DGN at Lyons Township Regional

While the Downers Grove North boys cross country team’s lineup has remained disrupted, senior Marc Mathy has been a steady, consistent influence.

Mathy has provided the link between two of the state’s premier runners, senior Zack Smith and junior Ryan Clevenger, and the Trojans’ No. 3-4-5 finishers, especially with seniors Jared Spilky and Jeremy Craven sidelined by injuries along the way.

”I think Zack and Ryan are doing a great job with their little group up there, and that’s cool to see. Especially going 1-2 every race, that’s awesome for the morale,” Mathy said.

”I’ve just tried to maintain that link between (juniors Jack Diamond and Zac Christensen) and those guys because (they) are definitely capable of running very fast times. As long as they stick up there, then we can have a good finish.”

Things are falling into place for the Trojans, and they continued with a strong second-place finish at the Class 3A Lyons Township Regional in Western Springs.

Smith (14:36.11) and Clevenger (14:36.49) finished first and second over the 2.97 miles as Downers North (47 points) only finished behind Hinsdale Central (35), rated No. 2 in 3A behind defending state champion York.

Mathy (11th, 15:10.74) and Spilky (15th, 15:25.10) also finished among the top 15, followed by Christensen (18th, 15:48.86), Diamond (25th, 16:06.31) and senior Anthony Iacovetti (35th, 16:43.41).

Good racing conditions and improved competition made for faster times. While Smith also won last year’s LT Regional, that time of 15:04 would have placed sixth Saturday.

Easily breaking 15:00 with Clevenger at his side added to this regional victory, or at least first place.

”I don’t know if you can call (Saturday) a title,” Smith said. “We were kind of like right next to each other. We’ll just share this title.”

The Trojans advanced to the Hinsdale Central Sectional at noon Saturday, Nov. 2, at Katherine Legge Memorial Park. They should comfortably get the top-five sectional finish that they need to qualify for the state meet as at team for the first time since 2010.

In fact, they’d like to challenge the Red Devils for their first sectional title, although the third-place state team from 1949 won districts, the only step then toward qualifying for state.

The Red Devils sat No. 6 runner Matt McBrien Saturday to allow their No. 7 and 8 runners to challenge for the last sectional spot. Third-place LT (75) pretty much was a non-factor teamwise because the Lions sat their top two runners from the Silver Meet, seniors Henry Hostettler and Ed McCarter, who finished ninth and 10th. Morton (89), Downers Grove South (116) and Argo (190) also advanced.

”The goal, at least later in the season, has always been to beat Hinsdale so we’re looking to go out and bring it to those Red Devils, or at least stick up with them and show that we’re serious going into the state meet,” Mathy said.

”As long as guys are (running personal records) and as long as they’re feeling good, then we’ll have a good mindset going into the state meet.”

The Trojans sported new team uniforms, which have included more black to the usual all-purple look. They were reflective of a new attitude since the 2012 LT Regional.

”They’re really cool,” Iacovetti said of the uniforms. “Bruce Tamlin said that they were made out of (personal record) material.”

The team’s top four finishers Saturday also ran at regionals last year. Smith won the regional title, but the Trojans were fourth (88 points) after also a subpar fifth-place effort at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet. They even finished behind Hinsdale Central, which rested its top four runners.

”We’re very happy with how the guys are running,” Downers North coach John Sipple said. “Compared to last year, we’re in such a different place and it’s such a positive vibe. It’s so different, and just the way the guys have responded this season with kind of the lineup adversity.”

The Trojans’ lineup patience should be rewarded at sectionals and state.

Sectionals is expected to mark the return of Craven, who hasn’t competed for the varsity since the Aug. 29 season opener. Craven’s made his race debut at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet Oct. 19 by winning the junior varsity race under a controlled pace.

Spilky rejoined the lineup to compete in the team’s last two Silver duals Oct. 3 and 10. Spilky was 18th at the Silver Meet as the Trojans’ No.3 finisher.

”I would say that going into this postseason we’ve never been stronger, even in more than a decade. Especially with Jared and Jeremy coming into the mix right at this critical point,” Mathy said. “And those guys are definitely feeling good, too. They’re ripping and roaring, ready to go. That’s sort of rejuvenating, and it helps to keep the team going.”

A strong 1-2 punch certainly helps, too, and Smith and Clevenger once again were impressive as they swept the top two spots as they did at the Silver Meet. Last year, Clevenger, later diagnosed with anemia during the track season, was 29th at the regional (16:31) but improved by nearly two minutes Saturday and ran a personal best.

Once again, the main competition was Hinsdale Central seniors Billy Magnesen and Kevin Huang.

Magnesen and Huang were third and fifth at the Silver Meet, split by York senior Nathan Mroz, whose team competes in a different regional (Fenwick) and sectional (Lake Park).

”Billy and Kevin took it out pretty fast (Saturday) so it set us up good to run a good, fast time,” Smith said. 

The Red Devils tried to dictate the regional at a fierce pace, going 2:20 for the half mile. The group of four was at 4:52 after one mile with Clevenger holding a slight lead with Magnesen and Huang to his left and Smith a stride back in fourth.

Bolstered by a surge just before the two-mile mark, Smith and Clevenger already had established a gap as they crossed in 9:50, six seconds ahead of Magnesen and eight ahead of Huang.

The Trojans picked up the pace shortly afterwards and began battling the clock as they cruised the rest of the way.

Smith and Clevenger finished more than 14 seconds ahead of Magnesen (14:50.55) and Huang (14:53.89), the only other runners to break 15:00. Fifth-place Morton’s Mateo Hernandez ran 15:00.42.

”I remember going down that final stretch when you pass the (running clock at the one-mile mark) one more time, Smitty said to me, ‘Dude, we’re going to break 15:00.’ It was a good time, a good place,” Clevenger said.

"(Magnesen and Huang) were really aggressive in this meet. I feel like when I thought back at it, their coach probably told them to take it out hard and try to break us, but earlier in the week we did a weird workout where we did a bunch of hills and some strides and 200s after that so we’ll get used to it if it’s going to be a quick pace.”

Mathy also made great strides from the 2012 regional, dropping just more than a minute from finishing 22nd in 16:11. He said another solid year of more 800 miles in offseason training has helped to develop a strong base.

”I felt as though this season maybe (Sipple) kind of perfected his training strategy a little bit (also),” Mathy said. “I’ve definitely felt a lot better going into the postseason than I did maybe last year and maybe that’s a function of age. I just know that all of the miles and all of the training is finally coming to a culmination, and getting a little more sleep this year than last year.” 

Mathy also said the stronger team approach has provided a competitive edge. On Saturday, Mathy put in a strong final mile after being 14th at two miles but just one second from 11th. He claimed 11th by 2.36 seconds over Kevin Kilrea (15:13.10), LT’s No. 3 finisher.

At the mile, Spilky and Mathy were 15th at 17th in 5:00/5:01. Spilky was 16th at two miles in 10:15.

”I just sort of went out there and figured I was going to run it as hard as I could,” Mathy said. “I didn’t necessarily have a strategy in mind, but I just came through the final mile (at a good pace) and I figured I might as well just keep that going because why stop there? I guess I just felt pretty good.”

Craven felt good enough to race Saturday, but Sipple decided to hold him out. Craven, recovering from a stress fracture in his left foot, ran the Silver Meet in racing flats and under pre-determined pace limitations. 

The LT course is quite flat, but Craven said he did have some slight foot pain heading into the regional.

”We don’t want to run the risk of re-fracturing my foot and being out,” Craven said. “The sectional meet is the one that matters so I’ll definitely be running there in spikes and everything.”

”It was kind of a last-minute decision a little bit (to rest Craven),” Sipple said. “In retrospect, I probably knew it was coming with Jeremy not running this week, but Anthony did a nice job and the other guys ran very solid.”

Christensen and Diamond were in tough spots at the finish. Christensen was 9.25 seconds from 17th, but held off Morton’s No.2 finisher by .51. Diamond was 6.75 seconds from 24th but held off Downers South’s No. 3 finisher by 1.81 seconds – and ran a personal record by less than a second.

Iacovetti made his postseason debut after being the Trojans’ No. 2 finisher in the JV Silver Meet. He was 15th to also earn individual all-conference honors for a top-16 finishers.

”I really thought that last week was going to be my last race so I gave it my all and now I just thought it was time to just get out there and have some fun and really show what I could do,” Iacovetti said.

Iacovetti said he was surprised when he found out Friday that he definitely was subbing for Craven.

”I just kind of thought that Jeremy would have his magic healing powers and get better, I guess,” Iacovetti said. “It was so cool being able to be part of the team moving on to the next level. Personally, I didn’t have the best race, but it was so cool that other guys had nice PRs during their races. I’m just glad they were able to make it happen like that.”

The Trojans have been doing all of the little things to make their postseason success happen. Starting the day after competing at Lockport’s Locktoberfest Invitational Oct. 5, they have been practicing on the Katherine Legge Memorial sectional course every Sunday.

Downers North did not compete at KLM this season, and the 3.0-mile course was redesigned over the summer to accommodate lacrosse fields where the previous start and finish used to be.

”We’re ready to go. We’re prepared. I told the guys every week, ‘You don’t see any other teams out here right now doing this,’ ” Smith said. “It’s going to be exciting. The team’s looking good. Jeremy’s healthy so it’s going to be fun. We’re looking forward to it.”

-- by Bill Stone