Austin Adams experienced the ultimate double whammy last November at the Class 2A boys cross country state meet.
Kaneland not only had to stomach missing out on the third-place trophy by a single point to Bloomington at Detweiller Park in Peoria, but Adams also was denied individual all-state status by the same margin.
“We definitely think about that as a team,” Adams said. “But we’re not hung up on it in any way. It’s also there for motivation. We don’t want that to happen again.”
Adams and his teammates dismantled the field Saturday at the Class 2A Kaneland Regional on the Knights’ campus course in Maple Park.
Adams took the lead for good 350 meters into the race and unleashed a withering combination of speed and endurance to win the individual title in 15 minutes, 15.7 seconds.
Burlington Central star Anthony Farmer, who finished third in the state last year, was almost seven seconds behind Adams’ unrelenting pace as the runner-up in 15:22.7.
Even more importantly, the Knights underscored their season-long role as a top-ranked team with a triumphant 28-93 victory over Marmion.
Daniel Occhipinti, Isaiah Dallal and Ethan Walker took third, fourth and fifth, respectively, to augment Adams’ championship effort.
“My race strategy was to go out hard and see what I could do,” Adams said. “I wanted to see what other individuals up toward the front could do if I took it out hard.
“It worked out exactly as I wanted it to, even better than I expected.”
In the spring months, Adams’ specialty in track extends between 400 and 800 meters. He unveiled his sprinter-like speed to dazzle from the outset Saturday.
“I took it out and didn’t see him at all,” Adams said of Farmer.
Occhipinti, who cracked the top 25 in Peoria last year, concedes his fellow senior has supplanted him in the Knights’ hierarchy of runners.
“He’s always making sure we’re giving it our all,” Occhipinti said of Adams. “Our team is built off that.”
“Austin is natural leadership,” Walker said. “He leads by example, so it’s really a good beacon for the rest of the guys to have.”
Adams is not necessarily convinced his foot speed makes a difference in cross country.
“At the end of the day, you have to have that endurance to back it up,” Adams said.
Kaneland headlines the field Saturday at the Belvidere Sectional.
Continuing to star: The Waubonsie Valley girls did not advance Saturday as a team from the 3A Oswego East Regional.
But senior Ashley Heidenrich continues to build an irrefutable case for elite inclusion at the state level. She was a solitary figure in the regional, winning the individual title in 17:35.9.
“I wanted to view this as another practice for the state meet, practicing some of the strategies I would use,” Heidenrich said. “I was in no-man’s land a little bit this race. I wanted to focus on running even splits and having a couple of surges.”
Rising Cadets: With its reclassification to 2A, Marmion has been widely viewed as a team to watch in the next two weeks.
Lost in Kaneland’s avalanche at Saturday’s regional, Marmion still has grand aspirations behind Anthony Zangler and Alex Carlson.
The senior duo finished sixth and eighth, respectively, in the regional. The Cadets will compete in the Belvidere Sectional.
“It was a good opportunity to see our competition for the future, especially Kaneland,” Zangler said. “It gave us an opportunity to see where we need to be for the following week.”
Kevin McGavin is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
