St. Charles East’s top runners had the day off, but senior Zack Loomis and the rest of the defending state champions were up to the task Saturday at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.
With all-state runners Micah Wilson and Luke Schildmeyer being rested by coach Chris Bosworth, Loomis had the lead role for the Saints.
Loomis played the part well in a DuKane Conference quadrangular, catching St. Charles North’s Noah Eng in the final quarter-mile of a 3-mile race to take top honors in 15 minutes, 25.6 seconds.
“I’m usually the third guy, but I was just pacing our 4-5-6-7 runners the first mile and a half,” Loomis said. “Then I had to play catch up the last mile and see what I could do because we were trying to close the split between me and our fourth guy.”
In last year’s state meet, Wilson and Schildmeyer finished seventh and 25th, respectively. Loomis was 39th.
“We have a fantastic 1-2-3 and our 4-5 are brand new to varsity,” Bosworth said. “We want to get them closer to our top three.
“That was the plan — see how they could run with Zack and then try to get as close to him as possible. And we did. We were about 11 seconds closer.”
Connor Murphy, Tyler Tobin and Mitch Garcia finished fourth through sixth for the Saints, all within 2.4 seconds of each other while recording personal bests.
St. Charles East won the meet with 24 points.
Paced by third-place finisher Ryan Mansour in 15:41.5, Batavia took second with 52 points. Eng ran 15:31 and led the host North Stars to third with 60 points. Glenbard North ended up with 103.
The meet provided a far different vibe for St. Charles North coach Kevin Harrington. The North Stars usually host a 30-team invitational on the date.
“Most years, we have a thousand kids running,” Harrington said. “Today, we have 64 with the boys and girls races. It’s a very different feeling, but at least we’re here.
“We have to be super thankful for the fact we get to put on a uniform and get out here and do what we do.”
Feeling strong: Batavia junior Katrina Schlenker led the girls field in the DuKane Conference quadrangular at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve, finishing in 17:39.6.
“I wanted to get in the low 17s or break 17,” Schlenker said. “I felt really strong, and I’m just trying every mile to push faster and see how fast I can go. Training has been constant. Hopefully, I can keep doing that.”
Batavia won with 32 points. The host North Stars were second with 39 points, paced by all-state runner Rachel Price, who was second in 18:02.4.
St. Charles East rested its top seven girls and took third with 64 points.
Batavia’s Jenna Schifferer and Lauren Hunecke finished third and fourth, individually.
“Hunecke has battled chronic injuries the last three years and hasn’t been able to get anything going,” Batavia coach Chad Hillman said. “She’s healthy and doing awesome.”
This and that: Jacobs sophomore Christina Beyer was joined by Olivia Orth and Jaclyn Schmidt to give the Golden Eagles a 1-2-3 finish in their District 300 Meet win.
Led by the second-place finish of Isaiah Dallal in a home course-best 15:55, Kaneland tied Benet at 32 points in a triangular that included Sycamore.
Christian Phillips, in his second race back from injury, ran a 15-second personal record and finished 12th as the Knights’ sixth runner, giving them the edge over Benet, whose sixth runner was 16th.
Angel Solis, Ethan Marshall, Aidan Oster, Andres Perez and Zach Benziger finished second through sixth, all within 4 seconds of each other, to lead Waubonsie Valley to a triangular win over Naperville Central and Metea Valley.
