The boys varsity race started our day under sunny skies and warm & humid 75 degree temperatures. 76 boys teams toed the line including 26 teams ranked in Illinois by Mike Newman (15 in 3A, 3 in 2A, 8 in 1A), plus a strong team from Lincoln, Oregon. Sandburg had drawn box 3 on the inside, so the guys knew they would have to get off to a quick start.
They got out well and the first turn went by relatively smoothly. Past the 1/2 mile mark and up the hill, our top 5 positioned themselves near the front of the pack. At the first mile, our pack of three runners - Declan Tunney, Brock Rice and Grant Giblin - all went thru around 4:43. Sean Marquardt was next at 4:47 and Trent Anderson was close behind in 4:49. At the mile mark, the Eagles held the lead with 107 points, followed by York (164) and Oswego (176).
Heading into the back rectangle, the 2nd mile is often where the rubber hits the road. Our guys knew where they needed to be and worked the race plan. At the two mile mark we had three in the top 10, with Declan in 4th place, Grant up to 8th and Brock in 10th. Sean was running solid in 30th and Trent had dropped back a little bit to 41st place. Overall, we were moving up, but the lead had shrunk a little bit - Sandburg at 95, Oswego now at 137 and York at 148.
The final lap around Detweiller gave the team a chance to show what they are made of and they came thru with flying blue & gold colors! Sophomore Grant Giblin closed the final mile in 4:51 (the fastest 3rd mile split of all the competitors) and nearly chased down the eventual winner (Micah Wilson from St. Charles East) before finishing in 2nd place overall. His time of 14:40 ranks 10th best on the All-Time Sandburg list for Detweiller. Declan Tunney maintained his 4th place position and finished in 14:44 (13th on the All-Time list). Brock Rice was next up in 11th place with a time of 14:59 (31st All-Time). Sean Marquardt saved his best for last and passed 11 of the State's best runners in the last mile to move from 30th at 2 miles to finish in 19th place. His time of 15:08 is 39th on the All-Time list. Junior Trent Anderson rebounded in the last mile and also passed 11 racers to finish in 30th place (15:18). Our sixth man was Ibrahim Tineh in16:41 (164th place) and fellow junior Evan Deimling took 202nd (out of 457 finishers) in 16:58.
When the final scores were tallied, the Eagles had expanded their lead and secured first place with 63 points. York moved up to finish in second with 129 and Oswego place 3rd with 137.
In the final race of the day, our open boys nailed down 5th place overall with 159 points (only 2 points behind 4th). Our top five scorers were all seniors - Will Kupczyk in 13th (16:55), Jackson Fornek in 25th (17:08), Jonathon Vales in 27th (17:09), Owen Harty in 52nd (17:41) and Nick Kut in 54th place (17:45).
The long bus ride back to Orland Park was a satisfying one. The varsity boys had been tested against many of the best teams in the State and proved they were up to the task. We're planning to make the trip down to Peoria two more times this season and the guys will be working hard to be ready to compete again.