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IL#1 York’s 5 in the first 6 dominates West Suburban Silver MeetPublished by
Results | Elites | IL Conference Central
By Michael Newman Chicago, Ill. — The heavens decided to open up Saturday morning on Schiller Woods and the West Suburban Conference Silver Meet. There was a zero percent chance that any runner or spectator at the Forest Preserve would stay dry. When the rain started to get heavier and heavier, York CoachJoe Newton sat back, smiled, and watched his team warm up. “Now this is cross country weather!” Newton exclaimed. “It is as bad as you can get.” It was supposed to be a matchup between three of the state’s top 10 3A teams. But at the end, it was all a sea of green that washed into the finish chute. The #1 Dukes placed five in the first six places and had all five runners ahead of #4 Lyons’ first runner,Ryan Speir. York’s 19 points topped Lyons’ 57 points and #8 Hinsdale Central’s 97 points. “It was hard to stay together today in that driving rain,” Newton said. “It is a statement. This was the first race this year where we were rested. We have trained through every race except for this meet, where we wanted to do well.” Watch the full interview with York Boys Coach Joe Newton here The pace sloshed through the first mile in 5:00 with York’s top seven, along with Speir and Mike Matusiak, in the front of the pack. Zack Smith of Downers Grove North was there, along with Billy Magnesen of Hinsdale Central. As Newton said, it was tough to keep close together because it was raining so hard. Just before the two mile, Downers North’s Smith started to break away from the pack with Scott Milling of York right alongside of him. The two traded the lead for the final 800 meters. With 300 meters to go, coming down the hill on the course, Smith made a spurt which Milling responded to. Milling made a final surge for the line in the last meters to win over Smith by a second. York’s 1-5 split was 25 seconds. “With about 600 meters to go, he (Smith) was right behind me and I was getting a little nervous,” Milling said. “Going up the hill, he took the lead. I was just telling myself to settle down and take control. We were neck and neck. All I was saying to myself is that it was my senior year. I had to give everything I had.” Watch the full interview with York Boys XC Team here The girls individual race became a two-runner dual between Glenbard West’s Madeline Perez and York’s Emma Fisher. The one runner that was missing was Jill Hardies of Hinsdale Central. According to her coach Mark McCabe, she was feeling discomfort in the same foot she injured last fall. She was in her normal training routine, but with the conditions at Schiller Woods so horrible, it was not worth the risk to run her in this race. Fisher and Perez had broken ahead of the rest of the pack by the mile. Lisa Luczak of Glenbard West was solidly in third. “Lisa ran well by herself today. She was kind of in no man’s land between the front two and the rest of the pack,” said Glenbard West Coach Paul Haas. Fisher and Perez went through the first two miles in 5:30 and 11:10, with neither runner wanting to drop. Ten days ago at a dual meet at East End Park in Elmhurst, Fisher defeated Perez, who was recovering from a sinus infection and an upper respiratory infection, by 30 seconds. The outcome of this race would be much closer. The two made their way up the hill with 400 meters remaining. Coming down the hill Fisher made her move, one that left Perez behind. The winning time for Fisher was 16:59, nine seconds ahead of Perez. “Madeline is a real strong runner. She was making me work and I was making her work,” Fisher stated after her race was over. Watch the full interview with Emma Fisher here #2 Glenbard West ran without two of their top seven runners: Caitlyn Reich, who dropped out of the race, and Christina Segal, who was at a family wedding. The Hilltoppers still had four runners in the first eight to win with 40 points. #12 York was second with 64 points. “This is a tough conference. There is never an easy day in this conference,” said Haas. “We just battled and I was really happy with the way that they performed today.”
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