DGN at Silver Meet (JV, Frosh, Soph)

Junior varsity race

Downers Grove North senior Jeremy Craven was determined to run well in the junior varsity race at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet Saturday, Oct. 19 – even with the limitations placed upon him.

In his first race since the Aug. 29 season opener because of a stress fracture, Craven was forced to hold back for the first part of the race by coach John Sipple.

By the end, Craven was in control of the race and pulled out first place in 16:20.4 over the 3.07 miles at Proviso West.

“This is the greatest day of the year so far for me,” Craven said. “This is awesome. It’s been rough because the only thing I really do with the team is the core workouts. I’m just on the elliptical (machine) in the weight room most of practice.

“Now I know going into (the postseason) that I can compete and I can be one of the guys on the team that can score and help us out.”

Craven and senior Anthony Iacovetti (15th, 16:49.8) earned all-conference honors by placing among the 16.

Junior Bruce Tamlin was 19th (16:56.0), 4.1 seconds from 16th, while other top finishers were seniors Sam Ronan (28th, 17:22.3), Jack Michka (29th, 17:23.9), juniors Andrew Adams (33rd, 17:29.8) and Jack McGinnis (34th, 17:31.1), senior Jack Ronan (41st, 17:43.0), junior Dillon Murphy (69th, 18:23.3) and senior David Lyda (85th, 18:48.5).

Downers North finished fourth (82 points) behind York (43), Lyons Township (46) and Hinsdale Central (74).
There are no final Silver standings on the JV boys level.

In the battle for the final all-conference spots, Iacovetti was 2.1 seconds ahead of the 16th-place finisher and 3.5 seconds ahead of 17th.

“I could hear guys yelling at me and others yelling at the guy next to me 16th (place) or something like that. I thought, ‘Man, I’ve really got a chance. They’ve been telling me the truth all along. I’m this good,’ ” Iacovetti said. “Coming around the baseball diamond (into the homestretch), I said I wasn’t going to settle for anything less. That’s the promise I made to myself.”

The day after the Trojans’ first race, Craven began feeling discomfort in his left foot and had stopped running by Labor Day. He was diagnosed with a stress fracture in the middle metatarsal of his left foot.

Craven said he had hardly run on the ground since then prior to Saturday. He gained fitness mostly through 2 1/2 to 3 hours daily on the elliptical machine and running occasionally on an anti-gravity treadmill.

For his return, Craven raced in flats instead of spikes and was under strict orders from Sipple to run at a controlled pace.

“I didn’t want to see him running hard. If he went too fast at the mile, I said I would literally spear him, tackle him and take him from the race,” Sipple said. “I wanted to see very under control, relaxed, good form. He came through the first mile and kind of looked. I see him see me. I look up and he kind of shrugs and smiles.”

Craven took the first mile in a casual 5:11 for him, yet he was in fifth and just two seconds from first.

“I honestly had no idea how today was going to go,” Craven said. “After about the mile marker, when I came around in like 5:10, I knew I could win it from there because the other guys were looking tired and I was feeling great.”

By the second mile, it was a two-man race with Craven and Hinsdale Central junior Josh Feldman. Craven held a one-second advantage at two miles in 10:36 with at least a seven-second lead on the rest of the field.

Feldman finished a close second (16:22.6) but never seriously threatened Craven the rest of the way. York senior Connor York was third in 16:33.4.

“When I saw (Craven) at the mile and a half, the guys were starting to slow down and he was just sitting with them, taking it easy. I told him if he was feeling good to just run a little bit but don’t go all out,” Sipple said.

“Basically he went out and maintained. That was super under control, super easy. He’s been training like a mad man on the elliptical and everything else, like 30 hours a week. His training log is out of control. He goes to the health club every morning and does elliptical or an aqua jog and a couple of times on the Ultra G treadmill. After that (performance), I’m not concerned about his fitness at all. He’s going to plug right in.”

Tamlin and Iacovetti were in the all-conference hunt throughout the race.

In doing just that, Iacovetti made huge strides from his 2012 Silver race, in which he also ran on the JV level and was 44th. This is Tamlin’s first season in either cross country or track.

“Last night was very motivational at the (team) banquet. I realized today was my last day and if I was going to do better, it had better be today,” Iacovetti said.

At the mile, Tamlin (5:12) was 11th and Iacovetti (5:14) 16th behind three York runners and ahead of five consecutive LT runners.

By two miles, Tamlin was still 11th (10:51) with an LT trio right behind and Iacovetti was battling for 16th in 10:56.

“I became a racer (this season). Last year I was getting my nose up there,” Iacovetti said. “Two years ago, I told myself that I was going to go all in, and that’s what I did. Last year, I started getting better and this year it’s just been unreal for me, being able to experience this team and everything and lead together.”

“A huge improvement from last season, one of those guys that made a lot of strides,” Sipple said. “I’m happy he was able to finish off the season pretty solidly like that. The week before he was not happy with his race (17:11.0 for 3.1 miles at the West Aurora Stampede Oct. 12), and more his effort. I think he was super thrilled with the fact that he got all he could out of himself.”

Freshman race

Downers Grove North freshman Alex Danner entered the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet hoping for a top-five finish in the freshman race.

Although he achieved his goal with plenty of room to spare, he thought he could do even better.

Danner placed fourth (17:15.6 for 3.07 miles) and was only five seconds from second place to easily earn all-conference honors for a top-16 finish.

After two miles, Danner was in fifth, just behind a pack of three York runners in 11:14.

”In my opinion, I could have kicked a bit harder in the end and I might have caught those two guys to get second, but overall they were really good competitors and just good people to run with,” Danner said. “They kept me going. That was my goal, just to catch them, and I caught one of those guys in the group, but those two guys just blasted.”

Tristan Jahn was 19th (18:12.0), 8.8 seconds from 16th, followed by Drew Pyburn (30th, 19:03.7), Collin Leger (33rd, 19:06.6), Don Knapp (50th, 19:43.9), Zach Goliszewski (62nd, 20:09.1), Jordan McDaniel (74th, 20:38.3), Devin Johnson (75th, 20:39.8), Spencer Casey (104th, 22:26.6) and Drew Murphy (107th, 22:41.0).

The Trojans were fifth (112 points), four points behind Hinsdale Central and three ahead of Glenbard West. They also had a 2-4 dual record and finished fifth in the final overall standings.

Oak Park-River Forest’s Irwin Loud won the Silver Meet (16:52.4) by 18.2 seconds over York’s Liam Hill (17:10.6) with Lyons Township’s Vincent Zona (17:13.9) third.

”It was really nice to see (Danner) finish as well as he did, but he could have gotten second, potentially first, but (Loud) is really good,” Downers North coach John Sipple said. “I thought (Danner) still tends to go out a little conservative. If he gets his nose up a little more in the beginning, he’ll still have it in the end and can trust his fitness level a little more. He’s still figuring out a lot.”

Danner enjoyed a great freshman season, which culminated in his running the varsity race in the final dual Oct. 10 against Hinsdale Central at Proviso West and joining a varsity lineup minus most regulars at the West Aurora Stampede Oct. 12.

In the season-opening dual at OPRF Sept. 19, Danner was second to the Huskies’ Irwin Loud by 25 seconds.

On Saturday, Loud ran the first mile in 5:10 and led Zona by 18 seconds at two miles (10:48 to 11:06).

”He’s a tremendous runner. I knew he was going to get first,” Danner said of Loud. “I was with him in the beginning a bit (in the dual meet) and then he did his thing and he went really far ahead.”

In the triangular at Proviso West, Danner ran 17:34, 18 seconds slower than his time Saturday.

Jahn, the Trojans’ top finisher in the combined freshman-sophomore race, ran 18:27, 15 seconds shy of what he ran Saturday. Jahn said he tried to take advantage of his stride during parts of the course with long straightaways.

”It was definitely better than last race here,” Jahn said. “I was ahead of a couple of people that passed me in the end so that’s just a note to me that I still need to work on my finishing a little bit. Besides that, I think that I gave it all that I could give.”

Both runners enjoyed significant progress after being parts of small teams in eighth graders. Danner and Leger were the only eighth graders on their team last season at St. Joan of Arc. Jahn’s previous running experience was on his small track team for The Avery Coonley School.

”This is such a great season so far. I improved so much and I just can’t wait,” Danner said. “I want to run all four years in high school so I just can’t wait to see what I can do next year.”

”I’d say it’s a tremendous experience for me,” Jahn said. “Going into the season, I’d say I was just another runner wannabe, but I’ve improved several minutes from the 3.0-mile time over the season. That’s probably my biggest accomplishment this season.”

Sophomore race

Downers Grove North had just four finishers in the sophomore race – Nick Torres (37th, 18:32.8), Rocco Manzo (44th, 18:51.9), Ryan Cantlin (45th, 18:52.5) and Brad Wilcoxen (50th, 19:09.5).

The Trojans only have five sophomores in the program and Robby Prescott did not compete. They tied for sixth in the final overall Silver standings with Proviso West, which finished sixth Saturday (189 points).

-- by Bill Stone