Horter, Hart captured Midwest individual crowns; big day for Illinois teams

By Michael Newman for DyeStat

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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – When Danny Kilrea made a move to separate himself from the rest of the pack halfway through the Nike Cross Regional Midwest boys championship race Sunday, Dustin Horter, the Ohio Division 1 state champion, stayed within striking distance. Horter relied on his race plan, patience and a killer kick.

Horter took the lead in the final 500 meters, passing Kilrea to win the individual regional title in 14 minutes, 57.6 seconds.

“Halfway through the race, we started to see separation with Danny (Kilrea) pushing the pace,” Horter said. “I wanted to stay back, I wanted to stay patient. I hung back around fourth and fifth until a kilometer to go and then started to make my move.”

Kilrea, who was the defending champion in this race and the 3A state champion from Illinois, started pushing the pace just around 2,500 meters into the race. The course was wet due to the rain that had hit the area in the days leading up to the meet, including Sunday when the precipitation was on and off. The move dropped some of the runners like Indiana state champion Gabe Fendel, who finished 13th overall.

“I knew I wanted to push the pace between 1.5 miles and 2 miles,” Kilrea said. “With all the competition in the Midwest this season, I knew I had to split the field. It was tiring. I knew they were working together in the back. Them working together caught me in the end. Last year, I did not have the energy to make a big move like I did today. I thought it was a big step for me.”

Horter knew about close finishes. The week before in his state meet race, he only won by four-tenths of a second ahead of Conant Smith (Middletown, OH). He caught Kilrea by the shoe of trees and went into an all-out sprint. It was Horter that had the final move as he opened a lead 150 meters from the finish to hold off Kilrea in 15:00.0.

“I knew I had a good kick. I have confidence in that kick,” Horter said about his finish. “When I was side by side with him, I knew I had it. This was regionals. It was all about qualifying. That final straightaway is the most terrifying in high school. It’s so long. You don’t want to look behind and lose your momentum. Reeling in Danny was just a little more assurance in qualifying. I had to outkick Conant Smith last week. That experience helps me in the long run.”

Smith finished third (15:05.5) and was the only junior that finished in the top five individual qualifiers. Two Illinois runners followed as Dylan Jacobs (Sandburg) and Clayton Mendez (Whitney Young) finished fourth and fifth within two seconds of each other.

The experience from the year before helped Downers Grove North IL win the team race. The Trojans kept their pack together throughout, winning the regional championship with 104 points, relying on an 18-second spread from its first runner Jacob Ridderhoff (28th place overall) and fifth runner Miles Christensen (64th place).

“At the beginning of the race, we were all kind of nervous about what Carmel was going to do, what Neuqua Valley was going to do,” Ridderhoff said. “Once we got there, we found each other during the race. We were doing it for each other. It made it easier to ride through the race quicker knowing that we had the group right behind us.”

Carmel IN finished sixth in last year’s regional race. The Indiana champions finished second (164 points), earning them a trip to Portland in December. The Greyhounds had a 33-second spread with their top five scorers, led by Keelan Grant and his 31st-place finish.

Lyons Township IL and Neuqua Valley IL will have to wait for an at-large bid with chances good for both teams. Lyons Township finished third (167 points), led by Kilrea’s finish and the 18th-place effort from Charles Harders. Neuqua Valley finished fourth (193 points), led by Zach Kinne and his 12th-place finish.

Hart sets tempo in girls race

The name of the game was patience for both Naperville North in its team championship and Katelynne Hart in her individual win. Hart, the two-time Illinois 3A champion, was willing to wait to make her move until 3 kilometers into the race. It was a decision similar to the week before in her state race when she waited until the final mile to move away from the pack.

Through the first two miles of this race, there were seven runners close to Hart, including Indiana state champion Emma Wilson of Greencastle. Hart used the downhill stretches in the final portion of the race to pull away for a five-second win in 17:28.6.

“I just wanted to stay relaxed during the race like I was last weekend,” Hart said. “My plan was not to go out too hard and try to see how I felt from there. I made my final surge on the final hill and brought it home.”

Three Ohio runners were the remaining individual qualifiers for Nike Cross Nationals. Gracie Sprankle (Olentangy Liberty) finished three seconds behind Wilson in third. Taylor Ewert (Beavercreek) finished fourth and Ohio Division 1 champion Morgan Gigandet (Troy) finished sixth.

Naperville North, led by Sarah Schmitt’s fifth-place finish, was in no hurry to get to the front in the race. The Lady Huskies made their move in the second half of the race and won the regional championship with an impressive performance, placing three runners in the top 14 and scoring 85 points. Alex Morris was the team’s second runner (10th place) and Hannah Ricci was close behind in 14th. Claire Hill was 56th and Megan Driscoll was 60th for the Illinois 3A state champions.

“We definitely think about last year in Portland. This year is a new team,” Schmitt said after the race. “We just try to take it one race at a time. We wanted to go back to Portland badly so that was a motivation for us all year. We finally able to focus on that after state.”

Yorkville IL has been close in recent Midwest Regional races, finishing fourth last year, but has never got the at-large call. This time no call is necessary after the Lady Foxes finished second with 130 points. Yorkville ran without one of its top five runners, Olivia Borowiak, who injured her ankle in P.E. class Friday. Yorkville stepped up with three runners in the top 35, with Emily Eberhart (15th place), Helena Kleronomos (26th place) and Alyssa Edwards (34th place).

The surprise was the third-place finish from Barrington IL, which finished eighth the week before at the Illinois 3A state meet. The Fillies (166 points) were led by Jocelyn Long (16th place) and Molly Fitzpatrick (20th place) to finish ahead of nationally ranked Centerville OH, fourth with 183 points. Third place was a shock to even Barrington as it reacted in celebration after the announcement.

“We thought we were 11th as they were making the announcements. We thought we must have just missed it,” Long and her teammates said. “We had no expectations today. We just went out and ran.”