Znajda pulls away for Girls Varsity win; Memorable Girls team race with shorthanded Downers Grove North win; Hersey edges Oak Park-River Forest , O’Fallon for Boys team win

By Michael Newman

PEORIA – Dylon Nalley of Marion was two for two with meet records so far this season heading into the Richard Spring Invitational Saturday morning. He stepped on the legendry grounds on a mission to run something special. He certainly did that with his win in the Boys Varsity Meet of this race. 

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Nalley had the race won after navigating the first tight turn of the Detweiller Park course sifting away through the 571-runner field. He passed the first half-mile in a swift 2:09 with a three second lead. The margin just grew from that point as he ran a new meet record of 14:00.2 to win the race by 20 seconds.

“I did not really taper down my mileage this week. I was consistent with the distances I was running,” Nalley said after his win. “I just went through my training like it was any other week.” 

Nalley was not only looking for a race win on this course but something special. The meet record was nice, breaking Jon Davis’ meet record of 14:10 set in 2015. But he was looking for something big. The course record of 13:49.86 was in his sights. 

The weather complimented the six races in this meet with temperatures in the low 60’s, overcast skies, no wind, and the course in perfection condition. Nalley took advantage of that from the start going through the first mile in 4:29. When Josh Methner set the meet record in the 2019 IHSA Class 3A State Meet, Methner passed the point in 4:27. He was just two seconds behind the record pace as he entered the triangle portion of the course with already a 10-second lead ahead of a pack led by Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central and Joe Bregenzer of Barrington.

The pace tends to slow down for runners in the back portion of the course with hardly any fans in that area to cheer them on. Nalley’s pace did slow down in that half mile part of the course, but his lead continued to grow as he stepped back onto the main portion of the course.

He was still close to the record pace as he passed by two-miles in 9:16.5 just three seconds ahead of Methner’s time of 9:13 in the state race. His lead had grown to 18 seconds ahead of Zac Close of Neuqua Valley who had moved into second ahead of Bregenzer, Max Larson of Shawnee Mission South KS, and Dylan Ybarra of O’Fallon.

The final uphill climb to the finish by Nalley showed in his strides slowing with every stride closer to the line. He did run the new meet record running the final mile in 4:43.7.

“I’m satisfied with what I did today. This was my third meet of the season with the times I ran in those races,” Nalley added “With a little more training, I know I can get my time under 14-minutes on this course.”

Nalley’s effort on Saturday was significant. He is now tied for 10th all-time at Detweiller Park with his winning time. The 3-mile loop at this park has been run since 1971. His time is the second fastest non-state meet time ever trailing the 13:57.6 run by Dylan Jacobs in 2017 at the Peoria Central Invitational. Nalley also has the fourth fastest non-state course time of 14:03.5 run at last year’s Peoria Central race. It also is the earliest time of the season where a runner has run 14:00 or faster.

“I just told my mind to attack, attack, attack when I was feeling tired during the portions of the race,” concluded Nalley. “My legs were feeling it. I can’t complain, I still ran fast today.”

Ybarra did not run for O’Fallon the week before in St. Louis due to a minor injury. The injury did not show in this race as he moved from fifth to second in the final mile to run 14:20.7. His final mile was the fastest of the meet running two tenths of a second faster than Nalley (4:43.5). Close pushed to the finish in third (14:22.6) ahead of Larson (14:26.10) and Bregenzer (14:27.4).

Max Liao was the first runner for Mason OH as he ran 14:28.60 to finish sixth. Zach Frayder of Hersey (14:29.5) and Zach Thoman of O’Fallon (14:30.10) finished seventh and eighth. Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South (14:30.8) and Alex Krieg of Palatine (14:32.70) rounded out the top 10 runners in this race.

The Girls Varsity race was a runaway win for Veronica Znajda of Prospect as she bided her time to get to the front of the race. When she did, the junior pulled away from the rest of the field.

“The team plan today was to stay close as a team in the first mile and then surge when we got into the triangle,” Znajda said. “I made a surge in the triangle after the first turn in there and I caught up to her (Brea Counihan).”

Counihan, the freshman from Lincoln-Way Central, opened up a six second lead on the field passing the first mile in 5:28. Znajda, Emma Hoffman and Megan Germain of Otsego MI, and Annika Swan of St. Ignatius College Prep led the pack that passed the mile in 5:34.

Znajda made her move catching Counihan just before leaving the triangle. She passed 2 miles in 11:17.8 turning a six second deficit into a five second lead ahead of Counihan. Znajda charged up past the finish line for the final lap of the course with the lead and the apparent win. The way that the Prospect junior was running, no one was going to catch her on this day.

Znajda crossed the line in 16:56.1, the second time in her career that she had run under 17-minutes on a three-mile cross-country course. The next nine runners crossed the line 22 seconds behind Znajda but within 12 seconds of each other.

McKenzie Willard of Downers Grove North might have been the surprise of the meet running 17:18.9 in finishing second. Katherine Klimek of York moved up two spots in the final mile to run 17:20.3 to place third. Meg Peterson of Prospect moved from 13th at 2 miles to catch her teammate Lily Ginsberg before the finish. The two Prospect runners came in together at 4-5 both running 17:21.

Annika Swan finished sixth running 17:22.9. Counihan ran 17:23.5 to place seventh. Lindsey Gerhardstein of Sandburg (17:25.20), Efa Paschka of Mason OH (17:28.8), and Michaela Quinn of York (17:30.8) rounded out the top 10 runners.

There was never a doubt that York, Downers Grove North, and Prospect would challenge for the win ahead of the rest of the 61 team field. It showed as a sea of purple, green, and light blue stormed the line ahead of the 500 runners that finished the race.

Prospect had the lead after the first mile with 74 points followed by York (80 points), and then Downers Grove North (127 points). There were changing places during the middle portion of the race as York has the lead (71 points) with Prospect (88 points) and Downers Grove North (96 points). The Trojans made a significant move to make it closer in the final mile. People were asking which team would actually win considering the three were finishing so close together.

Prospect had the advantage through four runners especially with three runners in the top five and had 36 points. Downers Grove North and York both had 46 points as the two schools still had runners coming in. DGN’s fifth runner placed 20th giving their team 66 points. York’s fifth runner placed 22nd giving them 68 points. Prospect’s fifth runner placed 33rd giving their team 69 points.

The finish was a little bit of a surprise considering Downers Grove North’s top runner this season Lilly Eddington had a slight injury and did not run. It showed the depth that the Trojans have making them a big threat to win the state team title. Willard has stepped up big over the past two weeks being 23 seconds behind Eddington at Lyons Township, seven seconds behind her teammate last week at Lake Park, and then the top runner this week. Sarah Paul was the team’s #2 runner finishing 13th overall. Audrey Casten (15th) and Ava Gilley (16th) both came in together running 17:40. Alayna Todnem finished 20 as the team’s fifth runner but just a second behind her teammates. Downers Grove North had a 23 second split on their top five runners. Their split from Paul to Todnem was just nine seconds.

York also had a strong pack to finish second led by Klimek and Quinn in the top 10. Maggie Owens was the team’s third runner finishing 14th overall. Maggie Quinn (19th) and Sophia Galiano-Sanchez (22nd) were the Dukes’ fourth and fifth runners. York’s top five split was 23 seconds. Their split from Michaela Quinn to Galiano-Sanchez was 13 seconds.

Prospect’s pack in the front will be a difference maker this fall. Znajda, Peterson, and Ginsberg were followed by Sophie Fransen (26th) and Ireland Wildhart (33rd). Fransen and Wildhart were separated by 11 seconds. The top three runners were separated by 30 seconds from the fourth and fifth runners. The Knights overall top five split was 66 seconds.

Four of the top ten teams in the Girls race were from out of state schools. Mason OH was a distant fourth scoring 196 points led by the top 10 finish from Paschka. Hersey scored 222 points to finish fifth ahead of Pleasant Valley IA (237 points). Otsego MI placed seventh (330 points) ahead of Sandburg (331 points), Glenbard West (346 points), and St. Thomas Aquinas KS (395 points).

The Boys race finish among the top 10 teams was close but not as close as we saw in the Girls race. It was Hersey that took command and the lead in the team race never giving it back. He Huskies ended up scoring 127 points to win by six points ahead of Oak Park-River Forest (135 points), O’Fallon (141 points), and Mason OH (154 points). It was a fast race with 32 runners all under 15-minutes.

Hersey used the same formula that they used two weeks ago in winning at Hinsdale. Frayder finished ninth to lead his team with Liam Naughton (12th) and Cameron Donner (19th) following. All three runners were under 15 minutes and separated by 20 seconds of each other. Rob Geissenberger (37th) and AJ Svienty (52nd) were the team’s fourth and fifth runners. Hersey had a top five split of 50 seconds.

Oak Park-River Forest’s first race in Wisconsin was a Rustbuster. The Huskies showed what kind of team that they had in this meet running a 22 second split on their top five runners. For this meet, Finn Kelly was the Huskies’ top runner with a 14:47 time to place 17th overall. Lewis O’Connor was next (20th) followed by Liam O’Connor (22nd), Michael Michelotti (34th), and Daniel Johnson (42nd). The Huskies were in fourth place most of the race moving too second in the final mile.

O’Fallon had their full lineup in place, and it showed in this race led by Ybarra and Thoman in the top 10. Eli Greenstreet did not race in the team’s first two meets. Greenstreet finished 36th as the team’s third runner on Saturday. Brayden Kloeppel (38th) and Jackson Gherardini (58th) were the Panthers’ fourth and fifth runners. The team’s top five split was 63 seconds. Their split between Greenstreet and Gherardi was 19 seconds.

Mason OH was the only out of state team in the top 10 finishing fourth led by Liao’s top 10 finish and Jerry Xu placing 13th. Neuqua Valley finished fifth (240 points) led by Close finishing third and Robert Glenn placing 15th. Barrington scored 250 points to finish sixth led by Bregenzer’s top 10 finish.

St. Charles East finished seventh (259 points) with Jed Wilson (26th), Oscar Frontjes (28th) and Grayson Ellensohn (32nd) all running under 15 minutes.  West Aurora finished eighth (267 points) led by the 11th-place finish from Sean Heetland. Wheaton-Warrenville South placed ninth (269 points) led by Narayanan in the top 10 and Aiden Noel finishing 21st. Hinsdale Central placed 10 (404 points) led by Bandukwala finishing 14. The Red Devils had a 2-5 split of 23 seconds in this race.