Distance Night in Palatine produces meet records and personal bests

Photo: Rachel Hickey breaks the meet record in the Girls 800 (Laura Duffy photo)

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

Palatine – The combination of perfect weather conditions along with great race fields was the formula that meet director and Palatine Coach Chris Quick was looking for when he created the Distance Night in Palatine three years ago. His idea paid off big time Saturday night with meet records falling left and right.

There was no single headliner in this meet. Every race had a headliner.

Four records fell while one was tied in spectacular fashion.

Meet Photos  | Results

Hickey dominates in Girls 800

After finishing second in this meet the past two years, LaSalle-Peru’s Rachel Hickey ran her best race ever in winning the 800 Meter Run. Her winning time of 2:10.70 was significant in many ways. It is the state’s fastest time as well as a top ten time nationally. It surpassed the 2A State Meet Record of Karina Liz when she ran 2:10.73 in 2014. It was also a personal best for her by almost three seconds.

Hickey, in the past, has had a tendency of going out slow in this race. When Highland Park’s Stephanie Kriss took out the first 400 meters in a quick 63.5, if Hickey wanted to win she had to stay close to Kriss.

“I needed that speed,” Hickey said of Kriss leading. “I chronically go out too slow. I need to do that every time to condition myself to go out that fast.”

Kriss held the lead until the final 200-meters when Hickey took over. She stormed out of the curve with her lead increasing with every stride. She crossed the line with the win and breaking the meet record that Kriss set in last year’s meet. Kriss finished second (2:14.56) while Illiana Christian’s Gillian Fiene (2:15.52) and Marne Sullivan of New Trier (2:15.92) were next both running under 2:16.

“My dad told me before the race that WHEN you take the lead, don’t look back and don’t focus on holding them off,” added Hickey. “I just kept those words in my head and dropped my arms and went for it. My legs were dead. 2:10 has been in my head since sophomore year. I never thought it was possible until tonight.”

Mendez gets it done in the Boys 1600

There is a tendency in some championship mile races that there is a sluggish first two laps and into turns into kicker’s paradise in the final 300-meters. It was not the case in the championship race in this meet as Jacobs’ Zach Albrecht brought the pack through in a quick 59.4 seconds. This was Albrecht’s second race within 24 hours. The night before at the McHenry County Championships, he had recorded a 4:13.25 for the win.

Clayton Mendez of Whitney Young has waited for the “big-meet” win all season. He could not wait any longer as he took the lead before passing 800-meters in 2:03.6. Mendez started stretching out the lead going through 1200-meters in 3:07 with Naperville Central’s Thomas Shilgalis and Ansiel Fellman of Bradford WI close behind. The pack had fallen off now trailing by two seconds.

This was Mendez’s race to win and refused to give up the lead. He stormed across the line in 4:08.64 tying the meet record that Sean Torpy established in the meet’s inaugural year.

“I was happy that Zach (Albrecht) took it out. This is a great meet to get a fast time,” Mendez said. “You are not going to “even-split” it for four laps. We did exactly what I wanted to do. I can’t tell you what was happening in that final 100-meters. All I knew is that I did not want to get kicked down. It was a nice build-up of work that we had been putting in.”

Fellman finished second (4:09.75) going under 4:10 for the first time. Shilgalis, coming off a 1:55 800 the night before at Rock Island, shattered his personal best by eight seconds taking third (4:10.70. Drew Bosley of Homestead WI followed in fourth just five hundredths of a second back. 14 runners finished under 4:20 in all three sections of the race.

A freshman leads the way in the Girls 1600

It was an amazing sight to see all 16-runners together in the championship race entering the final lap. Audrey Ernst of St. Charles North missed all her senior year of cross-country due to injuries. She was the one that made this race pushing the pace through 3:45 after the first three laps.

It was a freshman that would lead them all in the end. Latin School’s Marianne Mihas, who ran 5:02 in eighth-grade last year, took the lead on the final lap and held off challenges from Schaumburg’s Madison Marasco and Barrington’s Jocelyn Long in the final 100-meters to lower her personal best to 4:55.68 in winning the race. Long was close in second (4:56.06) with Marasco less than a second back of Mihas (4:56.56).

“I messed up a race last week where I let Sarah Schmitt get away from me and I did not have enough to back it up in the final lap,” Mihas said. “I felt really good the first three laps. I knew I had to get out of that congestion. I had to be mentally tough in responding. It ended up working.”

Isabelle Christiansen of Oswego led the pack through finishing fourth (4:58.01). There were 10 runners in that race that went under five-minutes. Samantha Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South missed that mark by five hundredths of a second placing 11^th. She did do that with one shoe coming off with 600-meters to go in the race.

A wild end to the Boys 3200 nets Methner the win

We had an idea that the championship race of this distance would be fast when Rock Island Alleman’s Spencer Smith won the undercard race in a fast 9:17.44. The conditions warranted a fast time. That’s what the crowd at Chic Anderson Stadium got.

Tommy Brady of Maine South made this race leading throughout taking the pack through the first 1600-meters in 4:33. By the time they entered the bell lap in 8:02, there were five runners close to Brady with Josh Methner of Hersey, Tyler Cushing of Bolingbrook, and Stephen Moody of Glenbard West nipping at his heels.

Methner took over the lead in the final 200-meters. Brady tried to make one final surge before the finish but lost his balance and fell. Methner dropped his personal best by almost 20-seconds to get the win (9:06.65). The surprise of the race was Waukegan’s Marcos Garcia who entered the meet with a personal best of 9:32.70. He finished second in an eye-popping 9:07.09. Brady fell over the line in third (9:08.21) just ahead of Moody (9:08.41). Cushing was the fifth runner under 9:10 as he ran 9:09.70.

“It was great to know that I had this time in me today,” Methner said. “I just had to keep reminding myself that I had more in me the final two laps. I just had to push as much as I can.”

11 runners in this event ran under 9:20. Five of the top six finishers were underclassmen.

Manetsch in the end captures the Girls 3200

Jenna Schwartz of Waterloo and Melissa Manetsch of Libertyville came off strong indoor season winning their class races at the Illinois Top Times Championships in March. The two pushed each other through the final 1600-meters of this race creating a memorable ending. Manetsch found some speed in her legs in the final 300-meters of the race to pull away from Schwartz and capture the win (10:40.09) just missing her goal of going under 10:40 but did set a new meet record by two seconds. Schwartz finished second (10:44.40). Campbell Petersen of Dunlap was nine seconds down to Manetsch and Schwartz entering the final lap. She closed that gap down to three seconds as the freshman finished third (10:47.98). Eight runners finished under 11-minutes.

“I completely could not have run that race without her (Jenna Schwartz),” said Manetsch. “I was struggling during the middle of the race and she came by me. I am so grateful. It was a really fun race.”

Wells’ kick wins the Boys 800

The stakes in this event were raised when Shane Yamco of Riverton lowered his personal best from 1:58 to win the second section of this event running 1:55.61.

It looked like the chances were slim that Yamco’s time would be eclipsed when the pack in the championship race went through the first 400-meters in a sluggish 58.5.

Leave it to Riley Wells of Rockford Christian to come from behind again to win a race. Wells was in the middle of the pack but in position to make a move. The junior took the lead on the back straight and pulled away for the win (1:55.38). He negative split that race running 59/56.3. Wes York of Waubonsie Valley made a strong move in the final lap but was not enough to catch Wells. York ran 1:56.68 to finish second in the championship race and third overall.

“I learned a lot from the Batavia race indoors getting boxed in. I did not want to do that. I ran in Lane 2 for most of that,” Wells said. “I liked that pace. It felt good.”

Both Distance Medley Relay races set new meet records.

It was no surprise that Naperville North would win this race and set a record in the process despite that they raced earlier in the day at the high-powered Sue Pariseau Invitational. Alex Morris’ 3:47.2 opening leg broke the race wide-open as the Lady Huskies broke the meet record by 30 seconds as they ran 12:12.54 for the win. Claire Hill followed with a 60.2 400-meter leg while Hannah Ricci held the lead running a 2:27 800-leg. Sarah Schmitt, who ran 10:25 3200-meter earlier in the day at Glenbard West, brought her team home with an impressive 4:58.2 solo 1600-meter leg. Dunlap ran 12:46.45 to finish second.

Downers Grove North bounced back after strong races the night before at the Bob Cohoon Invitational to break the meet record by 15 seconds. It was an all-WSC-Silver affair as the Trojans ran a top ten national time in the event (10:15.38) to finish ahead of conference rivals York (10:28.60) and Hinsdale Central (10:29.59). Jacob Ridderhoff led off with a 3:09.5 1200-meter leg to give themselves a two second lead ahead of York as Jackson Bode ran 3:11.4 for the Dukes. Brendan Lockerby opened the gap to four seconds on York by running a 49.5 400-meter leg. York’s Charlie Kern closed the gap down by running a 1:54.9 800-meter leg while North’s Riley Birkmeier ran 1:56.4 to secure the lead. Miles Christensen, who had run 9:03.79 the night before, showed his fitness level by running 4:19.3 for 1600-meters to give his team the win.

1-2 finish for York in the freshman 1600

Monticello’s Luke Sokolowski held the lead entering the final lap of this race. Moves in the final 300-meters first by Sam Ayers and then in the final 150-meters by Colin Hill gave York a 1-2 finish in the race. Ayers ran 4:35.26 for the win while his teammate Hill placed second in a personal best 4:36.51. Sokolowski held on for third (4:36.71).