We've got some talent coming back this year, but most of our guys are relatively inexperienced - especially in big meets. Lions Pride would be the real kickoff to the season and we were anxious to see how we would perform.
In the varsity race, we knew Lyons Township would be returning a very strong team. The individual battle played out quickly, with Dylan Jacobs taking it out very hard. Only Vince Zona and Danny Kilrea from LT were able to hang with him. As the halfway point passed, Dylan began to open a nice lead. Down the stretch, Kilrea and then Zona each tried to close the gap. In the end, Jacobs held them off for the win in 14:19.
A little further back, senior Martin Skucas finished in 12th place in 15:31. Alex Szymanski crossed in 21st place in 15:47, with Tom Marchese up next in 30th place with a time of 16:00. Closing out as the 5th scorer, sophomore Nico Calderon placed 40th in 16:36.
Overall, the Varsity squad placed third with 102 points - behind Lyons Township (37 points) and Lowell, IN (76 points).
The Eagles showed some great promise in the freshmen race. Sam Rodriguez led the team with a third place finish and a time of 11:20 on the 2.15 mile course. Leo Serdar came thru next in 8th place in a time of 11:55. Will Giblin was our third finisher in 11th place in 12:01, with Ian McGrath right behind in 12th at 12:02. Carson Bruce completed the scoring in 22nd place with a time of 12:28.
In a very close battle, the Eagle frosh ended up in 2nd place with 56 points, right behind Lyons Township's winning total of 51.
The soph team ended up in 4th place with 107 points, trailing Maine South (53), Downers Grove South (67) and West Aurora (92).
The open race was dominated by Lyons as they finished with a perfect score of 15 with the top 7 finishers. For the Eagles, Patrick Morris finished 11th in 16:58, Brendan Duffy was 12th in 17:10, Danny Papan next in 13th in 17:12, Ryan Wagner placed 14th in 17:15 and Josh Nolan took 21st in 17:32. The Open team ended up in 2nd place with 63 points.
All in all, a decent start to the season. Now we need to build on this and close the gap.