DGN at Silver Meet roundup

Downers Grove North senior Ryan Clevenger repeated recent varsity boys cross country history at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet Saturday, Oct. 18.

His reward was the individual title.

Clevenger covered the sloppy 3.04 miles in 15:36.92 to comfortably win the title at Proviso West by 14.33 seconds over York freshman Charlie Kern.

Sophomore Alec Danner also earned top-16, all-conference medalist honors by taking 14th (16:13.57), followed by seniors Zac Christensen (24th, 16:41.57), Joe Carter (25th, 16:43.29) and Jack Diamond (37th, 17:15.56) and junior Robby Prescott (39th, 17:22.47).

The Trojans (101 points) finished fifth and fifth in the final overall standings, a combination of results from Saturday and the Silver duals. The race was moved to Proviso West, site of the 2013 Silver Meet, when there was too much water on the course at Elmhurst’s East End Park. 

Clevenger became the fourth consecutive runner to win the Silver title after finishing second in the race the previous year as a junior. In 2013, Clevenger took second (15:13.3) to graduated teammate Zack Smith (15:04.5).

Danner earned all-conference honors after being fourth in last year’s freshman race. Besides Kern, Danner was the second-highest finishing sophomore in the race to Hinsdale Central’s Blake Evertsen (3rd, 15:52.02), who was 29th at last year’s state meet.

Defending Class 3A state champion and top-rated Hinsdale Central (43 points) secured an outright overall title – its first conference championship since 1955.

Lyons Township (65), Glenbard West (67) and York (70) finished within five points of each other, followed by the Trojans, Oak Park-River Forest (163) and Proviso West (220).

Sophomores

Tristan Jahn and Drew Pyburn not only earned top-16 ribbons but also finished among the top 10 for the Downers Grove North sophomore team at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet.

Jahn (17:26.20 for 3.04 miles) and Pyburn (17:19.80) were eighth and 10th. Zach Goliszewski (18:07.59) and Don Knapp (18:07.74) were 23rd and 24th, followed by Collin Leger (37th, 18:49.33), Andrew Marek (47th, 19:13.54), Devin Johnson (56th, 19:30.52), Spencer Casey (62nd, 19:51.43) and Drew Murphy (91st, 21:33.22).

The Trojans (98 points) finished fifth and fifth in the final overall standings. Hinsdale Central (57) edged Oak Park-River Forest (61) and York (62) for the meet title, followed by Lyons Township (69), the Trojans and Glenbard West (155).

Jahn and Pyburn were 19th and 30th, respectively, at last year’s freshman conference race.  

Freshmen

Downers Grove North’s Jacob Ridderhoff and Nick Chudzik finished among the top five and Ryan Birkmeier was among the top 10 in the freshman race at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet.

Ridderhoff (17:38.69 for 3.04 miles) and Chudzik (17:42.59) were third and fifth, and Birkmeier (17:55.89) was seventh. They earned top-16 ribbons along with Sam McCool (18:30.32), who pulled out the final spot by 1.40 seconds.

The Trojans’ other top-10 finishers were Reilly Britt (21st, 18:40.71), Brendan Lockerby (25th, 18:46.92), Tyler Mertes (34th, 19:17.90), Max Krause (44th, 19:44.68), Phil Ruggiero (45th, 19:45.17) and Ryan Chan (46th, 19:50.99).

Downers North (52 points) was a strong second to outright champion York (24) and took second in the final overall standings after a 4-2 dual record. Hinsdale Central (80), Lyons Township (100), Glenbard West (131) and Oak Park-River Forest (152) were third through sixth.

Open race

Senior Bruce Tam Lin and the Downers Grove North open team faced the sloppiest conditions at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet as the last of the eight races.

Tam Lin not only survived but was fifth (17:02.74 for 3.04 miles) to earn a top-16 ribbon.

The Trojans’ other top-10 finishers were junior Bradley Wilcoxen (29th, 17:51.32), senior Jack McGinnis (44th, 18:18.82), juniors Ryan Cantlin (51st, 18:30.53) and Rocco Manzo (64th, 18:48.89), senior Dillon Murphy (69th, 18:56.64), juniors Nick Torres (71st, 18:57.55) and Trevor Smith (84th, 19:35.98) and seniors Pat Drabik (99th, 20:16.82) and Max Denk (108th, 20:47.66).

Downers North (137 points) was fifth. Lyons Township edged York 46-50, followed by Hinsdale Central (59), Glenbard West (83), the Trojans and Oak Park-River Forest (167). The conference title was decided only by Saturday’s results.

Tam Lin improved upon finishing 19th at last year’s Silver open race behind eight seniors.
 
-- by Bill Stone