DGN at Silver Meet story (varsity)

Downers Grove North senior Ryan Clevenger entered the 2013 West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet with high but still unknown expectations.

“Last year, I wasn’t really sure (where I’d finish). I think I was going for top five so I was really excited about the second place,” Clevenger said.

On Saturday, Oct. 18, Clevenger knew he wanted to repeat recent varsity boys cross country history at the Silver Meet at Proviso West.

After finishing second last year to graduated teammate Zack Smith, Clevenger was rewarded with 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.

“This year, I just kind of had to take care of business,” Clevenger said. “Last year I realized I could win it this year. I realized I would be a top returner so I could win it. That’s how I went into this race.”

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. However, there also was mud and some standing water throughout the Hillside course as well, greatly affecting overall times. 

“Ultimately we kind of knew they were going to let (Clevenger) go. There was not anyone there who was really going to challenge Ryan for that (title),” Downers North coach John Sipple said.

“We know we didn’t run very well (as a team). We definitely are training pretty hard through this meet and weren’t feeling good by any means.”

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’s second-place 15:13.3 only was beaten by Smith’s 15:04.5.

Smith had finished a close second in 2012 to York’s Scott Milling, who was runner-up in 2011 to Oak Park-River Forest’s Malachy Schrobilgen.

“I wanted to really get the conference title, especially getting second last year, and leave the streak of guys who get second and go back the next year and get first,” Clevenger said. “To get the individual cross country conference title is a big one. No matter how good you are, it’s always something nice, especially in this conference, to say you’re the best individual here.”

Clevenger learned plenty of Smith and his ability to handle high expectations in 2013 well beyond the Silver title. Smith went on to finish third at the Class 3A state meet in a program-record state time of 14:23 at Peoria’s Detweiller Park to help the Trojans finish a program-best second as a team to first-time champion Hinsdale Central. Clevenger took seventh in 14:38 as the third-highest non-senior finisher.

“(Smith) was always good with handling pressure. He was able to kind of block it out and just go out and race,” Clevenger said. “I’ve always tried to take that from him last year, just race your own race and not really be worried about the stats and who’s been ranked first, who’s been ranked second. I just tried to focus on myself and my fitness and what I’ve done to get where I am today. That’s what I’ve learned from him.”

Clevenger took out the first mile in 4:56 for a two-second lead and then put the race during the second mile. His 10:07 had opened a 13-second lead on a four-runner pack with three Hinsdale Central runners.

One tradition did change Saturday. Not a junior, but a freshman, York’s Charlie Kern (15:51.25) took second with Hinsdale Central sophomore Blake Evertsen (15:52.02) and junior Chris Brenk (15:53.79) third and fourth.

“It was a good, solid win, especially with the great competition here,” Clevenger said. “There wasn’t really any pressure going into it for me. I just tried to stay calm and kind of just relaxed through the warmup and everything, not really get too worked up about the fact that I’m running the conference meet and I’m the favorite. There are going to be bigger meets where I’m going to have to deal with the pressure and this one I dealt with so that was good.”

Conversely, Danner felt some pressure about his first varsity conference race.

Last year, Danner earned all-conference honors after being fourth in the freshman race. Besides Kern, Danner was the second-highest finishing sophomore Saturday to Evertsen, who was 29th at last year’s state meet.

“That’s pretty remarkable that I was able to do (all-conference) as a sophomore,” Danner said. “I know last year I got all-conference and then this year I was able to do it again so I was pretty pumped about that. I have high hopes for regionals and so on. I’ve just got to keep racing, just keep moving.

“I was pretty intimidated, to be honest, running in this race, knowing that this is the best conference in Illinois and that I was in the mix right there to get all-conference, top 16. I was just trying to keep my mind off of that, think, ‘All right. It’s just like any other race basically.’ I just managed to get up there and stay kind of in the pack right there.”

One area in which Danner has made huge strides from last year is his ability to get out with the frontunners rather than rely on making huge moves throughout the race.

On Saturday, Danner was seventh at one mile (5:00) and 12th at two miles (12:28).

“I think (14th is) pretty respectable. I remember when I started out, I was like 10th in the mix there and then some guys passed me, but I was kind of just hanging on and wanting to keep my pace, keep moving,” Danner said. “It’s all-conference so I’m pretty pumped about that. It was just a tough race overall. The muddy patches kind of interrupt your pace, your flow. I have not felt at my best today but I still felt like I got a good race in.”

No. 1-rated and undefeated 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).

LT has been ranked among the top four in 3A. York and Glenbard West have joined the Trojans among the top 20, generally slightly higher rated.

“We (also) looked poor because of some of those other teams,” Sipple said of the overall results. “Glenbard West did really well. I would say York ran solidly. LT ran OK. Hinsdale ran fairly well. It just made us look even worse than how we really ran.”

The Trojans hope to change their fortunes in the postseason and return to state as a team for the second year in a row and third time in the past five seasons.

They will compete at the Hinsdale Central Regional at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, at Katherine Legge Memorial Park, site of the 2013 sectional. Other teams in the nine-team regional field are Hinsdale Central, LT, Downers Grove South, Argo, Curie, Morton, Proviso East and Proviso West along with individuals from Kelly.

Downers North only needs a top-six finish to advance to the Marist Sectional Nov. 1. However, at sectionals, the Trojans need a top-five finish to reach state and the field will pick up top-four state-rated Sandburg and Neuqua Valley and state-ranked Plainfield South.

“I feel good about where I’m at. I’m learning to race more comfortably and more controlled. I’m learning to control races from the front, which is a good, key factor to have,” Clevenger said.

“We ran well (as a team) today. I like to say we have room to improve because you never want to run your best here. I think it’s a curse if you run your best race at conference. I feel like you’re going to be plagued to have a bad race in the next few weeks and that’s when it matters most. We can just completely forget about it, throw it off the slate and just focus on the next couple of weeks of what we have to accomplish to go down to state.”

-- by Bill Stone

All-Conference runners - Nick Chudzik (fr), Ryan Birkmeier (fr), Sam McCool (fr), Bruce Tamlin (sr), Ryan Clevenger (sr), Tristan Jahn (so), Drew Pyburn (so), Jacob Ridderhoff (fr), Alec Danner (so).

Freshman Jack Ramsden bringing it home around the final turn.

Freshman Tommy Medjrech and Mitch Rapach driving in to the finish.

The freshman heading into the lake that was the WSC Course.