Hinsdale Central, York teams repeat with exciting wins at WSC-Silver

Watcke outkicks Newhart in race for ages in Boys race; Bennis under 17-minutes in Girls win

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Hinsdale, Ill – What could be more perfect on a Saturday in October than the scenery that Katherine Legge Memorial offered with the foliage in the park starting to change with temperatures getting you to debate whether to keep your coat on or take it off.

How about two exciting races on a course that was as perfect as the weather with teams for the WSC-Silver Conference on this day more perfect than the weather.

Results | Video

Five of the six teams in the Boys race are ranked in the top 30 in the state. The first four teams were ranked in the top seven. York is the top rated Girls team in the state with Lyons Township and Downers Grove North rated in the state top 10. Iron sharpens iron when it comes to running. In both races, all of these teams and runners brought out the best of each other.

#2 Hinsdale Central used front running from Dan Watcke  and Aden Bandukwala to help them win the Boys division title for the second year in a row with 49 points. #4 Oak Park-River Forest was without one of their top seven runners at the end of the race but still finished second with 54 points. #3 Downers Grove North was a close third with 58 points ahead of #7 Lyons Township (71 points) and York (107 points) finished fourth and fifth.

The pace was fast. The strategy would be different than a big invitational with only 39 runners finishing the race. With less runners in the race, the team component of racing would become stronger. The pack went through the first mile in 4:48 with Nicolas Strayer of Lyons Township with a slight lead ahead of Watcke, Bandukwala, Liam Newhart of Oak Park-River Forest, and Caden Weber of Downers Grove North. Bandukwala made the first real move of the race making a huge surge right before 2-miles stretching the pack out into a straight line. By the time the leaders passed 2.5 miles in 12:15, Bandukwala had a 5 second lead on Watcke and Newhart with the pack fading in the distance. If the competitiveness hadn’t fired up at this point of the race, it was about to gup another 100 degrees.

Bandukwala knew that he would be passed. It is a sense when you can feel it in your legs. Newhart made the move to take the lead with 400-meters left in the race. Watcke followed. Newhart had to make that move to try to take the kick out of a 1:50 half-miler.

The two runners made the turn for the 150-meters up hill to the finish. Watcke took the lead just before the curve. Newhart has gained confidence over the past month, and it showed as he tried to resist Watcke staying ahead of him. Watcke moved to the right side of the final straightaway sensing the power coming from the cheering spectators. He looked at the clock crossing the line in 14:34.5. Newhart ran a great race running 14:36.3 to finish second. Bandukwala was 10 seconds back in third with a 14:46 time.

“We know this course very well,” Watcke said. “All I tried to do was close the gap. It was a really good race. All I wanted to do was close it out.”

“These guys (Watcke and Bandukwala) are national champions in the 4x8 and have crazy leg speed in the end. The plan was to try to draw them out a little bit,” added Newhart. “I was hurting a lot at the end, but I knew I had to make a move there.”

Hinsdale Central tuned up for the upcoming state series races with a statement race on their home course. The Red Devils placed 5 runners in the top 24 led by the finishes of Watcke and Bandukwala. Michael Skora (8), Jessie Gamboa (14), and Max Lowe, in his first year of running, placing 24. Their top 5 split was 86 seconds and that makes sense considering how far ahead their first two runners were. The split from Skora to Lowe was 47 seconds.

Oak Park-River Forest finished with only six runners after Daniel Johnson was forced to drop out of a race for the third race in a row due to a nagging injury. The Huskies still placed 5 runners in the top 21 helped by top 10 finishes from Newhart, Michael Michelotti finishing sixth, and Nick Parrell finishing seventh. Their top five split in this race was 74 seconds. Their split from two to five was 48 seconds.

Downers Grove North was within nine points of a conference win. They placed 5 runners in the top 17 led by Caden Weber finishing fourth and Ryan Eddington placing ninth. Their top five split was 48 seconds with only a 30 second split from their second through fifth runners. Lyons Township’s fourth-place finish was led by top 11 finishes by Cillian Henning in fifth, Nicholas Strayer in tenth, and Aidan Collins in eleventh. Their top five split on 5 runners in the top 23 was 58 seconds. York ran a top five split of 38 seconds led by a 14-15 finish from Aidan Hill and Max Zangan.

There would be no question before the Girls race that top ranked York would win their third divisional title in a row. Even though all six teams in this race were ranked in the top 30, it was the matter of how low the Dukes would score. The answer was that York only scored 19 points to dominate this race.

Bria Bennis led her team from the start opening up a 15 second lead just in the first half of the race. Bennis charged up the hill with a purpose to wards the finish line. She broke 17-minutes for the first time on a cross-country course jubilantly finishing in 16:56.4. Teammate Michaela Quinn passed Lyons Township’s Catherine Sommerfeld in the final 100-meters to finish second with a 17:25 time. Sommerfeld was two seconds back with a great 17:27 effort.

“Honestly today time was not my biggest goal,” said Bennis. “I went by with 880 to go and my coach yelled out I was at 14:03. I kind of decided at that point I should go under 17-minutes. It was a long term goal, and I am happy that I did it.”

Then came the rest of the York pack. The Dukes 6 runners in the top 8, 7 runners in the top 11. Katherine Klimek and Brooke Berger crossed the line in fourth and fifth place. Hinsdale Central’s Sarah Fischer was 10 seconds back placing sixth. Lily Bianchi and Maggie Quinn finished eighth and ninth as the team’s fifth and sixth runners. Lily Beerhalter was the team’s seventh runner finishing eleventh. The team’s top five split was 65 seconds with the split between the Quinn and Bianchi at 36 seconds.

“Our two freshmen (Quinn and Bianchi) stepped up and had a great race today,” said Michaela Quinn. “Our split was closer than what we were expecting. We just came here and did it.”

#6 Lyons Township had finished ahead of #7 Downers Grove North in their last two races against each other. This time it was the Trojans turn to be ahead as they scored 61 points to finish second. North had 5 runners in the top 15 led by a 9-10 finish from Claire Pyne and Lily Eddington. The team’s top five split was only 32 seconds. Lyons Township was without one of their top five runners who came down ill on Friday the day before the meet. The Lions still scored 79 points to finish third led by Sommerfeld’s finish and their next four runners finishing between 17 through 21. Their overall top five split was 88 seconds. Their split between the second through five runners was only 15 seconds.

#13 Glenbard West finished fourth with  127 points followed by #22 Hinsdale Central in fifth (132 points), and #14 Oak Park River Forest in sixth (147 points).