DGN vs. York, Lyons Township story (all levels)

Senior Jack Diamond was the Downers Grove North boys cross country team's No. 5 finisher in its key West Suburban Conference Silver Division triangular with York and Lyons Township.

Diamond nearly beat York's No. 5 and 6 finishers, but both of them edged him at the finish line in a two-second span.

"It came down to the last 200 meters. I really shouldn't have let it get to the last 200 meters," Diamond said. "I should have taken care of them way earlier in the race, but unfortunately I let them get back into it."

The Trojans came close but they lost to York 26-30 as well as Lyons Township 22-35 Thursday, Sept. 25, at East End Park in Elmhurst. LT also defeated York 22-34.

Senior Ryan Clevenger won the 2.86-mile race in 13:50 and by 17 seconds over the Dukes' Ryan Plowman (14:07).

Sophomore Alec Danner was seventh (14:27), followed by senior Zac Christensen (11th, 14:41) and Carter (14th, 14:44), Diamond (17th, 14:54), senior Bruce Tam Lin (22nd, 15:14) and junior Robby Prescott (29th, 15:39).

Had Diamond finished just ahead of the two York runners, the Dukes still would have won 27-28.

"I thought we competed well. It was solid races by our guys. I feel like we ran faster, and Ryan ran one of the faster times there by a North guy," Downers Grove North coach John Sipple said. "I would have liked to come out of these with at least one W (win) somewhere but we were close in a couple of spots at the freshman level versus LT and York at the varsity level."

The Trojans hope for much better fortunes when they return to East End Park for the Silver Meet Oct. 18. Downers North shared third in the 2013 overall Silver standings with LT but then ended up second at state to Hinsdale Central while LT and Silver champion York were fourth and fifth, respectively.

"It doesn't hide the fact that last year we didn't beat them (York and LT) either at this meet. Things change during the season. That's what we're going to hope for, either them falling or us doing better," Clevenger said.

"This is the third meet in a row where we look at a few things and we can always do better or we're looking at what we could have done better. There are a lot of places where we could have done better. You can always give a little more."

The meet still was a positive in that they were able to compete at the course for the first time since 2012 in preparation for the Silver Meet. Clevenger described the course as basically "like a track" with four laps around essentially flat terrain.

"I'm actually glad we got to race there again, get a feel for it. It's going to make it easier for us to decide when we should move, how we should move up through the packs together. It was a good learning experience for us," Diamond said.

"There are a lot of things that I could have corrected in that race. I could have beaten those two guys if I had gotten another shot so there was a lot of strategy stuff that goes into it. I wish I could have gotten those two points back. I'll be looking for those two guys for sure (at the Silver Meet), or hopefully I won't see them at all."

Clevenger saw basically no one en route to his race victory. It was a sweet victory after two frustrating second-place invite finishes to two of the state's best (McHenry's Jesse Reiser and Yorkville's Jake Hoffert) despite solid races.

At last year’s Silver Meet at Proviso West, Clevenger was second to graduated teammate Zack Smith. On Thursday, Clevenger was unchallenged as he took out the first mile in 4:52 and the second in 4:58. He projected his time for a full 3.0 miles to be around 14:35.

"I didn't know it would be that opened up. From the gun, I kind of knew that (Plowman) wasn't going to challenge me in this one. It felt good, just to be running out front the whole way," Clevenger said.

"(Besides the Silver Meet), it was also getting second twice in a row at those two weekend meets and just trying to get things going again and get another win under my belt. Definitely conference is going to be weird thinking about having (seven) teams there and a bunch of fans at such a small course. It's going to be a good race, I feel, for conference. I think I can run a little faster than that."

York’s top-five finishers were 2-6-10-12-15. LT’s were 3-4-5-8-9.

At the Silver Meet, the Trojans' score at least will get help from Clevenger contending for the individual title, if not win it.

"We knew that York and LT are really good teams. In a dual setting, they're really tough to beat," Diamond said. "We wanted to stick our noses up there and kind of see what we could do with our top seven guys. I feel like we performed well, but I think we were hoping for a little more."

The Trojans also expect to be stronger when they return to East End Park. Many of their current race disappointments can be traced to hard training through their meets.

"When we're racing, we're not supposed to be feeling particularly fresh at this point in the season," Diamond said. "We're still training through most of our meets here, but come postseason time, I think we're going to be feeling really fresh because all of our fitness is in pretty much at this point."

Sophomores

Downers Grove North sophomore Zach Goliszewski knows that plenty has happened since his 2013 cross country season.

"All of these freshmen (this year) are better than me now than I was last year so I like seeing that," Goliszewski said.

On Thursday, Sept. 25, Goliszewski had another strong effort as the No. 3 finisher for the sophomore team against host York and Lyons Township at East End Park Elmhurst. The Trojans lost to LT 18-39 and York 15-43. LT beat York beat LT 19-36.

Tristan Jahn (15:50 for 2.86 miles) and Drew Pyburn (15:59) were ninth and 11th, followed by Goliszewski (13th, 16:15), Don Knapp (15th, 16:17), Collin Leger (24th, 17:01), Spencer Casey (36th, 17:57) and Drew Murphy (42nd, 18:43) and Devin Johnson (45th, 19:12).

"They're big teams but I feel like we did well," Goliszewski said. "Not having (injured) Andrew Marek run with us, that would have been better because he's our No. 4-5 guy, but (Leger and Knapp) stepped up, too. We can always improve, though."

Goliszewski saw his improvement during his freshman track season. He mostly competed at 1,600 and 800 meters with a couple of 3,200 runs.

At the First to the Finish Invite Sept. 13 at Peoria's Detweiller Park, Goliszewski ran a personal-record 17:10.1 for 3.0 miles. He'd like to at least be in the 16:50s by the end of the season.

"My track season was my breakthrough. I really improved in the mile and then that helped me this year, just knowing that I can do it," Goliszewski said. "I really like the workouts. They're hard, but I just have to push through it and know what I should be getting during the workouts and who I should be running with or right next to."


Freshman

Ryan Birkmeier's freshman season with the Downers Grove North boys cross country team has continued competing through a knee injury and shin splints.

"The races themselves aren't going that well because I've been injured, but I think I'm going to be better by next year," Birkmeier said.

In the meantime, Birkmeier is giving his best effort. On Thursday, Sept. 25, he ran 11:01 for 13th overall as the Trojans nearly beat Lyons Township in a 25-31 loss and also fell to host York 25-31. LT also beat York 17-46.

Nick Chudzik (10:40 for 1.95 miles) and Jacob Ridderhoff (10:45) were eighth and ninth, followed by Birkmeier (11:01), Reilly Britt (16th, 11:10), Brendan Lockerby (23rd, 11:31), Sam McCool (29th, 11:38) and Tyler Mertes (31st, 11:39).

"We didn't win but I think we did pretty well," Birkmeier said. "It was a pretty good course. I didn't really slow down that much. I kept a pretty good pace."

Birkmeier ran cross country for Westview Hills Middle School and posted an 11:38 for 2.0 miles. His goal this season is to beat 17:40 for 3.0 miles.
He received a lift from Chudzik and Ridderhoff.

"I was trying to (catch them). I saw Jacob ahead of me," Birkmeier said.

-- by Bill Stone