EIU Showdown story (all levels)

Senior Ryan Clevenger is prepared to be the Downers Grove North boys cross country team's frontrunner.

For the season opener Wednesday, Aug. 27, he simply had to wait a while to do so.

The Trojans ran a tempo pace for the first two miles, but Clevenger still comfortably finished in first place and the Trojans again dominated the EIU Showdown at Greene Valley Forest Preserve.

The Trojans put their five finishers among the top 11 to win the five-team invite with just 28 points. Jacobs (55 points) was second, followed by Plainfield North (66), Shepard (101) and Burlington Central (105).

Clevenger covered the 3.0 miles in 15:30. Danner (15:40), who pulled out second place by one second, senior Joe Carter (6th, 15:55) both ran lifetime bests. Seniors Zac Christensen (16:04) and Jack Diamond (16:16) were eighth and 10th. Senior Bruce Tamlin was 14th (16:40), and junior Bradley Wilcoxen and senior Dillon Murphy were 23rd and 24th in 17:15.

Downers North won last year's Showdown after also collectively going at target paces until the final mile.

"Basically exactly the same plan (today), just to go out for the first two miles, not easy but go with the group, and then right there to make the move and drop some guys," Clevenger said.

"We executed really well, especially with Alec grabbing second place. We won the meet so I'll take it. If we win the meet by one point or 25, I'll take the win because right now it's just looking to get some Ws early in the season."

Three runners return from the seven-man group that placed a program-best second at state behind Hinsdale Central.

Clevenger was an all-state seventh, the second highest finishing non-senior. Christensen and Diamond were the team's No. 6 and 7 state finishers in 114th and 184th place, respectively.

Wednesday’s victory especially bodes well for the Trojans considering that Danner and Carter were among the five state alternates.

"We wanted a real controlled effort today. That's what we got," Downers North coach John Sipple said. "We wanted to see if they could let it rip for the last mile. It went well. Some guys had some nice (personal records), even off of that (controlled pace). It's encouraging to see."

Danner and Carter both posted PRs. Danner spent most of last season on the frosh-soph level but made significant strides as he learned racing strategy. He continued the momentum during the track season.

"The plan was to get 15:00, right in there, upper 15:00s. Now to know that I have the time, I have the capability to go even faster as this was a tempo," Danner said.

"Last year, I was thrilled that we got second place, but being a freshman, I didn't really understand the full extent of what it was. But this year, I'm just really a part of the team. I get to race at state, if we qualify. I've just been really PRing, just getting ready for the season."

For Carter, coming off an injury entering last season, it was his fastest performance since sophomore year.

"We had five guys under 16:20 for a tempo so that's really good, and I dropped a minute from last year's time so that's really encouraging for me to work harder, try to reach my full potential," Carter said.

"We want to carry on the tradition of Downers Grove North cross country. With me being the first (state) alternate last year, it was pretty hard not to be running that day. It motivated me to push myself to be top 7, to be right up there, help our team to try and do it again this year."

At last year's Showdown, it was Clevenger who finished second to teammate Zack Smith, who was third at state. This year, Clevenger probably will be at the front of races without a teammate.

"I kind of felt more that this is my job and my race to win more than last year, where it was just kind of like hanging onto Zack," Clevenger said.

"It wasn't more of the pressure but more of the leadership. It's more doing the work myself and I think that's going to be my hardest part this year, just doing the work myself and being able to move by myself and stay within myself. That's going to be a tough thing to do but I think once I learn to do it, I think I'm unstoppable."

Clevenger still managed to make a statement Wednesday. While Smith won the 2013 invite in 15:53, Clevenger beat his time from last year by 25 seconds after covering the final mile in 5:10.

"I just completely took off," Clevenger said. "I just separated from the guys just to make sure I had a healthy enough lead where I could kind of more or less relax going into the finish. Since I did the work back there, I was going well."

Frosh-soph boys

For Downers Grove North freshman Nick Chudzik, the hardest part of his high school boys cross country debut came before the race.

"I was so nervous. I knew that I could do well. I just didn't know how well. I just was just really excited and nervous at the same time," Chudzik said.

"(The sophomores) would just tell me to calm down. They knew that I was a good runner and I was going to do really well. I'm just really proud to be their teammates."

Chudzik took care of the racing part. He led a strong front pack with sophomores Andrew Marek and Drew Pyburn to help the Trojans finish second in the frosh-soph race at the annual EIU Showdown at Greene Valley Forest Preserve.

Chudzik (3rd, 17:21 for 3.0 miles), Marek (6th, 17:39) and Pyburn (7th, 17:40) finished among the top seven, and sophomore Zach Goliszewski was 12th (17:54). Freshman Jacob Ridderhoff (17th, 18:32), sophomore Donny Knapp (19th, 18:37) and freshmen Ryan Birkmeier (21st, 18:43), Jack Langan (24th, 19:03) and Tyler Mertes (25th, 19:06) also finished among the top 25.

The Trojans scored 43 points. Plainfield North (21 points) put its top five among the top nine to prevail. Shepard (66) was third, followed by Jacobs (114) and Burlington Central (154).

Sophomore Tristan Jahn sat out the race to rest an injury. Sophomore Alec Danner finished second in the varsity race.

"How about it? A freshman third (overall), that's pretty cool," Downers North coach John Sipple said. "With Tristan in there, all of a sudden we're looking pretty tough. It's definitely encouraging because we have a good mix of freshmen and sophomores up at the top."

Chudzik only was beaten by Plainfield North freshman Ben Otstott (16:35), who would have finished 14th in the varsity race, and sophomore James Suchy (17:14). Chudzik pulled out third with eight seconds to spare.

"I was very surprised. I just wanted to place in the top 10 of the whole race," Chudzik said. "I had no idea how I was going to do and after the 2-mile (mark), I was like, 'OK. I might be able to do something good here and I just kept pushing.' "

The invite also had special meaning for Marek and Pyburn. Both had rough 2013 cross country seasons but were anxious to see what they could do after solid track seasons and summer training.
Marek competed at the invite last year but then missed the rest of the season with a stress fracture.

"I trusted my summer training. I put a lot of miles in and I thought I was ready to go," Marek said. "I guess I've gained a lot of experience, how to race. I guess this is the first time I trusted my fitness whereas last year I didn't feel like I was that fit. This has really taught me we have a pretty close pack up here and it really helps during the race."

Pyburn was injured most of his freshman cross country season and never competed until the conference meet in mid-October. Wednesday's time was a personal record by two minutes.

"It was just kind of a nervous kind of feeling but a good kind of nervous. I just kept telling myself, 'Sipple said to believe in your training and today,' " Pyburn said.

"(I'm pleased) just to know that I can do what I just did and I can get better. We have a pack to run with along with these two guys and we can just keep going as a team together so I hope to just get better."

Pyburn played a key role in pushing the pace for the Trojans in the early part of the race. He was second just after the first mile and still in third at two miles.

"I like Drew Pyburn's aggressiveness, out there leading early, because that's what you've got to do, put yourself out there a little bit. Drew will come around real nicely. He's still got some work to do," Sipple said.

"It's fun to have these (frosh-soph) guys get their feet we and get out there, starting to figure out what it's about. I love racing, just letting those guys let it rip."

Chudzik ran in seventh and eighth grade for Jefferson Junior High in Woodridge and competed for his school at the 2013 Illinois Elementary School Association state meet in Normal (118th, 11:14 for 2.0 miles) as the No. 5 finisher for the eighth-place Wolverines. He also thinks his running has benefitted from playing hockey.

"Seventh grade I just wanted to become good and get a good start and eighth grade I made state, but this is totally improved a lot. I'm more proud of this (race)," Chudzik said.

"Personally what I took from this is just never stop trying and you've just got to go as hard as you can and whatever happens, happens. And team wise, once you have a pack, there's no stopping you. Anything can happen."

--by Bill Stone