Luke Ryan’s thousand-mile summer didn’t run the Downers Grove junior into the ground. It’s made him, as Saturday’s victory in West Aurora’s Stampede showed, a runner to be reckoned with as the season nears a close.
“That really helped me a lot, built up my aerobics base,” said Ryan, whose time of 14 minutes 52.9 seconds over the 3-mile course at Waubonsee Community College edged defending boys champion Dave Grange of Marmion by 2.3 seconds.
“I think it’s shown. Overall I’m just a stronger runner than I was before.”
Streamwood junior Nancy Nieto, who has been running with a nagging knee problem, overcame that to take the girls event in 17:32.9–more than 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Chelsea Bolton of Fremd.
“I’m really happy I was able to do that good,” Nieto said. “I wasn’t expecting to be up there at all.”
