DGN at Hinsdale Central Sectional

With senior Jeremy Craven at the starting line of the Class 3A Hinsdale Central Sectional Saturday, Nov. 2, the Downers Grove North boys cross country team’s envisioned lineup was intact for the first time since the Aug. 29 season opener.

By early September, Craven was on the mend with a stress fracture in a metatarsal in his left foot.

”I was doing my training, just how I needed to,” Craven said. “I was icing and stuff initially, just for the pain and resting a lot. Since I was on the elliptical (machine). I didn’t really need to do anything special to push through it, just wait until it healed, kept my training up.”

The Trojans delivered one of their best races of the season by finishing second to highly-rated Hinsdale Central at Katherine Legge Memorial Park. They’re hoping for an even better performance when they compete at the 3A state meet Saturday, Nov. 9, for the first time as a team since 2010 in Will Kupisch’s final year as head coach.

Smith and Clevenger finished first and second for the third straight time in the postseason. Smith won in 14:36.66 for 2.95 miles with Clevenger right behind in 14:37.16. Plainfield South senior Dan Lathrop was third in 14:38.80.

Seniors Marc Mathy (21st, 15:10.23), Craven (25th, 15:12.94) and Jared Spilky (29th, 15:16.18) also placed among the top 30, followed by juniors Zac Christensen (48th, 15:45.38) and Jack Diamond (84th, 16:24.53).

While Hinsdale Central (52 points) put all seven runners in the top 25, the Trojans (78) finished ahead of third-place Lyons Township (116) for the third straight week, as well as fellow qualifiers Sandburg (120) and Neuqua Valley (130).

In the final weekly state polls by three sites, Downers North was rated behind LT in two of them and Sandburg and Neuqua Valley in all three.

”For me, personally, I was kind of waiting for that race all year, a race where we were all going to get to run together, because I knew how good we could be,” Smith said.

“It kind of upset me a little bit just to see that nobody knew how good we were and nobody really knew what kind of potential we had just because of all of the injuries we dealt with. It was nice to be able to go out there and show some people we’re much better than they give us credit for and I think we’ll show them again at state.”

The state meet is at 2 p.m., the last of the six state races, preceded by the 3A girls race at 1 p.m., which includes the Downers North girls team. The 3A awards for both races are at 3 p.m.

The top three teams earn trophies, something the Trojans are in contention to do for only the third time after taking third in 2000 and 1949. The 2010 team was 18th (421 points).

Top-25 individual finishers earn all-state honors. Smith, an all-state eighth at state last year in 14:33, will be making his fourth state appearance, but this will be the first for the rest of the team. Smith has competed as an individual qualifier the past two seasons with no teammates.  

The 2012 Trojans were 11th at the Marist Sectional (264 points), 104 points behind fifth-place Hinsdale Central. Smith, Mathy, Craven and Clevenger were part of the lineup, as well as graduated James Diamond, Jack’s brother.

Spilky, injured for last year’s sectional, missed most of this regular season recovering from a hamstring injury.

”The past couple of years we’ve always said, ‘Next year, next year,’ and this year we couldn’t really say that anymore because I’m a senior so I’m really glad we were able (to qualify),” Spilky said.

”I think we didn’t realize how good we can actually be because we haven’t really run our full lineup basically all year. I think we have a lot of untapped potential. I think we can definitely get a trophy. You never know what can happen. Any team can falter at any time. The state title is wide open in my opinion.”

The Trojans still have a feel for the state atmosphere and Detweiller. Most have watched Smith compete there before, and the team also competes annually in September at Detweiller. This season they were part of the First to the Finish Invite Sept. 14.

”Almost the whole team went last year (to watch Smith at state),” Craven said. “We knew (Smith) was good. When he finished that well, we knew next year could be a great year for us and it just came together. We’re not going in there just to run. We’re going in looking to win.” 

The predictions for the state team title became more clouded on Saturday. Defending state champion and undefeated York, ranked No. 1 by the three weekly state polls since its Sept. 19 opener, was beaten at the Lake Park Sectional by top-10 rated New Trier 79-95.

“With the way we raced, we could have beaten any team in the state besides Hinsdale (Saturday) with York’s poor performance because they’re obviously the class of the state,” Smith said.

Hinsdale Central has been ranked No. 2 most of the season and even No. 1 once after dominating the First to the Finish Invite, where the Trojans were third just behind Buffalo Grove.

Other projected team contenders include Hersey, ranked No. 3 in all final three polls, O’Fallon, second at state last year, and Wheaton Warrenville South.

”I think we have the best 1-2 out of anybody. Nobody can match us with that,” Downers North coach John Sipple said. “(Our key is) can our 3-4-5-6 pack it in enough, and get in quickly enough to beat out some of the other teams? At the state meet, having those two guys ways up front is such a huge advantage, especially this year. Not a lot of (highly-rated) teams have a frontrunner. A lot of teams have a nice pack. We can beat a lot of those teams because we have two frontrunners.”

In Downers Grove/Downers Grove North High School history, Smith is hoping to become the sixth runner to earn all-state honors more than once. Clevenger would become the 17th all-state individual all-time.

Smith and Clevenger also hope to challenge the program’s highest individual finish of third by Dave Larson in 1956. Larson (1957), Tony Laskowski (1987) and Eduardo Borjon (2000) each finished sixth.

”Zack and Ryan are right there (to contend),” Sipple said. “They’re super fit. That’s another thing (in our favor). We haven’t laid back at all either (with their training) so it’ll be interesting to see when we do taper back a little what they’ll do when they’re feeling pretty fresh.”

Downers North never has had two top-10 state finishers in the same race. The 1-2 finish by Smith and Clevenger at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet Oct. 19 at Proviso West was believed to be the first time Downers North has ever done that at a conference meet.

This 1-2 victory was the sweetest for Clevenger, or at least the most relieving.

”With (the MileSplit IL website), I had made a promise that we were going to get 1-2 so it was good that I held that up,” Clevenger said.

In the 2012 state race, Smith was the third highest finishing non-senior behind O’Fallon senior Patrick Perrier (3rd) and McHenry junior Jesse Reiser (7th), two runners the Trojans haven’t faced this season.

Buffalo Grove senior Steven Salvano was ninth at state. The only other two non-senior all-staters were York senior Kyle Mattes (23rd) and Plainfield East junior Joseph Suarez (19th), who advanced individually out of the Hinsdale Central Sectional (23rd, 15:10.50). 

York senior Alex Bashqawi (27th), Lathrop, Wheaton Warrenville South senior Nolan McKenna (30th), Neuqua Valley senior Nick Bushelle (31st) and Hinsdale Central senior Billy Magnesen (32nd) also finished among the state’s top 35. Magnesen (14:43.14) and Bushelle (14:48.38) were third and fourth at the sectional.

There’s also York senior Nathan Mroz, injured last season, and Conant junior Zach Dale, who beat Smith by six seconds in the No. 1 flight at the Minooka Invite Sept. 21. The weekend before, Magnesen beat Clevenger and Smith in their first meeting in Peoria but hasn’t in the four meetings since.

”I’m going to say I think both of us have a shot at winning the whole thing outright. I know that’s my goal,” Smith said.

”I going down there with that mindset that I can run with anyone there and I want to get that one point for the team. Obviously, I know I’m not the favorite going in with (Perrier) being down there, but I’m going down there with the mindset that I can get it done.”

”I think for me to have success, I have to go down there with that mindset, too,” Clevenger said. “If I don’t get that, for sure I won’t be disappointed, but I think I can definitely get top five, if not top 10. But I’ve got to think that I can win it. I know that I can run with everyone there pretty easily and then I can execute from there and hopefully stay as close to Zack as possible.”

At the mile, Clevenger and Smith were among the top four group in 4:51/4:52 with Lathrop and Magnesen. Smith and Clevenger crossed the two-mile mark in 9:58/9:59.

The new 3.0-mile KLM course unveiled in September had to be shortened because of flooding in one corner of the park caused by recent rain.

“(Finishing 1-2) felt good, just it being a good field. The biggest thing was doing it at the sectional meet, where our team needed it (for our score),” Smith said.

Craven also is excited to finally contribute to the team. He made his race debut at the Silver Meet, but at the junior varsity level, which has no team champion. Running a controlled race under Sipple’s orders most of the 3.04 miles, Craven still won the race by 2.2 seconds over Hinsdale Central’s No. 9 runner, Josh Feldman.

Craven probably could have competed at the LT Regional Oct. 26, but Sipple opted to keep him out just to play it safe. 

”I was getting a little tired of (training alone) every day, but especially when I ran at Proviso and it just felt effortless, I knew I’d be able to run the rest of the season well,” Craven said. “I knew what I was doing was working. (My foot) was a little worse after conference, but it was still manageable.”

Craven raced like a talented and enthusiastic newcomer to the lineup Saturday and received quite a challenge from the hilly KLM terrain. Craven was in 17th at the mile in 4:58 with Mathy and Spilky 30th and 32nd in 5:01/5:02. Still batting among the top 15 near the halfway point, Craven’s final .95 was sixth slowest on the team, yet he still was just 3.14 seconds from the top 20.

”It was awesome (to race varsity again),” Craven said. “The first two miles I was still feeling pretty in control. The last mile was a little bit of a shock after not running. I got passed by a few guys. I’ll be a little more prepared for Peoria.”

Craven still finished significantly better than when he was 79th at the 2012 sectional as the Trojans’ No. 5 runner. While Clevenger, 91st at sectionals last year, is among the state’s most improved runners, Mathy improved his position as the Trojans’ No. 3 finisher from last year, when he was 58th.

“(Saturday) gave us a new sense of what could be accomplished. We definitely felt more cohesive as a unit. That really helps when you have two extra guys who normally aren’t there,” Mathy said.

”This is the first time that we’ve really felt that we have a good mix going into a postseason race. We have everybody relatively healthy and ready to go. People have proven themselves, and we’re feeling pretty confident going into it.”

Spilky had been injured midway through this season but returned for an Oct. 3 dual meet and has been back for the entire postseason. A sectional competitor as a sophomore, Spilky ran at regionals last year but had to miss sectionals.

”I had a really bad injury the week of sectionals. I woke up and my knee was swollen so I was like limping around school,” Spilky said.

How the pack of seniors performs behind Smith and Clevenger probably will be an important determining factor in how the Trojans fare as a team.

”We finished so close to each other (Saturday), but I didn’t hear or see any of them during the race. It was kind of aggressive in the beginning, but it’s going to be like that at the state meet,” Craven said.

”We need to get together before 2 1/2 miles. We need to be together around the 800 and then we’ll be able to move up and work together because I think we can definitely run faster if we do that.”

”We know we can compete for a trophy, if not the state title,” Smith added. “I think we have five guys that can run sub-15:00 and I think Ryan and I can go sub-14:20 at least. If you look at results from past years, that’s got state title or trophy written all over it.”

-- by Bill Stone

%MCEPASTEBIN%