DGN at Silver Meet (varsity)

In 2012, Downers Grove North senior Zack Smith was edged for the title at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet by only 1.2 seconds.

While Smith left nothing left to chance at the Silver Meet Saturday at Proviso West, the course announcer initially was identifying Smith coming into the homestretch as junior teammate Ryan Clevenger.

”I did not hear that, but I guess I kind of look like him,” Smith said with a big smile. “He’s only like 6 inches taller than me or something like that. I did not hear that, but that’s interesting. I guess we just easily get confused.”

This year, there was no frustration. Only jubilation. Smith won the 3.04-mile race in 15:04.5 and Clevenger made the moment even better by taking second in 15:13.3.

They led a strong performance for the Trojans that earned third place at the meet and a tie for third in the final overall standings.

”We wanted to go out and take it to people, me and (Clevenger). We knew we could finish 1-2 and we went out there and did that,” Smith said. “It was awesome having him there with me for most of the way and all of our other guys ran well, too.”

Last year, wasn’t such a good feeling for Smith or the Trojans.

Smith was edged by York senior Scott Milling at a rainy Schiller Woods 15:03.5 to 15:04.7 for 3.0 miles. Smith had battled back and had the lead with about 50 meters left, only to have Milling make a late surge to prevail. Milling and Smith went on to take sixth and eighth, respectively, at the Class 3A state meet.

”I wanted this one really bad after last year with Scott getting me. This was pretty sweet to out there and get it done today. That was an awesome feeling so I’m so happy,” Smith said.

“(2012) was a great race, though. It was like hailing the whole time. That was a fun one, but that’s been motivating me ever since so I wanted to come out and get this one. It motivates me. It’s what keeps me going. After that race, I never wanted to go through getting outkicked like that again.”

Top-16 finishers earn individual all-conference honors. Senior Jared Spilky was 18th (15:56.0), just 1.0 second shy of 16th, followed by senior Marc Mathy (21st, 16:07.0) and juniors Zac Christensen (29th, 16:32.6), Jack Diamond (34th, 16:53.3) and Joe Carter (36th, 17:09.3).

Downers North coach John Sipple said this could possibly be the first time the Trojans have swept the top two places at a conference meet.

Smith became the Trojans’ first Silver champion since Ed Borjon in 2000 on his way to sixth in Class AA.

”He’s been eyeing this race for a while. It’s something he wanted to do for quite some time,” Downers North coach John Sipple said. “It was pretty cool to see him go out and see those goals realized.”

While defending Class 3A state champion York (38) and Hinsdale Central (50), the state’s top-two ranked teams in 3A, were first and second, the Trojans (71) edged Lyons Township (75) for third to share third with the Lions in the final overall standings. LT won the dual 26-33 Sept. 26.

It was a far cry from the 2012 Silver Meet where, even though Smith was second, the Trojans were fifth with 131 points, 33 behind fourth-place Glenbard West. Spilky (18th), Mathy (34th) and Clevenger (41st) also competed for the varsity in 2012.

“It was kind of redemption in this race for us,” Sipple said. “(Last year) was probably the most upset I was every during and after a race of any guys that I coached before. There are 42 guys in the race. It’s really small and very elite. I’d say 400 meters into the race, it was already over for us. We had already lost the main pack of guys.

”(On Saturday), they went out, put their nose up in the top 20, top 30, the big clump of guys and up competing where they need to be. In this sort of race, I’d rather see them compete hard and die the last 800 meters rather than not even be in the race after the first 400 meters. I’m very thrilled with the way they put their nose out there and got it done.”

Smith and Clevenger had finished 1-2 in every Silver dual this season, but there still may have been a twinge of doubt for some about their abilities to replicate that at the Silver Meet. York and Hinsdale Central runners challenged them for most of the first two miles in their races and conceded, focusing instead on securing dual victories with trailing teammates.

When Downers North and Hinsdale Central met at Proviso West in their Oct. 10 dual, Clevenger (15:33) and Smith (15:35) finished 1-2, and Hinsdale Central seniors Billy Magnesen (15:50), and Kevin Huang (15:51) were third and fourth. Magnesen, 32nd at state last year, was in his first race back since Sept. 19 after recovering from an iliotibial (IT) band issue.

Saturday's race basically turned out to be no different.

"I took it out fast. I don't know why. You feel good during the early parts so I said, 'Why not?' " Clevenger said. "It hurt the last mile, half mile. It was really unbearable but second's great. As long as Zack is first, I'm happy."

After the first mile, Clevenger had a slight lead in 4:57 with Magnesen half a stride back and Smith a close fourth just behind Huang. By two miles, Smith and Clevenger were stride for stride in front with Magnesen three seconds behind.

By the finish, Clevenger was 3.4 seconds ahead of the third-place Magnesen (15:16.7). York senior Nathan Mroz (15:25.9) and Huang (15:34.3) were third and fourth followed by York senior Alex Bashqawi (15:41.9), junior Matt Plowman (15:42.8) and senior Kyle Mattes (15:48.5). Mattes (all-state 23rd), Bashqawi (27th) and Huang (46th) were top-50 state finishers last year.

Smith raised his arms in triumph as he crossed the finish line.

“I usually don’t show too much emotion at the end of my races but I wanted this one pretty bad. I was pumped at the end there. That was a good feeling,” Smith said.

“Obviously, in such a great conference, winning conference in the WSC Silver is a whole other level. Not that there aren’t other great conferences, but there are some conference meets where it’s a little iffy, but in a conference like this, it’s pretty awesome to be able to say that you won it once.”

Clevenger hopes to have that feeling in 2014, but for now, he’ll settle for again showing himself as one of the state’s top runners. If that didn’t get him notice, wearing a pair of new neon orange socks did the trick.

“I definitely proved myself as a top runner in the state and the conference today. I feel like everyone was just thinking of me as a joke, but I think I finally proved myself that I’m the real deal so watch out,” Clevenger said.

“Ever since I can remember I was wearing neon socks in races. Last year in track, I had neon yellow and neon socks and now I’m doing neon orange and next year, it’ll be blue. I don’t know. I tried these out for today.”

Clevenger is probably the most significantly improved runner in the Silver. One key factor is that Clevenger most likely competed with anemia that wasn’t diagnosed until the track season.

Now he is second in the Silver after being second to last in the 2012 Silver Meet in 41st place.

“That was just another of those races that had kind of been stuck in the back of his mind for a while,” Sipple said. “His season kind of ended and his being a sophomore we had done a lot more (training) than he had ever done and he kind of sputtered out, but it seemed like it was more than that. When he started training again in the winter and he was dead all of the time, I said, ‘Let’s go get a blood test.’ ”

Smith already is optimistic for Clevenger next year. Besides Smith winning Saturday after being second the previous year as a junior, he noted that the previous two Silver champions (Milling and Oak Park-River Forest’s Malachy Schrobilgen in 2011) also won as seniors after finishing second the previous year.

”I don’t know if you’re getting the pattern here, but I think we know who’s winning the conference meet next year,” Smith said.

Spilky nearly had a perfect Silver finish as well. He was edged at the finish by Hinsdale Central’s No. 5-6 finishers, freshman Blake Evertsen (16th, 15:55.0) and junior Matt McBrien (17th, 15:55.5), who nudged his ailing teammate into the chute. Evertsen was sixth most of the way but shut down the final 600 meters.

Spilky also was 18th at last year’s Silver Meet but 6.3 seconds from 16th. Unlike the state meet and many prominent invitationals, Saturday’s meet did not use computer chip timing.

”It was really, really, really close. I think I was 17th, but I was given 18th because (McBrien) cut in front of me in the line,” Spilky said. “I beat at least one of the kids, I think, but I was so close.”

The bigger issue is that Spilky feels strong after being sidelined by a midseason injury. He returned to action Oct. 3 and won a low-key dual and then ran 16:32 at Proviso West.

”I feel healthy. I feel good. That race was really hard for me, but it felt good to get into a legit, really competitive race again,” Spilky said.

“(The Proviso West race Oct. 10) was kind of rough, but this race felt a lot better. We ran really well today. Zack and Clevenger were strong. This time, we actually ran as a team. Our No. 3 through 5 (finishers) were pretty close and that’s what we really need.”

The Trojans received an added boost when senior Jeremy Craven, not only competed for the first time since the Aug. 29 season opener in the later open race but also won in 16:20.4 wearing racing flats and being under a mandated controlled pace. The time still would have taken 24th place in the varsity race.

Just with an improving Spilky back in the lineup, the Trojans beat previously higher-ranked LT, whose top five were 9-10-15-19-22.

”I was pretty confident we could beat LT because we have earlier this year (at invites) and we’re finally kind of rounding into full health almost,” Sipple said.

”We were kind of back where we belonged. I kind of thought, on a normal day, everybody runs what they should, we’ll be third. If we ran exceptional, I thought we’d have a shot at it if York or Hinsdale Central faltered, but they’re so good they can absorb some of that.”

The Trojans now prepare for returning to state as a team for the first time since 2010. The first step is the 3A Lyons Township Regional at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, in Western Springs.

Downers North needs just a top-six finish among the 10 regional teams to advance to the Hinsdale Central Sectional Saturday, Nov. 2. The only other state-ranked teams in the regional field are Hinsdale Central and defending regional champion LT, third at state a year ago.

The Trojans’ 12-runner state lineup is the seven varsity runners from the Silver Meet plus Craven, seniors Anthony Iacovetti and Sam Ronan, junior Bruce Tamlin and freshman Alec Danner.

“We’re completely healthy with Jeremy back, and we really haven’t been all season. It’s nice at the right time we’re getting healthy here, which is when it counts, when it matters,” Smith said. “I think we’re going to be making some noise in the postseason so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

-- by Bill Stone