See, there's been this burden that has been carried around by each Sandburg boys cross country team. The Eagles have never won a trophy. We were probably the best program that had to say that. Certainly we've had plenty of success. Qualified for the State meet the last 12 years in a row - with six top 10 finishes. Great individual champions like Tom Graves and Lukas Verzbicas. Close calls in 1981 and 2006 where the team finished 4th. But no trophy.
So you would think that finishing the 2014 State meet in 2nd place and mounting the podium to receive that long-awaited trophy would be cause for joyous celebration. Right? Well, maybe not.
Now there are so many reasons to be extremely proud of what this team accomplished. Competing in a sport that seldom gets much attention from their peers, they had somehow energized their fellow students to get excited about cross country. Following a fabulous turnout at Sectionals, we had 3 bus loads of students follow the team bus down to Peoria. Additionally, scores of parents, alumni, relatives and assorted mascots, musicians and flag wavers came out to cheer on this team. We literally had hundreds of Sandburg supporters at the State meet. That's definitely not something you usually see at a cross country meet. It was a wonderful party at the Sandburg tent city.
Beyond that, we were all uplifted and inspired by Alejandro Claure. Midway thru a promising sophomore season, Alejandro developed some knee pain and went to see his doctor. Expecting to see him back quickly, instead we found that he had a cancerous tumor on his knee. Throughout some difficult recovery, he always maintained a positive attitude - calling his trouble a "pebble in his shoe." Although he had only returned to school the week of State, he accompanied us, along with his father, on the team bus down to Peoria. Seeing him climb onto the stage with his crutches, receive his medal and raise the trophy was a great feeling for all of us. Irrompible indeed!
From a Sandburg perspective, we weren't thrilled with box 8, but felt our guys would be able to get out fast enough to stay out of trouble. Unfortunately, our pack of 7 found themselves near the back of the field and came to a halt at the dreaded first turn. Instead of being in the thick of the race, they were buried back in the 80 to 120 range. Passing thru the 800 and heading back up the hill, the boys began to work their way thru the field. By the mile, they had positioned themselves where we had hoped they would've been at the 800 - with Greg Burzinski and Tommy Brennan in the 20 or so range and the rest of the guys not far behind. Obviously, this came at a cost, but they now trailed only Hinsdale Central.
Heading into the North Loop, the team suffered another setback. Making his way thru the narrow opening, Max Lehnhardt banged into a pole and went down hard, rolling over his shoulder before bouncing back to his feet. He would be sore afterwards from the fall, but set out to get back up with our pack. At the 1.5 mile mark, halfway thru the race, their relentless pace had put them into the lead. Burzinski and Brennan were well within the top 25, with Chris & Sean Torpy and Martin Skucas close and Max fighting back into contact.
At the 2 mile, Sandburg had opened up the lead just a little bit over Hinsdale. Clearly, it was going to come down to the final mile. As they came past me at the top of the course and turned to head North along Route 29, it looked like they were starting to labor a bit. Over the last 1200 meters, the boys struggled to hang on. In the end they faded a bit, while Hinsdale Central came charging forward - especially Josh Feldman & Griffin Gartner.
In the end, our effort fell just short. Tommy Brennan finished in 14:54, good for 31st place. Our lone senior, Greg Burzinski PR'd in 14:56 to place 33rd. Chris Torpy clicked thru right at 15:00 in 38th place and twin brother Sean was 42nd in 15:02. Sophomore Martin Skucas also ran a PR, finishing 45th in 15:05. Max Lehnhardt toughed it out to run 15:08 and 53rd place. Brandon Lukas grabbed 59th place in 15:11. Hinsdale Central had prevailed, with 104 points to Sandburg's 138. In a heartbreaking battle for third place, Lyons Township edged Neuqua Valley by one single point (180 to 181). All four of these teams came from our Marist Sectional.
The guys had run an 11 second split from 1 to 5 and all seven runners finished within 17 seconds of each other. This was the first 3A boys team to win a trophy without having any All-State runners. Greg Burzinski had closed out his last HS cross country season by leading his team to a second place trophy. All in all, it was an exciting season. For the six runners that will return next year, I think this will provide a bit of motivation for them.
Special thanks to Tom McMahon for the photos!