Senior Grant Giblin would be running in his third (and final) State Cross Country Meet. The rest of the squad would be making their debut at State. It was crucial for the team to get this experience. Juniors Luke Atzman and Jack Easterhouse, sophomores Mateo Ramiro-Garcia, Jackson Canellis and Myles Jacquez and freshman Brayden Gaffud would all be toeing the line for the biggest race of their young careers. They needed to learn what this thing was all about!
We had randomly drawn our usual inside box assignment for the State Meet - in this case, box number 4. Again, good practice for these young guys. The course was still in pretty good shape after the five earlier races, but the temperature and sun made it a bit warmer for the 3A boys.
The boys made it down the long straight and thru the left-hand funnel - not in ideal position, but they went to work thru the 800 and back up the hill. At the one mile mark, Grant Giblin was in 30th place in 4:42. Luke Atzman followed in 87th (4:50) with Mateo Ramiro-Garcia (107th, 4:52) and Brayden Gaffud (128th, 4:54) right behind. Our final trio were closely bunched a bit further back - Myles Jacquez was 189th (5:02), Jackson Canellis in 190th (5:02) and Jack Easterhouse was in 193rd (5:03). At this point the Eagles were in 17th place overall with 414 points.
Coming back out of the North Loop and thru the two mile mark, the boys were struggling a bit. Grant had dropped to 38th with a 2nd mile of 5:08 (9:50 for two). Luke was now in 96th (5:18 / 10:08), with Mateo moving up slightly to 103rd (5:18 / 10:11). Brayden fell back to 148th place with a 5:28 mile (10:22). Jack was now our fifth man in 200th place (5:34 / 10:37), followed closely by Myles in 207th (5:36 / 10:39) and Jackson in 213th (5:40 / 10:43). At two miles, the team had fallen to 21st place with 452 points.
The final stretch back up to the finish line is always wild at the State Meet. Guys are battling for their team, battling for All-State positions - some are looking strong, while others are struggling mightily. Grant was one of those finishing well, passing 11 runners in the last mile to finish in 27th place with a final time of 14:49 (4:58 last mile). Certainly wish he could've grabbed two more spots to make it to All-State, but he gave it everything he had in his senior season. Mateo also had a big finish, moving up 19 places in the third mile to place 84th in 15:19 (5:08 third mile). Luke faded just a bit to 111th (15:30 / 5:22) and Brayden held steady to cross the line in 150th (15:45 / 5:22). Jack moved past 13 runners in the final stretch for close out our scoring in 187th place (16:03 / 5:26). Myles placed 214th (16:16 / 5:37) and Jackson finished 222nd (16:28 / 5:45).
The final tally for the Eagles showed the guys with 441 points, good for 18th place overall. Downers Grove North (79 points), Plainfield North (125) and Plainfield South (134) took the top 3 trophies.
We're excited to have six of these seven runners returning next year. I can't wait to see what they can do in 2024!