Don't let it get away
Beautiful day
U2
There is alway a bit of trepidation when we venture out to Katherine Legge Memorial Park. Yes, it's a lovely park - especially on a nice day. It's a big park, with lots of trees & grass and a creek running thru it. And it's a challenging cross country course. Nothing wrong with that, but when it's a high-powered Sectional with 12 ranked teams vying for only 7 spots and then throw in two days of steady rain to turn the course into a sloppy mess - well things can get crazy.
Of course, we've also got a bit of history running at KLM. At the Hinsdale Sectional in 2015, conditions were even worse. The creek was flooded and took down many, many runners. Midway thru the race, our stud sophomore, Dylan Jacobs was in the top five when he stepped in a low spot and injured his hamstring. He ended up missing the State Meet. Fortunately, the current course eliminates the creek crossing.
As the starter's whistle blew and the gun sounded, the race was on. As usual, the Eagles got out well and took control of the race. Declan Tunney led the way and hit the mile in 4:54. He was followed by Brock Rice (4:57), Sean Marquardt (4:57), Grant Giblin (4:58), Trent Anderson (5:01) and Ibrahim Tineh (5:02). All six runners were in the top 12 at this point. Evan Diemling was out more conservatively in 5:20.
As expected, the finish to this race was crazy! Runners straining to pass their rivals down the final stretch, hoping to secure a State-worthy spot for their team. Hinsdale Central's Daniel Watcke out-kicked the lead pack to win in 15:10. Declan Tunney powered thru to grab 4th place in 15:17. Brock Rice nailed down 9th place with a time of 15:37, followed by Grant Giblin in 11th in 15:41. Sean Marquardt had another solid race, finishing in 15:50 to claim 19th place. Trent Anderson was our 5th runner with a time of 16:02 - good for 35th place. Ibrahim Tineh continued his improved racing, finishing in 47th place with a time of 16:14. Evan Diemling closed out things for the Eagles in 17:05 (103rd place).
The final tally show that Sandburg had captured the Sectional championship with 70 points. Additional State qualifiers included Downers Grove North (85), Hinsdale Central (92), Oswego (94), Lyons Township (144), Downers Grove South (172) and Neuqua Valley (185).