:52 in the No. 1 flight to take second only to Conant junior Zach Dale (14:46).
Senior Marc Mathy (No. 3 in 16:05) and junior Bruce Tamlin (No. 6 in 16:21) were second in their flights. Juniors Zac Christensen (No. 4 in 16:20) and Joe Carter (No. 7 in 16:45) were third.
“(We told Diamond), ‘You should win your heat. You are better than everybody else’s No. 5 guys. That’s what we think,’ ” Downers North coach John Sipple said. “Most people probably put him at an 800, 1,600 guy (for track) and think cross country is a tough go for him so it’s nice (to see him win). It’s a great experience for those guys to get their nose up there.”
For years, Downers North competed at the discontinued Crete-Monee Pow-Wow, but Saturday was the first time any of the current Trojans competed in a flight meet format. The Trojans competed one week earlier at Peoria’s Detweiller Park, annual site of the state meet, at the First to the Finish Invitational to accommodate their schedule change.
The Minooka Invite begins with frosh-soph races, limited to seven entries. The flight races, beginning with the No. 7 slot, go off on a tight schedule and are combined with the corresponding flight for the girls teams, followed by an open race. Downers North’s girls team competed in Peoria as usual Saturday.
”It’s nice to have one meet that’s just a little different like that and I think we all really enjoyed it a lot,” Smith said.
”It was a really cool experience for all of us. At points, there were two races going on at once so you’re running back and forth to watch both of your guys and cheer them on. It was a little nervewracking, watching one flight at a time, seeing all of the points getting racked up. But it was cool.”
One reason Sipple brought his runners to this flight meet was his familiarity with the Channahon Community Park course and its history dating back to his high-school days of competing there for Sandburg and the former SICA conference.
Sipple also likes the dynamic of a flight meet, where the depth of a team is tested in a different fashion.
”I think it’s great because Nos. 7-6-5-4, all of those guys get to experience where they know they should potentially win their race. It’s a different type of pressure,” Sipple said. “You’re by yourself, so you have to handle it on your own. And guys need to deal with that. I think it’s good expectation to have where I think, sometimes in a bigger race, they just kind of pigeon-hole themselves into, well I should be behind this guy (and finish in this place).”
The Trojans had added pressure since senior varsity regulars Jared Spilky and Jeremy Craven were kept out to recover from injuries. Yet they won the invite with consistent performances across the board.
Conant had an invite-best three flight champions and equaled the Trojans’ invite-best three second places. With two flights remaining, the Cougars actually led 8-11, but they took a blow from a 10th-place finish in the No. 2 flight.
”Going in, we were like, ‘I don’t care if we’re not running our normal (lineup). Next guy up, do your job,’ ” Sipple said. “It was fun for me to watch them. We told them going in (to compete for first in each flight), the whole bit. It’s cool that they have that feeling of being the No. 1 guy, of what the expectation is.”
In regular races, coaches often emphasize for runners to compete as a pack or as duos. On Saturday, that wasn’t possible.
Thanks to plenty of hard work in the offseason, Clevenger had been up with the all-state Smith and other frontrunners in the Trojans’ first four meets.
On Saturday, Clevenger had to run on his own, and he was truly alone by the end of his flight. He won by 18 seconds over Glenbard South senior Joe Singleton (15:22), sixth at last year’s Class 2A state meet.
”Going into the race I’m thinking, ‘This is really the first time this year I haven’t raced with Zach.’ But I’ve run with him and I know how to race now. I know how to race hard and win races and I thought I was fully capable and ready to do it,” Clevenger said.
“Once I realized that I had it, I was more focused on just the overall one point for our team. The time was just put aside, but I think the time was still pretty respectable.”
For Diamond, this was his first victory in any cross country race since freshman year. For those who already knew him for his track talents, they got a little display of that, too, with his race on the line.
”It’s really cool, a nice experience. I really like this meet,” Diamond said. “(Serrano) came up on me and ended up leading for about a quarter of a mile or so and then with about 200, 300 (meters) to go, I knew that I could take him.
“It
Based on Sipple’s knowledge of course performances, Smith and his teamamtes are encouraged how much faster they could become by the postseason.
Dating back from the days of the SICA conference meet, Sipple said there was a consistent correlation between a runners’ time at the conference meet and the state meet – basically a guaranteed 20 seconds.
On Saturday, Smith, eighth at state in 2012, joined only a handful of runners who have broken 15:00 on that course. The list includes state-title legends Lukas Verzbicas, Chris Derrick and Matt Withrow.
”It’s uncanny how much (the time drop) is, 20 to 25 seconds. And we ran there in September,” Sipple said. “We’ve got another three, four weeks until conference to there’s time in there where maybe we can squeak out 30 seconds, maybe 35 between now and the time we go back to Detweiller (Nov. 9 for the state meet).”
That helped Smith feel even better about his race despite being edged by Dale by four seconds. Nearby in third was Yorkville junior Lucas Hoffert (14:57), 10th at last year’s 2A state meet. Clevenger said he was disappointed that Hoffert’s twin brother, Jake, 12th at 2A state in 2012, did not compete in the No. 2 flight.
”I thought I ran well, a lot better than I did at Detweiller (Sept. 14 in 14:45.76),” Smith said. “I was right with (Dale) with 200 to go and he outkicked me. I think that kick is something that’s going to come here over the next few weeks. I’m definitely happy with the way I raced. Big props to (Dale) for how well he ran, obviously.”
The Trojans’ other two second places came behind Conant runners. Tamlin was six seconds behind Conant junior James Janczy (16:15), and Mathy was five seconds behind Conant junior Shu Sultan (16:00) in his move up to No. 3 man.
”Marc needs to get out hard. (We told him), ‘You’ve got to stick your nose up there because you better darn be up there and maybe winning this thing,’ ” Sipple said.
Diamond has been among the pleasant surprises from this season’s group of juniors. Part of his satisfaction in winning Saturday came in that he usually has run in meets with Christensen, the team’s No. 5 finisher in Peoria, and finishes close behind.
Diamond actually ran six seconds faster than Christensen Saturday, but Mather senior Claudio Flores (16:03) also ran 11 seconds faster than Diamond to win the No. 4 flight. Christensen also was two seconds behind Conant junior Joel Almodovar.
”We work together every single workout so working together in the meets has gotten to be force of habit. I figured we’d both be around the same time,” Diamond said. “I went before Zac (who ran No. 4) so I figured he was going to take care of business. I better do the same thing, too.”
Last season, Diamond’s brother, James, was a member of the Trojans’ sectional lineup and now is a freshman competing at NCAA Division III Carthage College (Kenosha, Wis.).
With races like Saturday, Jack Diamond is putting himself in contention of helping the Trojans contend for a state berth as a team. All three weekly polls continue to have the Trojans among the top-10 ranked teams in Class 3A, including as high as No. 5 this week from both DyeStat Illinois and MileSplit Illinois.
”I know when James was on the top 7, he would work night and day, everything running. He’s breath running, work so hard for it,” Jack Diamond said. “I learned how to work for it from him so (top 7 for me) would be really nice and I’d be thankful to him if I were able to do it, too.”
Frosh-soph race
After battling through 3.0 miles at Saturday’s Minooka Invitational, Downers Grove North freshman Tristan Jahn just missed beating the clock.
Jahn was on his way towards a top-50 finish in the 3.0-mile frosh-soph race with the official time in sight.
He ran a personal best but in a bittersweet 18:01.
”I saw the clock and I saw 17:59 as I was just about to step on that blue mat (for the computer chip finish time),” Jahn said, “but I didn’t make it in time.
”That’s one of the things I’ve got to work on, sprinting a little bit at the end and at the start. You start how you finish, I guess.”
Downers North freshman Alec Danner was a team-best seventh in 16:44, the second-highest finishing freshman to Whitney Young’s Keduse Worku (16:17). Whitney Young sophomore Sam Wischnewsky won the race in 16:07.
Jahn (50th) was the No. 2 finisher for the Trojans, followed by freshmen Ryan Cantlin (64th, 18:25), Collin Leger (70th, 18:37), sophomore Nick Torres (82nd, 19:03), freshman Don Knapp (87th, 19:20) and sophomore Rocco Manzo (102nd, 21:02).
The Trojans finished 10th (272 points). Whitney Young (34) won by 42 points over second-place Lyons Township.
While the varsity level was a flight meet, combining the results of seven races for team standings, the frosh-soph had a regular scoring format.
Although Jahn has run distance races on his own, this is his first time as part of a cross country team. He ran on the track team for the Avery Coonley School but has since built up his endurance, which so far has been his strongest trait in races.
In the season and home opener Aug. 29 at Greene Valley Forest Preserve, Downers North coach John Sipple said Jahn got off to a slow start but then moved up from 30th in the early going all the way up to eighth.
”I was kind of going in like a deer in headlights, if you will,” Jahn said. “I kind of learned my strategy. I’ve learned that I’m not necessarily good at getting out there really fast as some of the other kids, but I learned not to get out fast because then you burn out. Getting out at my pace, it’s not necessarily fast for most kids, but then I stick with that pace the whole race rather than slowing down in the middle and end of the race.”
The result Saturday was roughly three 6:00 splits to beat his previous best time of 18:07. Jahn said he hopes to continue dropping time by supplementing his pace with faster starts and finishes.
“My goal (next race) is to get sub-18:00,” Jahn said. “My goal for the season would hopefully be 17:30. That’s going to be tough, but I’ll try hard.”
Open race
Junior varsity Attempts to recognize Downers Grove North senior Sam Ronan from twin brother Jack basically is a losing battle. Even after years of coaching them, Downers North coach John Sipple admits he still struggles.
During a recent practice, another bystander agreed, commenting to Sam – or maybe it was Jack – that he thinks he never will tell them apart.
”I don’t think you will, either,” Sam said with a big smile.
When they race for the Trojans, there’s still no relief. They usually finish near each other. There was a bit of a gap Saturday, but that was because Sam Ronan broke 17:00 to lead the Trojans’ open race lineup at the Minooka Invitational.
Sam Ronan finished the 3.0 miles in 16:54, only six seconds from third place. The Trojans’ next three finishers were in the top 15 with junior Jack McGinnis (17:11), Jack Ronan (17:16) and senior Jack Michka (17:20) in 10th, 13th and 14th. Junior Dillon Murphy was 29th (17:55), senior David Lyda (54th, 18:25) broke 19:00 and sophomore Brad Wilcoxen (120th, 19:42) and junior Darius Daugvila (126th, 19:46) broke 20:00.
“I don’t know what happened. (Jack) was tired this week. He had a tough workout on Tuesday,” said Sam Ronan of his brother. ”We’ve always been around the same time. Even when we’re not in the same race, we’ll always end up running the exact same time to the millisecond. Jack and I are usually right with each other the first 2 1/2 miles and then the last half mile we close down to see who is fastest.”
The Ronans certainly tried to stay together Saturday, and they had company. The Trojans’ top five went out as a pack and had collective success.
There were no official team results, but the Trojans would have finished second with 61 points.
Lyons Township would have easily won with 20 points. The Lions put five in the top seven and, with unlimited entries, eight in the top 11 and 10 in the top 17.
“We went out a little slower than usual, just trying to stay in the middle of the pack (of the field) and then tried to move up towards the end and pass as many LT guys as we could.” Sam Ronan said.
Sam Ronan said he was excited to break 17:00. Although the time his comparable to his 2012 season, he’s feeling stronger at this point and believes better races are coming.
While the Trojans are depending on a strong junior class to help them qualify for state as a team, Sam Ronan is among the seniors tying to boost the lineup for the first time.
”I’ve had the same goal for the last four years, that’s make the top seven and run on the state course,” Sam Ronan said. “It’s going to be really tough this year, a lot tougher than I thought it would be, but I’m going to make sure that I give it everything I have and whatever happens, (I’d be satisfied) as long as I’m in the top 12 on the team and I get to help the team out any way I can.”
-- by Bill Stone
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Dave Lyda (aka D-Money)
