About fire in our bellies and furtive little feelings
And the aching amplitudes that set our needles all a-flickering
And help us with remembering that the only thing that's left to do is live"
I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous
Frank Turner
The Sandburg Eagles might have surprised a few people at the Richard Spring Invite in Peoria on Saturday, 9/21. Sure, they were ranked in the Top 10 in Illinois - but with a lot of teams running at Detweiller that were ranked in front of them. And the Eagles were nowhere to be found on the national charts. But we knew there was something special about this team.
If you've been paying attention to Coach O'Malley over the last few years, you know he agrees with Frank Turner that "life is about love". And this team loves each other. You can see it every day in practice. The way they push and support each other. The way they hold each other accountable. The way they make sure that everyone is focused and paying attention to all of the small details. The way they feel completely comfortable around each other. The way they feel LOVED!
The season had already started off well. The boys were tested against some very strong teams (Lyons Township, Maine South, Downer Grove South) at the Mike Kuharic Invitational at LT and came out on top. But you never really know where you stand until you get on the Detweiller course.
And this year's Richard Spring Invite was stacking up to be one for the ages. You had the top six 3A teams in the state - including the #1 mighty York Dukes, #2 St. Charles East (already dominating and looking in State-meet shape), #3 Wheaton -Warrenville South (2018 State champs) and #4 Hersey (2018 State runner-up). In all, we had 14 of the top 22 ranked 3A teams - plus many of the top 2A and 1A teams. In addition, we'd get to test ourselves against Claremont, a top 5 team from California. High School cross country at its best!
The weather, on the other hand, did not look like it was going to cooperate. Heading down from Orland Park on Saturday morning, the forecast called for thunderstorms and rain all morning. We were constantly checking our phones for a sign of improvement. We decided to change up our routine and stopped at a gas station in LaSalle-Peru to get out and stretch instead of our usual one in Henry, IL. This proved to be our first positive sign when we passed the old station in Henry and found it was now closed.
Thoughout the last hour of our trip, the forecast gradually got better and better. Rain predictions went for 80% to 70% to 50% to 30% to 15%. And the thunder and lightning disappeared completely from the predictions. Thank you cross country GODS!
We arrived at the course and got our tent site setup. We got a chance to see Sandburg's Ella Jeffries race to an 18th place finish in the girls Varsity race. The varsity boys went thru their warmup routine - and then it was off the starting line.
The race got off to a good start for the Eagles. The boys got out well and around the tight first turn in good position. At the mile, Ben and Will Giblin came thru in 4:41. Sam Rodriguez (4:43) and Ismail Tineh (4:44) followed right behind, with Griff Lehnhardt at 4:48, Ahmad Alhayek at 4:54 and TJ Cosler at 4:55. At this point, Shazam Racing's splits had the boys in 2nd place:
https://results.shazamracing.com/meets/4288/xc-events/172195/split-scores
Things held well thru the 2 mile mark with the Giblin brothers at 9:48. Sammy came thru in 9:51, Ismail in 9:53, Griff was at 10:06 and TJ at 10:19 after moving past Ahmad (10:20). The Eagles were still in second place, trailing leader St. Charles East 60 to 98.
Over the last mile, the boys battled to hold onto their positions. Ben Giblin passed one runner to mike it into the top 10 with a time of 14:51.7. Will Giblin dropped 3 spots from the 2 mile to finish 11th in 14:51.8 (setting a new PR and moving up to 20th on the Sandburg All-Time Detweiller list - https://sandburgrunners.weebly.com/top-performances---detweiller.html). Ismail Tineh moved up one place to finish in 18th and broke the magical 15 minute barrier (14:59). He's now 27th on the all-time list. Sam Rodgriguez dropped 7 spots over the last mile to finish 25th with a new PR in 15:06. Griffin Lehnhardt also dropped 7 places to finish in 53rd in 15:32. TJ Cosler finished in 15:45, good for 70th place (dropping 5 spots). And Ahmad Alhayek was passed by 17 runners over the last mile to place 87th in 15:55.
In the end, the boys secured the 2nd place trophy with 114 points. St. charles East scored 57 points for the win, with Claremont (California) in third (160), Wheaton-Warrenville South in fourth (160) and Hersey finishing 5th (170). Finish results for all our 2019 races are here: https://sandburgrunners.weebly.com/2019-cross-country-results.html.
The Frosh-Soph Eagles ended the day in 3rd place with 163 points - trailing Deerfield (88) and Palatine (144).
Michael Molloy 8th place (16:09)
Alex Miller 17th (16:19)
Tommy Sieczkowski 26th (16:34)
Jacob Coleman 31st (16:41)
Indy Hauter 34th (16:44)
Diego Hernandez 43rd (16:57)
Ian McGrath 44th (16:58)
Justin Small 75th (17:26)
Team-wise, the Open boys placed 5th with 116 points.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qSs7cM8PsQQ3pfGu6
And finally, thanks to all the parents who came all the way to Peoria to lay out a wonderful picnic lunch for us all. And thank you for allowing us to coach these wonderful kids of yours. We couldn't do it without your support.
See you all at the next meet!