And 2018 was no different. With six teams at the Marist Sectional ranked in the Top 25 in 3A Boys State and only 5 teams qualifying, it's a tense day for everyone involved. At least one of those six teams - #5 Lyons Township, #8 Downers Grove South, #12 Sandburg, #13 Downers Grove North, #14 Hinsdale Central and #25 Plainfield South - would not be racing at the State Meet the next weekend.
The course at Midlothian Meadows was in fine shape on Saturday, October 27th for the big race. The weather also cooperated, with cool temperatures, overcast skies and gentle wind. Ideal conditions for cross country racing.
Our seven man Eagle squad consisted of seniors Nico Calderon and Ben Walter, juniors Sam Rodriguez, Ben Giblin and Will Giblin and sophomores Griffin Lehnhardt and Ismail Tineh.
As the gun sounded to start the race, our boys got out nicely. Coming thru the trees at the 800 mark they were in very good position. They continued the hard pace and at the mile mark they were probably in the lead (5-6-9-10-16-17-18). Very aggressive for all 7 runners.
As the race went across the parking lot and into the woods, the real racing was starting to take shape. As they exited the woods and headed towards the 2 mile mark, a group of six runners had broken away from the pack. Beyond them, a trail of runners fought for their places. Ben & Will Giblin were battling on the edge of the top 10. Ismail had himself in the top 20 with Nico in 24th place. Sammy and Griff were top 30 with Ben Walter around 36.
While they were probably safely in the top 5 teams at this point, the race is won or lost in that last mile. Ben Giblin continued to lead the Eagles and finished in 11th place overall with a time of 15:04. Brother Will Giblin kicked in right behind for 13th place at 15:05. Sophomore Ismail Tineh finished off a solid run in 15:23 - good for 23rd place overall. Nico Calderon hung on for 29th place in a time of 15:33. Closing out the scoring for the Eagles was soph Griffin Lehnhardt in 32nd place at 15:35. Ben Walter faded a bit to finish in 44th place (15:48) and Sam Rodriguez battled a bit of his usual Sectional illness and place 50th (15:55).
With a solid 31 second split between our first and fifth finishers, we looked pretty good. I was certain that we'd done enough to move on to State. When the official results rolled off the printer, Sandburg came thru in 4th place with 105 points and qualified for the State Finals for the 16th year in a row!
Downers Grove South had prevailed as the Sectional champs with 69 points. As expected, the battle for the final spot was incredibly close - Hinsdale Central edging Plainfield South by 3 points.
Complete results:
https://sandburgrunners.weebly.com/2018-cross-country-results.html