We've got a special group of seniors on this team and most of their cross country careers started on this same Dellwood course in 2012. So it was fitting to venture back to Lockport for the Southwest Suburban Blue conference meet on Saturday.
One of the most rewarding aspects of coaching cross country is seeing these guys come in as wide-eyed freshmen, work amazingly hard for four years and become incredible varsity runners. Being able to measure their improvement from start to finish on the same course is a unique opportunity.
It's easy to look at this team as seniors - currently ranked no. 1 in the United States - and assume that they've been superstars from day one. The facts are much, much different. This group came in and got slaughtered by Lincoln-Way Central who went 1-2-3-7-9 (all five in front of Sandburg's number 2 runner) in the Frosh-Soph race at Dellwood on August 25th, 2012. Coach O'Malley's quote following the meet was, "We started the day with the F/S race and found out very quickly that we have our work cut out for us if we want to win the SWSC."
But the beauty of this sport is that, if you keep working at it, you will improve. And these guys kept working ... and working ... and working. They learned from their older teammates. They listened to their coaches. They dedicated themselves to the sport. They did all the little things. And they improved.
We brought 19 seniors to Dellwood on Saturday. Amazingly, 17 of them have been with us all four years. Only Chris Torpy (who played football as a freshman) and Patrick Foster are not 4-year guys - and they both joined as sophomores. To see what four years as a Sandburg runner can mean, just take a look at these results:
Max Lehnhardt 15:42 18:42 3:00
Sean Torpy 15:44 17:55 2:11
Dan Laskero 15:46 18:19 2:33
Brandon Lukas 16:15 20:10 3:55
David Gleisner 16:16 19:12 2:56
Paul Sieczkowski 16:42 19:11 2:29
Anthony LiFonti 17:16 20:40 3:24
Miles Draskovic 17:21 24:43 7:22
Kyle Stogin 17:55 22:59 5:04
John Wagner 18:06 22:01 3:55
Lou Cavalier 18:08 22:53 4:45
Nick Carollo 18:11 22:56 4:45
Nathan Arrigoni 19:09 22:27 3:18
Andrew Peters 19:30 26:26 6:56
Liam Walsh 21:48 26:50 5:02
Brad Ryan 22:04 27:30 5:26
Tommy Brennan (did not run 2015 conference)
Every single runner - all 16 of them - saw significant improvement over their career. If I'm an incoming freshman, I'm pretty excited to get the chance to run for Coach O'Malley and the Sandburg Eagles. I know that I'm going to get better as a runner and have a lot of fun along the way.
The Frosh-Soph team got things rolling from the start. One of our team goals this year was to win Conference on the F/S level. Lockport had edged us out last year and we challenged our guys to reverse that outcome in 2015.
Of course, it never hurts to have Dylan Jacobs leading the charge for your team. Our super sophomore bolted to the lead from the start and cruised over the Dellwood hills to win in 15:51 (over 90 seconds faster than the second place runner runner). Nick Gonsch used his trademark finishing kick to pull up next to the first Lockport runner and they battled it out for second. As they neared the finish line, the Lockport challenger veered to the right to try to head off Gonsch and was DQ'd by the official. Gonsch's 2nd place time was 17:22. Finishing in 6th place was Robbie Sieczkowski in 17:43 and he was followed closely by freshman Nico Calderon in 17:43 and 7th place. Xander Furmanek closed out his season as one of the biggest surprises and continued his dramatic improvement. He moved up throughout the race and finished in 11th place in 17:55. Our first five Sandburg runners earned Frosh-Soph All Conference honors. Brendan Duffy (18:23 for 18th place) and Ryan Wagner (18:44 for 20th) closed things out for Sandburg.
Overall, the Eagles scored a very solid 27 to 50 win over Lockport. If these guys follow thru with the same commitment as the seniors, the future will continue to look bright for Sandburg cross country!
With a perfect score of 15, these six seniors closed out their day with the SWSC conference championship trophy!