Sandburg stays close together to dominate team race; Zach Dale pulls away in last mile for individual title

By Michael Newman

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Peoria, Ill – It was like night and day of the conditions of that of the Girls Race and then the Boys Race at the Richard Spring Invitational at Detweiller Park Saturday morning. The Varsity girls race was comforted by a before race rain and overcast conditions. Within an hour between races, the sun came out and the temperature jumped up to 76 degrees with humidity climbing close to 90%. The overall times suffered as runners came across the finish line saturated in sweat. It did not bother Zach Dale (Conant HS, Hoffman Estates) and the #2 Carl Sandburg team. Both responded with great performances in the Varsity Boys race.

Dale missed the opportunity to run at the First to the Finish Invitational last weekend due to ACT testing. The opportunity was there to run in this meet. “It is always a lot more motivating when I have my fellow captains there,” Dale said about running the meet without his team. “At the same time, I am used to that like being at meets like Arcadia or meets like that”

Dale went out strong leading the pack around the first half mile in a quick 2:14 first half. Jon Davis (Oakwood HS, Fithian), Alex Keeble (Mahomet-Seymour HS), Matt Periera (Lake Zurich HS), Dorrian Gordon (O’Fallon HS), David Rodriguez (Hersey HS, Arlington Heights), and Graham Brown (Palatine HS). The pack slowed down coming through the first mile in 4:45.

The pace slowed down considerably going into the triangle and throughout the second mile. Dale came out of the triangle surrounded by Brown, Rodriguez, and Davis as the quartet passed the two mile in 9:43. Gordon was two seconds back at 9:45. Keeble, Periera, and Sam Oh (Stevenson HS, Lincolnshire) were another two seconds back.

The race began then. As they made the turn behind the finish line, Dale made a concentrated effort to separate himself from the rest of the pack. As they went down the decline along Route 29, Dale had opened up a 20 meter lead on Rodriguez and Gordon. The race was basically over at that point.

The drenched Dale crossed the finish line in 14:29 for the win. On Wednesday, he broke the Coanat course record at Busse Woods as he ran a solo 14:48 on that 3 mile circuit. In his first invitational race of the year, he walked away from the finish area satisfied.

“Today I just wanted to stick on the leaders for the first mile and try to work that hill every time I went through,” Dale said after the race. “I wanted to make a move out of the triangle. My coach (John Powers) wanted me to make a move coming up hill just like at state. Last year at state I was really gassed the third mile. I used that as a motivation. I wasn’t as tired today like I was at state.”

Dale’s last mile Saturday was an impressive 4:46. His margin of victory was five seconds ahead of a charging David Rodriguez. Dorrion Gordon was another three seconds back in third. Jon Davis ran a five second PR at Detweiller finishing fourth in 14:41. Alex Keeble ran a fantastic race finishing fifth right on Davis’ side also running 14:41.

#2 Sandburg had the race won at the mile mark. Sean Torpy was right in front with the leaders. Sandburg’s top seven was all in the top 30. No other team could match that kind of pack.

The Eagles dominated the team competition with a low 64 points. In the 63 team field, there was no other team that was in double digits. Their top five finished in the top 21 individually. Sean Torpy finished eighth to lead Sandburg. His brother Chris (12^th), Max Lehnhardt (15^th), Tom Brennen (18^th), and Martin Skucas (21^st) were close behind. Their split on five was 18 seconds. Those kind of splits are how state meets are won.

“Our guys ran exactly how I hoped they would. They were aggressive and then tough enough to finish what they started. Like the 4 x 800, we are quite systematic in our execution at Detweiller. The guys got out to the front and blitzed through the 800 and the mile. While aware of the quality of the field, they ran with fearlessness,” said Sandburg Coach John O’Malley. “We have some things to work on. We have to work on phase 3 of the race, which we were tough in but need to be more effective. We'll work on some things out and continue to improve.”

Even though Sandburg commanded the race on top of the team standings, the story of this meet could have been the second place finish by 2A #2 Mahomet-Seymour. Traditionally in this meet, it is a novelty if you see a 2A school in the top five in the team standings of this traditionally 3A top heavy meet. The Bulldogs were the exception to the rule finishing with 192 points ahead of 3A powers #8 Loyola Academy, #12 Hersey, and #7 York.

“Our team has been trying for years to take small steps each year to get closer to the top of each invitational we run.  We know how amazing the other teams that run at this meet are and in so many ways how great their programs are year after year,” said Mahomet Coach Neal Garrison. “We finally placed 10th last year as a team at the PND invitational last year and were hoping for a better finish this year.  We thought if everything went very well that we had an outside chance of placing in the top 5 teams.  We really have to give credit to our alumni for raising the standard each year and our current runners not in the top 7 pushing the others in practices and meets.  It is paying off as they placed higher than we would have imagined this year.”

Keeble’s 14:41 finish stamps him as a runner to watch in the 2A race at state in November. Jack Hyde (35^th), Andrew Walmer (37^th), William Wolf (47^th), and Brian Butcher (78^th) were all within 33 seconds of each other. Their overall split was 73 seconds.

“Our ten runners running the varsity race gave it a great team effort helping each other throughout the race.  Andrew Walmer has been helping lead our runners in closing the gap on Alex Keeble.  Andrew ran a 12 second lifetime best.  William Wolf is coming off an injury and almost back to full form,” added Garrison. “All of these guys have great character and care a lot about their teammates.  I think this is one of the main reasons our team is having so much success.”

Loyola opened up their invitational season with a third place finish. They did have a 36 second split between first man Jack Carroll (24^th) and fifth runner Matthew Kadus (68^th). Hersey finished fourth paced by Rodriguez’s second place finish. They could be a factor near the state series time if Grant von der Lippe gets healthy. He was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back which will force him to miss the next month.

York, who is traditionally up towards the front in this meet, finished fifth. Matt Plowman was the first runner in for the Dukes placing ninth. They had a 54 second split on five with a twenty second split from 2-5. What looks promising for the Dukes was the 1-2 finish by Charlie Kern and Liam Hill in the Frosh / Soph race. With those two runners inserted into the varsity race, the team would have finished second.

“This was the first race of the year. I like where we are right now,” said York assistant coach Jim Hedman who was with the team in Peoria. “We still have a lot of work to do though.”