Patience at Richard Spring Invitational brings wins for York Girls and Mason Boys

Move by freshman in final half mile gives Janowski Girls race win; Narayanan early surge give him Boys race win by 10 seconds.

By Michael Newman

Peoria, Ill – The key word of the day at Detweiller Park for the Richard Spring Invitational was patience considering the hot weather that had a grip throughout Illinois. Letting the race come to both the York Girls and Mason OH Boys teams was the strategy that helped both teams to win in the 51 annual running of this meet.

#3 York edged Hillard Davidson OH 102-104 for the Girls team title in results that took close to 20 minutes to finalize. Mason OH came from behind in the final mile to win the Boys team title with 202 points. York was the first Illinois team to finish scoring 222 points to finish second.

The Girls individual race was a replay of the race held a week prior at Lake Park between Karlin Janowski of York, Vernonica Znajda of Prospect, and Annika Swan of St. Ignatius College Prep. The three runners were among the leaders as they passed the first mile in 5:38 and separated themselves in the triangle from the rest of the field in 11:27. It was a pace that Janowski was comfortable with according to her coach Lauren DeAngelis.

The big move came in the final half mile of the race after the group passed the entrance to the triangle area of the course. Janowski took off going around the horseshoe curve with the lead. The finish ended the same as the week before. Janowski took the win timed at 16:45.27, a personal best on a cross-country course. Znajda ran 16:49.56 to place second. Swan was two seconds behind (16:51.26) in placing third.

“I really did not have any strategy today. I just love to run and went out there today to compete,” Janowski said after the finish. “I was exhausted when I took the lead. I just had to find some way to push through that.”

The Hilliard Davison duo of Erica Kaulen (17:07) and Celia Schulte (17:25) finished fourth and fifth as the team’s top two runners. Meg Peterson of Prospect edged by Nicole Poglitsch in the final yards of the race placing sixth and seventh. Both were timed at 17:38. Ashley Alsko was the third runner to cross the line for Hillard Davidson as she ran 17:42 to finish eighth. Madeline Bialko of Hersey ran 17:44 placing ninth. Lucinda Wright of Liberty North OH, Gwen Hobson of St. Charles North, and Jane Lynch of Loyola Academy all ran 17:48 finishing in the next three places.

Hillard Davidson having three runners in the top ten were a difference maker in this race. If this were a dual meet, Davidson would have won 27-28 over York. The Dukes passing runners in the final half mile of the race decided this race. Sofia Stoddard was York’s second runner placing 14th. Sophia Galiano-Sanchez (21st), Maggie Quinn (27th), and Scarlett Moriarty (4) followed. The spread between Stoddard and Moriarty was 39 seconds, 106 seconds off Janowski. Davidson had three runners in the top 10. Laney Tarr (34) and Anna Gagliano (61) were the team’s fourth and fifth runners for the Wildcats. Their overall top five spread was 92 seconds.

#2 Downers Grove North was without their top runner Lily Eddington who stayed home from school sick on Friday and was not brought down to the meet. The Trojans still ran 137 points in placing third. Alayna Todnem stepped up as the team’s top runner in this meet running 17:53 to place 15th. McKenzie Willard (23), Audrey Casten (24), Ava Gilley (29), and Hanner Renner (45) were North’s next four runners. Their overall spread in this race. Pleasant Valley IA finished fourth (141 points) even without their top runner Grace Boleyn who did not race in this meet. The Spartans had a 43 second split on their top five led by Adi Wedemeyer placing 13th.

#5 Prospect finished behind #4 Hersey two weeks ago at Hinsdale. The positions changed as Prospect scored 180 points to finish fifth behind the top 10 finishes from Znajda and Peterson. Ireland Wildhart finished 17th. She was followed by Mary Laba (66th) and Anna Zajac (106th).

#4 Hersey scored 259 points to finish sixth followed by #10 Lake Zurich (313 points), #9 Wheaton-Warrenville South (325 points), #11 Neuqua Valley (368 points), and 2A #8 DePaul College Prep (415 points). 2A #2 St. Ignatius College Prep did not field five runners in this race.

Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South credited his hard training during the summer as it has put himself in position as one of the top runners in the state. Narayanan was one of the leaders in front at the mile along with Joe Bregenzer of Barrington, Alex Krieg of Palatine, and Aiden Noel of Wheaton-Warrenville South passing in 4:39. Narayanan did a pickup as he entered the back triangle and started gapping the runners. He was eight seconds ahead of Bregenzer at two miles and went on to run 14:25.47 for the win. His time was less than a second ahead of Ben Crane ran on this course a week ago.

10 runners in this race ran 15 minutes or faster in the heat that was 81 degrees at race-time. Bregenzer (14:35) and Krieg (14:37) finished second and third and 10 and 12 seconds behind Narayanan. Gabe McLain of Benton stayed in fourth most of the race running 14:39 to place fourth. A gap of 12 seconds before Noel followed in fifth (14:52). Aidan Murphy of Wheaton North edged Emmett Bradford of York in the final steps to finish sixth and seventh. Both runners were timed at 14:55. Lake Zurich freshman Karanveer Patil was a second behind running 14:56 to place eighth. James O’Sullivan of Palatine and Caden Winship of Mason both ran 15:00 rounding out the top 10.

Mason Ohio learned their lesson in last year’s meet starting hard un the first mile and being second in the first two miles in the race. They faded in the end placing fourth. They knew how to run course on Saturday and deal with the warm conditions. The Comets put themselves in position at the mile in eighth place. They moved through the triangle and was fourth at two miles. They surged in the final loop of the course to give their team the win. Winship was the team’s top runner as Mason ran a 50 second spread on their top five runners. Will Buckalew led the pack finishing 24th followed by Jason Xu (45th), Luke Berkebile (51st), and Paras Yadav (79th).

#8 York got their success from getting into position early in the race and maintaining it throughout. Their 222p points came from getting into the top three and moving at the end. Bradford moved from 18th at the mile to his 7th place finish. Max Zangan and Sam Kehoe finished within a second of each other placing 49th and 50th. Jack Sebastian (58th) and Carter Olsen (62nd) rounded out their top five pack. The top five spread off Bradford was 45 seconds. Their spread from Zangan to Olsen was just seven seconds. #5 Palatine had the team lead during most of the race. The Pirates ended up finishing third (252 points) behind Krieg and O’Sullivan in the top 10. Carter Hayes was the team’s third runner placing 16th. Keaton Fletcher (72nd) and Christopher Quick (157th) were the team’s fourth and fifth runners. The spread from Krieg to Hayes was 36 seconds. Their top five spread was 103 seconds.

#20 Lake Zurich with the addition of freshman Karanveer Patil, who finished in the top 10, was a difference as the Bears finished with 271 points in fourth place. Patil was followed by Gordy Libby (28). Luke Marshall (29), Sushant Kesavan (100th), and Nishanth Mandavilli (111th). The team’s top five spread was 64 seconds. #15 Prospect also packed it up with just an 18 second spread on their top five scoring 281 points led by Quinn Davis (37th) and Collin Ryan (41st). #19 Sandburg finishes sixth (283 points) with #20 Lane (318 points), #29 Hersey (335 points), #7 Wheaton-Warrenville South (374 points), and #2 Barrington (375 points) rounding out the top 10 teams.

The Frosh/Soph Girls race diminished to 118 finishers as some coaches opted to run them in the open race due to the heat. 14 teams scored in the race showing the future of their teams. Hersey placed 5 runners in the top 16 to win the Division with 42 points led by Zuzanna Kruuszewski and JoJo Messer finishing second and third. Wheaton-Warrenville South placed 3 runners in the top 7 scoring 67 points placing second. Clara Franken (4), Kate Rodakowski (6), and Addy Linsday (7) led the Tigers all finishing under 20-minutes. DePaul College Prep (73 points) and Lane (74 points) finished third and fourth. Freshman Abigail Radich of DePaul College Prep ran 19:05 to win with Zuzanna Kruszewski at 19:08 finishing second.

300 runners finished in the Boys Frosh/Soph race. Success continued to show from the York Boys team in this race. Manny Najera of Naperville Central, the team’s normal second varsity runner, caught York’s Patrick Hill in the final 400-meters of the race pulling away to run 15:17 for the win. Hill, who led most of the race, ran a personal best of 15:22 placing second. York place all 5 runners in the top 25 to score 50 points in winning this event. Naperville Central scored 128 points finishing second. Hill was joined by Harrison Manternach (4th) and Michael Gurgone (7th) finishing in the top 10. Hill had the second fastest time for the team (Varsity/Frosh Soph) on this day.