This summer, Zach Kinne moved away. We haven’t talked about it much publicly because the bold-face things one might say—that we were losing an all-state runner, the public face of the team, and a true friend—were obvious. But more critically, we all understood that’s Zach’s departure threatened to define us before we had even taken a single stride. We would not be the team of Michael Madiol, Chris Keeley, Michael O’Connor, or Matt Jett; we would be The Team That Zach Left. The Also-Rans. The No-Names.

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It was a fitting moniker, first suggested by legendary North Central coach Al Carius during a talk this summer.  It’s disingenuous to say that no one in the state had heard of our athletes—Madiol and Keeley both ran the State Meet in 2017, and Dovalovsky was an alternate on the 2018 State Track Team. But Kinne’s shadow was long; he had so often been the focal point of team previews and recaps that his teammates had never had to develop a competitive identity. More pointedly, they had never had to confront the burden of legacy on their own. How are you going to expect others to know who you are if you don’t know yourself?

When it was finally time to tell the team, Coach Vandersteen gathered the top runners after a June workout and delivered the speech he’d been rehearsing since just after the Track State Meet. “We’re going to have some fun this season,” he promised. “There are no expectations for us now.” “Aw [expletive],” said Michael O’Connor afterwards. “Steen just gave up on us!”

But he hadn’t; just the opposite. He was challenging those left behind to invest in one another. The night before the State Meet, the top 14 gathered for a final meeting. In that session, we saw just how deep their bond had grown. To a man, each testified to his love and commitment to his brothers, often moved to tears and silence by the exercise. “I’m not running this race for myself,” said Nicholas Dovalovsky. “I’m running it for you. The seniors.” The next day, he showed the state just how seriously he meant those words.  

Every team’s State story is impossible to communicate in a Tweet or a blog post; it’s the incalculable accumulation of tiny moments, quiet revelations, and grayscale epiphanies spread out over hundreds of otherwise unremarkable miles. But the beauty of our sport is that over those miles, you figure out who you are, and so does everyone else. Thus, to properly capture a season, we need to explain the journey to self that the runners undertake. The English-American poet W.H. Auden once wrote that “proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable.” What follows is the meaning of those names.  


BRIAN JETT, Sophomore: Fire

Brian is the third Jett to come through our program, and by far the brashest. He joined like lightning, electrifying some, burning others, and short-circuiting just about everything around him. There were days where he could be callous or disrespectful, and non-contact days where he ghosted. We called him “swear-jar” for much of his freshman campaign for reasons that are probably obvious.

But something happened to Brian over the course of the past year: he grew up. He overcame injury and disappointment; he showed his teammates deference and good esteem. He showed up for every workout ready to test himself and carry others. He listened to his coaches, honored his family, and improved both his times and his grades. He was our top sophomore finisher at Twilight, and our second finisher at Conference, and watching him comfort his brother after the State race showed that he had traveled much farther than the soles of his trainers could reveal. To be sure, he is still Brian, and his trademark “Let’sGO!” echoed out from the stage as he accepted his medal. But like the flame trimmed for a lantern, he found that he could still offer heat and light without burning everything down.


RYAN HORN, Sophomore: Consistency

Our sophomore team fluctuated wildly over the course of the season. Often, Dovalovsky ran up; sometimes he was joined by Vasant Fong. Leif Anderson spent time injured, as did Jett. Some weeks Luke Mennecke, Luke Suman, and Stephen Smilie rose to provide heroics; other days, they missed the race’s critical summoning.

Yet Ryan Horn remained the fixed point around which our success revolved. He is not a flashy runner. No one talks about the Ryan Horn finishing kick. His haircut is competent and unobtrusive. But there might not be a more important ingredient to our future’s cohesiveness. Ryan has a meaningful relationship with everyone; he is quick with praise and even faster with a joke. He cares about the team’s success and the individual performances around him. He understands the science of running and takes seriously the art of mental preparation. Most critically, in workouts and humdrum runs, Ryan shows the same methodical commitment, the same discipline and personal responsibility, the same wordless acceptance that there is work to be done, and it must be done well.

It wasn’t until the Conference race that Horn stepped forward and led his team in point-scoring. But those who had watched him closely since June understood that he’d been leading all along.


VASANT FONG, Sophomore: Service

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant."
— Max DePree
 
Vasant has been afraid before every big race he’s ever run, starting with the first one his freshman year. Entering the box at Hinsdale, he was suddenly seized by crippling stomach pains. Yet Vasant controlled his breathing, re-centered his focus, and took the line. He finished third in that race.

Nothing since then has come easy, and yet Vasant has met the challenge of the moment more consistently than anyone else in his class. Coming off a F/S Conference championship in the 3200 meter run, Vasant had early varsity ambitions, and he put in an impressive summer to ready himself for elite competition. His sophomore races draped him in medals. He finished seventh at Richard Spring, fifth at York, and second at Forest Park and Locktoberfest.

But his Varsity races forced Vasant to confront the limits of youth. He was no longer leading the race or the chase pack. In lesser runners, doubt and resignation might reign. It is Vasant’s consistent response to these results that elevated him to the rank of our eighth man. He reflects on his effort, confers with coaches, and humbles himself the very next day. Vasant is a servant to the God of Long Miles, and his example reminds everyone that all gods demand patience, faith, and sacrifice before they reward their followers, and that the men who master these virtues will be most favored of all.


QUINN KENNEDY, Junior: Self-Assurance

For Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, the problem with defining people through opposition is that it robs the individual of choice and self-definition. Slaves only exist in relation to masters, and masters only exist so long as they have subordinates. In The Breakfast Club, Bender tries to show himself strong because he’s a rebel, but he’s only relevant as long as there are Brians to bully or principals to annoy. Bender’s great shame is that he’s completely defined by his father.

Like Horn and Jett, it would be easy to define Quinn Kennedy in relation to his older sibling. And yet Quinn is wonderfully, stubbornly his own man. He is a musician with unique tastes, blending classical strings with contemporary guitar. He makes his own dinners and seasons his own chicken. Most critically, he runs his own race. Following inconsequential races at Forest Park and Richard Spring, Quinn shifted his racing mindset and began to see improved results.  He was third in JV races at Locktoberfest and Twilight. He PR’d in the Conference race. Most critically, he was doing it his own way, for himself and his teammates.

The night before the State Meet, Quinn sat in our meeting, the only one not wearing an NVXC shirt. Yet he spoke of commitment, fellowship, and brotherhood in the same voice as his teammates. He was confident and assured, at once one of us and unlike anyone else. And that, of course, was the point.


BLAKE STOROE, Senior: Determination

Perhaps the most reserved member of our top-14, Blake has also traveled the farthest. He finished 160th at Twilight as a freshman; in 2018, he was 9th. He cut three minutes off his PR in four years. On September 29th of this year, he won the Open race at Locktoberfest by eight seconds. For context, All-State runner Chris Keeley has never won a race.

In a sport that covets phenoms and endlessly hypes the latest up-and-comer, Blake represents the most valuable archetype: the self-made champion. There is no secret to his climb, and there is not much to say about it that isn’t familiar. He had a little bit of talent, steadily applied himself, bought into team culture and values, reflected on failures and resolved to correct them. He listened to his coaches, respected his teammates, and refused excuses. And at the end of the odyssey, Blake Storoe was onstage with a hand on the trophy.

Blake, too, spoke on the night before the State meet. He talked about the thrill of running open races with his JV teammates, of taking control of a race. But of course, that meant more to Blake than most. He also knew the view from the back.


KEVIN DANELIAK, Senior: Fellowship

The hardest element for a coach to control is chemistry. There are workouts for aerobic thresholds and VO2 max, for mental toughness and conditioning. We can even correct strides with the right buy-in. But you can’t make teammates come together. You can’t run intervals for ‘liking one another’ or fartleks for friendship. Runners can be cliquish and standoffish, and the same qualities that help champions separate themselves from their competitors can also isolate them.

This is why an athlete like Kevin is so vital. Like Quinn, he has staked his own identity separate from NVXC (check out “Chillin’ With Kev” on YouTube!). And like Blake, Kevin has traveled the longest road to JV and Varsity success. “People give me a hard time for telling so many kids that they could be top 7,” joked Coach Vandersteen. “I don’t know if I would have ever thought to say that to Kevin as a freshman. It just shows how far he’s come.” Indeed, Kevin was second in the Open race at Richard Spring, and the JV champion at Twilight.

But it’s Kevin’s ability to bring together people that makes him most valuable. No one is quicker to defuse tension with a joke, and no one is better at inventing games on long runs. He deflates Varsity anxiety with laughter and inflates JV brio by involving everyone in the gag. It was Kevin at the center of so many pre-race circles, Kevin leading the cheers, Kevin setting the mood on the back of the bus as we traveled to Alexander’s.

The knock on ‘chill’ is that it’s a mockery of accountability; it’s a vacancy, a muting; it seeks to excuse people from caring about things. But in Kevin, Chill is just the opposite—it’s a young man who laughs without ambivalence, competes without restraint, and loves without apology.


JACK ORENGO, Senior: Courage

                “Can a man be brave when he’s also afraid, father?”
                “That is the only time a man can be brave.”
                                                --Ned Stark, A Game of Thrones

On most days, Jack Orengo can be found running as though his limbs were made of balloon-art and his bones filled with wind. He has a charming smile, kind eyes, and contagious laugh. He likes video games and cartoons, most especially in the company of others.

But like all of us, Jack also has episodes of fear, doubt, and anxiety. He worries what others will think of him. He fears that his successes are fraudulent, his relationships are conditional. He feels, at times, like an imposter.

We know this because Jack has told us. He has shared with his teammates and coaches what he sometimes goes through. And he is honest about how difficult that can make his life.

This is why Jack’s season is so remarkable, why his impact runs deeper than times and places. Jack improved throughout the season, correcting earlier race strategies and learning to trust his own legs. He let go of consumptive expectations and celebrated the race above the results. He joined six other seniors to race at Sectionals, bettering his mark from two weeks earlier. He was never free the quiet voice of worry, tugging at him like webs. But Jack ran past it all. He found another voice.

He spoke with it the night before State, tremulous at first, but increasingly with confidence and coherence. He talked about the program, his teammates, and the journey they’d shared. He sounded like a survivor, a winner, a champion. “Wow,” said Jack. “That’s like, the best talk I’ve ever given.” Of course, he was right. He’d spent four years learning it.


SPENCER TESKE, Senior: Integrity

As a freshman, Spencer was adrift. Frustrated by injury, left out of lead training groups, and suffering from personal losses, he found himself at one of those fractal moments where any number of paths were possible. Yet something kept him lacing up, joining his teammates, plying his efforts. A promising track season became a strong sophomore summer, which led to a breakthrough fall campaign. And Spencer never looked back.

What made the difference was his fidelity to training. Spencer’s commitment was unshakable, his habits methodical. On mornings when the team didn’t meet, he’d hit the sidewalks on his own, sometimes joined by his father on bicycle. Spencer made the decision not to let anything else in his life define him save for the loyalty he showed his friends and the team.

He set PRs at Richard Spring, Culver, and Locktoberfest, later finishing 12th in Conference. And while his race at Sectionals was off from two weeks earlier, there was never any question that Spencer would be one of our seven at Detweiller. He’d been there all along.


NICHOLAS DRECHSLER, Senior: Faith

Nick’s first race this season was one of his best. Pinned back from the lead chase packs, he steadily moved up throughout the 5k, seemingly floating above the muddy fray and rollercoaster drops of the Forest Park Invitational. Nick was our third man that day, finishing 15th and just two seconds back of Keeley. A week later he PR’d at Richard Spring, but had faded back from the pack. It was a conundrum—how could both races belong to the same athlete, exerting the same effort?

Coaches always tell their athletes to run their own race, but it’s a hard edict to obey when the margin for error is so narrow. A number of race strategies were proposed before only the original truth remained: let Drechsler be Drechsler. Released to run according to his own rhythms and judgments, Nick found a new confidence, running some of his best races at Conference and Regionals.

In the end, Nick saved his fastest race for the State Meet, besting his previous mark by 20 seconds. Once again, he was the lone gold-and-black jersey amidst a hostile throng; once again, he seemed to dart between the bodies, somehow drifting to the front in the final straightaway.

“Faith,” observed Martin Luther King Jr. ”is taking the first step, even if you cannot see the whole staircase.” This team learned to trust Nick to ascend, even when only he could see the way up.  


MATT JETT, Senior: Sisu

Versatile though English may be, some concepts can only find expression in other languages. “Sisu” is an untranslatable Finnish word that mixes tenacity, persistence, determination, perseverance, and sustained courage: it is the psychological strength to ensure that regardless of the cost or the consequence, what has to be done will be done. It is derived from the word sisus, meaning “guts”; in its first invocation in 1745, it was defined as “the place where strong emotions lived.”

One wonders if upon that publication, the Finnish might have included a drawing of Matt Jett, though he was more than 250 years from being born. From the time that he joined our program, Matt has been driven almost pathologically to perfect himself as a runner. He exhaustively records his workouts and catalogues his races; he is fanatical about his diet, hydration, and sleep habits. At times, his dedication threatened to derail him, for there aren’t many people more aware of the gap between their ideals and their reality.

Yet the 2018 season helped Matt find a measure of peace. He maintained his confidence while battling a stubborn glut injury and kept his composure when early races revealed rust. He grew closer to his teammates and increasingly trusted their pacing. He adopted greater patience and emotional remove. He let loose with a bit more dry wit.

After the State race, he was briefly despondent, worried that his finish had cost the team the deciding points. It was, like much of his worry, unneeded guilt, born of the place where strong emotions live. When the team needed him, Matt was right on time, ready to do what needed to be done.


MICHAEL O’CONNOR, Senior: Love

Aristotle believed friendship to be among man’s greatest virtues, and he defined three types. There are friendships of utility, which exist between yourself and someone useful to you (the coworker who fixes the printer when it jams). There are also friendships of pleasure, the people whose company you enjoy in laughter or activity. But highest of all is the friendship of goodness, which are based on mutual respect and admiration. These friendships take longer to build than the other two kinds--but they're also more powerful and enduring. They often arises when two people recognize that they have similar values and goals; that they have similar visions for how the world (or at least their lives) should be.

Few athletes in our program have more embodied friendships of goodness than Michael O’Connor. He speaks openly and often of his affection for his teammates, praising them with specificity and sincerity. There’s an awe-shucks simplicity that seems positively anachronistic in Michael, like he belongs in another era where people spoke plainly and warmly to those they cared for.

But however cornpone one may find these expressions, they became the lingua franca of the team. One by one, Michael’s teammates joined him in declaring their admiration and appreciation towards one another, so grateful were they to have spent so many years in pursuit of a shared goal. It was an affection that developed over countless miles by slow degrees, and it was Michael who best gave language to what they all realized: they had all been saved by it.

Minutes before the results came in, the team huddled together, a clumsy embrace where they spoke quietly about the race and the oath their effort had fulfilled. It was Michael who taught them to speak this way, to celebrate the bond that was deeper than bone, more elemental than blood.


NICOLAS DOVALOVSKY, Sophomore: Audacity

Twelve months ago, Nicolas Dovalovsky was a freshman soccer player. He had flirted with the idea of Cross Country, but had too long invested in other team sports to seriously pursue his true gift.

But the members of this team stayed after him. The sophomores in particular reminded him daily how much his temperament, talent, and tenacity would be better served running around the soccer fields than on them. It took an act of courage for Nicholas to listen to them and join this team.

That boldness came to define him as a runner. Nicolas won his first race at Forest Park; in fact, he is undefeated at the F/S level, owning victories at York and Locktoberfest. Indeed, his prodigious talents summoned him to Varsity, but here too he seemed dauntless, shouldering his way into the chase pack of more experienced runners.

As the season wore on, Nicolas’s results flagged a little; it had been so easy to overlook his inexperience that it seemed surprising he could tire. But through it all, his teammate’s confidence in him never wavered, and Nicolas rewarded that faith with a stunning 28th place finish in the State race, posting a 14:50, the third-fastest November time for a sophomore in NVXC history. Incredibly, he passed nearly 20 runners in the last mile. It was one final act of defiance for a remarkable young man who had finished 32nd only six weeks earlier at the Richard Springs Invitational. For Dovalovsky, all that was required was a challenge worthy of his courage.


CHRIS KEELEY, Senior: Resiliency

Last year, Chris Keeley collapsed 150 meters from the chute at State. Here’s what we wrote afterwards:

Chris Keeley left Detweiller with a medal around his neck, and a trophy that would one day bear his name. But for ten minutes before the ceremony, Chris lay on the ground alone and wept.

This is the hardest lesson to learn, and one we would spare our runners if we could. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we convince ourselves that victory is possible when it is completely out of our hands. Chris Keeley loved this team so much that his inability to consummate his vision felt like dying. Yet the foundation of every great thing that Chris will ever do—as a husband, a father, and a man—exists in what happened next. For a long time on Saturday, he lay on his back gasping. And then, after a while, Chris Keeley got up.

Chris most certainly got up. He went on to a successful track season, setting PRs in the 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. He put in a phenomenal summer. He invested in his teammates, listened to his coaches, kept up his studies. He plays the piano like an angel.

But perhaps the most significant change came over the course of several races where Chris learned to relax in the middle and save his intensity for the final push. The act of maintaining his personal intensity over three miles was psychically exhausting, and Chris learned with practice to channel that energy rather than burn with it. Sharing low-stick responsibility with Madiol further lessened the pressure, allowing Chris to become the athlete he always promised: a gritty front-runner with a lethal kick.

The hero’s journey often takes him into the underworld, a process called katabasis, where the light is dim and despair is high. As a junior, Chris Keeley went as low as one can go. That is, of course, what true heroes have to do. After the race on Saturday, the eyes of the Illinois were all on Keeley as he crossed the stage, a pair of medals around his neck. Everyone was looking up.  


Michael Madiol, senior: Indefatigability

Here’s what you don’t do:

You don’t tell a kid whose freshman squad just finished fifth at Hornet-Red Devil to quit. You don’t tell him that he can’t improve from a 30th place finish at Conference, almost a minute behind freshman teammate Chris Keeley. You don’t tell him that he’ll never get closer, never get better, that he should talk more—“Be more of a rah-rah guy!”—that he should wear contacts and work on his stride.

You don’t tell him to be satisfied with finishing fourth at Conference as a sophomore, 56th in State the next year, or 82nd at Footlocker Regionals. You don’t tell him that his nagging knee injuries will keep him from elite status, that the Track team already has enough 800 and 1600 meter runners. You don’t say, “Hey, Michael, why don’t you be more like Keeley or O’Connor?”

You don’t tell him that without Kinne, he can’t win. You don’t remind him that no one in the state ever talks about him as a front-runner or fears his finish or even remembers that he was our fourth man the year before. Don’t mention that he can’t beat all those pre-season luminaries, the names highlighted in the first paragraph of every preview and recap. Don’t ask him to sit in the chase pack, to bide his time, to let others do the work for him.

Whatever you do, don’t tell him that he can’t be All-State or lead his team to the most improbable trophy in program history. And don't tell him to do it with both shoes on his feet.

In fact, don’t tell Michael Madiol anything. Just shut up and let him run.
 

Epilogue

“It’s Doval-OV-sky,” he explained to the announcer. “Doval-OV-sky.”

“That’s what I said,” said the announcer, checking his notes.

“No, it’s Doval-OV-sky,” Nicolas repeated.

Nicolas wanted to be sure. All season long, we had been battling for legitimacy, more in our own minds than anywhere else in the state. We had done something never before accomplished in our program’s history, beating teams that soundly whipped us at Richard Springs, Culver, and the sectional the week before. Now it suddenly felt important that everyone else knew who we were.
​
But we, of course, had made that discovery months ago. It was planted after that early summer huddle, nurtured in workouts and meets, in mud and flood and canicule. It was finally spoken the night before the State meet, where the boys finally called each other by our name.

The irony, of course, is that years from now, all that will remain of the no-names are the monograms on a trophy. A new class replaces the old, and over time the stories will fade. “Tigers leave their skins, the dead their trophies, and heroes their names,” says the old Chinese proverb. So be it. But for the rest of our lives, the members of this team are part of a secret lattice, a silent kinship made blood through thousands of miles. There are things that last even longer than what we call each other.

At Saturday’s Conference Meet, I was visited by a high school teammate in town for our 20-year-reunion. As she watched the high school runners pouring into the chute, coaches calling out splits and urging on their athletes, she shook her head. “Wow,” she said. “Nothing really changes, does it?”
​
That is not how it feels to be a senior at that meet. Everything has changed. Where once they were neophytes, shoes unmarked by mud or miles, now they were in sight of a finish line marking the end to a very particular race. It is a time for review and reflection, of asking questions about the sacrifices made to shave just a few seconds off a PR, and to honor the friends made along the way.
We were fortunate to come away with Conference Championships at both levels, our 13th consecutive Varsity title. With two races condensing the various distinctions between Varsity and JV, the story of the day—and the season—is perhaps best told by class. ​

SOPHOMORES: Smaller meets are decided by tight splits, and on Saturday the sophomores met showed themselves to be peerless in this regard. In the Varsity race, Nick Dovalovsky (15:44) and Vasant Fong (16:14) ran within decimals of their teammates, showing their mettle and nerve. But without them in the F/S race, the remaining sophomores needed to run with greater discipline and patience. After finding themselves pinned behind the lead pack through the one-mile, the sophs slowly worked their way up, with Ryan Horn (16:36), Brian Jett (16:40), Luke Mennecke (16:40), Luke Suman (16:41), and Stephen Smilie (16:44) finishing in the top ten with an incredible eight second 1-5 split, securing the victory. Similarly impressive results were recorded by Daniel Gutierrez (17:23), Leif Anderson (17:26), Aidan Stone (17:49), William Fu (18:05), Dominick Gramrosso (18:28), JD Hastings (18:46), Akshat Maheshwari (18:56) and Max Keenan (18:59), with Avik Vaish (19:01), Vedanth Ganesh (19:43), Hugo Hinze (19:49), Evan Restuccia (20:11), Andre Park (20:36), Henry Jordan (20:37), Angad Agrawal (21:31), Goutham Baskaran (21:59), Ted Walsh (22:35), Tony Cai (22:48), and Chris Chow authoring fitting codas to their seasons. ​

JUNIORS: Our smallest class proved no less committed to one another and our race plan, popping into the chute one after the other. Quinn Kennedy (16:33) led the way with his usual intrepid performance, followed by a banged-up Ramsay Johnson (16:57), a resurrected David Tassone (17:21), and a surging Sam Stuart (17:27), Josh Rodriguez (17:32), and Ethan Lockwood (17:51). Meanwhile, Joey Spencer (18:24), Jacoub Letourneau (19:26), James Teune (20:13), Ethan Smetana (20:15), Abood Armouti (20:17), Kevin Shaffer (20:29), Pranav Rajaraman (20:37), and Matthew Vivo (25:55) paced with purpose and kicked with gusto, fulfilling honorable seasons, each of them.

SENIORS: The day belonged, as it should, to the class of 2019, who spearheaded the Varsity effort and locked down our 13th consecutive Conference title. The Twin Turbines of Michael Madiol (15:08) and Chris Keeley (15:13) locked in early, and Matt Jett (15:40), Michael O’Connor (15:44), Spencer Teske (15:57), and Nick Drechsler (16:10) each did their best to keep the gap small. But everywhere you looked, there were different seniors reaping the harvest of so many faithful miles: Jack Orengo (16:21), with a tough second mile; Kevin Daneliak (16:27) lunging across the line; Blake Storoe (16:35) outkicking a competitor; Erik Thompson (17:37) pacing a teammate. There was Nate Spencer (18:35), charging over the hill; Andrew Scholderback (18:39), catching a passing a Mustang; Sahil Yemul (18:55), taking a risk; Joey Klaips (19:17), rippling his glorious mane; Patrick “P-Man” Kelly (19:28) outlasting a Huskie. Fitting conclusions were also authored by Evan Cooke (20:17), Neel Pai (20:24), Luke Hennecke (20:28), Vikram Sunderrajan (20:37), Alex Kiefer (20:29), Aidan Bell (20:52), Nick Pope (21:01), Shaheryar Raza (23:13), Michael Pintar (23:44), and Rahul Nair (26:33), each bringing their season—and in some cases their high school running career—to its coda. ​

The awards ceremony was a familiar scene, with our hardest-working and most courageous athletes draping themselves in glory. But it was hard not to feel more in the winds than just the autumn crispness; some books were opening to a fresh chapter, while others were turning their final page. Yet it is comforting to know that after four years—or 20—the fundamentals remain unchanged. The courses are the same. A mile remains a punishing, fixed distance. The screaming coaches, striving athletes, and stalwart parents are treasured archetypes. Fall comes, then winter, and everything is different in the spring. But the best things—those we build our lives upon—never change.   Results

I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed by this;
I accosted the man.
“It is futile,” I said,
“You can never—“
 
“You lie,” he cried
And ran on.
 
--Stephen Crane
 
In less than a decade, the Twilight Invitational has become one of the wonders of the Illinois Cross Country season. Titans of the sport and teams of conquerors collide in a tilt that climaxes on a Naperville North track lit brighter than an O’Hare runway. It’s a test of fitness, training, and preparation, but also of faith. After all, the most critical moments in the race take place deep in the shadows.   ILXTF Recap    MilesplitIL Recap   Results    Video of all races   Kevin Daneliak Interview 


 














Team Interview

We arrived at this year’s meet besieged and beleaguered. After a difficult race at Lockport and the social marathon of Homecoming, many of our athletes felt leaden and slow. Yet each race showcased Wildcats rising to the moment’s crisis, ready to pursue the horizon.
 
The Open Race unfolded first. A unique contest combining all four classes and an eclectic mix of backups, neophytes, and recently-injured, it summons champions in unlikely figures. There are few athletes we could find more deserving of the individual title than the 2018 Open Champion, Erik Thompson (17:52), who has stoically soldiered on these past four years, often running workouts on his own, in pursuit of his own quiet excellence. Joining him on the awards stage were sophomores William Fu (18:47) and Austin Burke (18:51), and freshmen David He (18:59) and Jacob Nauman (19:09). Their combined efforts helped snag the team title from a noisy field, putting a cap on strong races from Nick Rokosz (19:16), Andrew Scholderback (19:22), Jack Wharton (19:29), Corey Papastathis (19:30), Avik Vaish (19:32), Alex Del Genio (19:47), Ethan Smetana (20:51), Andre Park (21:01), James Teune (21:02), Evan Restuccia (21:02), Chase Parkhurst (21:04), Neel Pai (21:13), Henry Golden (21:16), and Patrick Conniff (21:51).
 
The Freshman/Sophomore team lined up without Nick Dovalovsky and Vasant Fong (recently promoted to Varsity) or Leif Anderson (still injured from tussling with a crumple-horned snorkack). Nonetheless, they still raced as though they expected to catch the horizon. Led by the Captain of Clout, Brian Jett (16:36), the team managed to secure a second place finish. Jett was trailed by sophomores Ryan Horn (16:45) and Luke Mennecke (16:48), as well as the surging freshmen Noah Schalliol (17:13) and Sachin Fong (17:19). Stephen Smilie (17:31) and Charlie Rook (17:43) rounded out the top seven, with mid-distance phenom Max Mitchell (18:16) making a promising debut. The young ‘Cats will now shift towards tapering to prime them for one last charge at the light.
 
By the time of the JV race, the sun had set and darkness blanketed the fields. The team slotted themselves into the box like bullets in a chamber. They surged in the first 100 meters, rolling into the half-mile with the aggressiveness of a showboat gambler. Though other teams broke our pack in the second mile, the Wildcats fought for a one-point victory, led by Kevin Daneliak (16:21), Quinn Kennedy (16:41), Jack Orengo (16:41), Blake Storoe (16:44), and Ramsay Johnson (17:23). Juniors Sam Stuart (17:38), Josh Rodriguez (17:59), Ethan Lockwood (18:40), and Joey Spencer (18:52) finished next, with followed by a trio of seniors with rad hair--Sahil Yemul (19:03), Nate Spencer (19:12), and Joey Klaips (19:23).  
 
The Varsity Race, of course, was the main draw of the evening, with several of the top 3A teams and individuals vying for dominance. Glenbard West’s twin terminators set a blistering pace, with a broad chase pack pacing the first mile to see if they’d come back. When it became clear that they wouldn’t, every member of that pack faced the hard choice—surge or submit. After all of the claims about training and culture and trends are stripped away, this is what racing truly is—a struggle between faith and doubt. For one night, at least, ours was rewarded. Chris Keeley (15:13) led the way, with Michael Madiol (15:27) in close pursuit. It was the ragged pack of Matt Jett (15:54), Michael O’Connor (15:54), and Nick Dovalovsky (15:55) that sealed the team championship, with senior Spencer Teske (16:03) not far behind.
 
As we boarded the bus singing songs and spinning legends, the light towers came down, one by one, over the fields of Naperville North. In just a few short hours, no one would be able to tell that an enormous meet had glowed like a moon in the middle of Naperville. When it’s dark like that, it’s difficult to see the horizon at all. But, like so many other teams in this running state, we don’t need to see it to pursue it. You can tell us we’re wrong, foolish, mistaken. We’ll call you liars, and run on.

While it’s not a course that yields many PRs, the legendary Lockport race at Dellwood Park is unmatched for sheer variety. Its layout has changed many times over the years, but its 5000 meters roughly breaks into three distinct and daunting sections: a flat, fast first mile, a twisty, obstacle-laden second mile, and a long, slow climb of a third mile. Combined with a peerlessly efficient meet crew and some endearingly weird quirks (the races are started by a cannon!), Locktoberfest has remained one of the highlights of our racing calendar for two decades. RESULTS
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The 2018 iteration was no different, as the three races each featured several stirring performances. In the Freshman/Sophomore race, we began with a last minute scratch of team whimsy-factory, Leif Anderson, who joined teammate Brian Jett on the inactive list. Undeterred, the sophs went hunting for low sticks. Nick Dovalovsky (16:39) became the first Wildcat since Brendon O’Connor in 2011 to win the individual F/S title, seemingly determined at several points to catch the pace car. Vasant Fong (16:59) paced the first mile with him, gapping the rest of the field to finish second. He was joined with breakout races from Luke Mennecke (17:13), Ryan Horn (17:22), Luke Suman (17:27), Stephen Smilie (17:29), and freshmen Charlie Rook (17:31) and Sachin Fong (18:04). The squad outlasted a talented Glenbard West crew to come away with several caramel apples and the team championship.

The Varsity team was similarly undermanned, running only six. Yet here, too, the harriers finished the job, placing all six in the top 20. This time it was Chris Keeley’s (15:42) turn to lead, trailed closely by Michael Madiol (). Matt Jett (16:05) matched 2017 graduate Danny Winek’s previous Lockport PR, while Michael O’Connor (16:12) finished this year with both shoes, and Nick Drechsler (16:15) and Spencer Teske (16:23) popped in soon after. It was our best 1-5 Varsity split of the season, and the fact that it came on Dellwood’s grueling 5k augurs well for the future.
But the highlight of the day was the Open Race, where we were proud and fortunate to post a perfect score. Seniors Blake Storoe (16:50) and Kevin Daneliak (16:58) led the way, followed by junior Quinn Kennedy (16:58), running his best race of the year. Jack Orengo (17:14) and Ramsay Johnson (17:28) finished things off, joined soon in the chute by Noah Schalliol (17:49), Josh Rodriguez (17:52), Sam Stuart (17:53), and Nathanael Howard (18:03), all in the top 10. Other apple-winners included Daniel Gutierrez (18:12) and JD Hastings (18:26), with Aidan Stone (18:40), Ethan Lockwood (18:42), Austin Burke (18:47), Dominick Grammarosso (18:48), Jacoub Letourneau (18:50), Jacob Nauman (18:52), Sahil Yemul (19:07), Corey Papastathis (19:10), and Alex Del Genio (19:10) showing Open prowess. Other noteworthy performances came from Nate Spencer (19:23), Nick Rokosz (19:45), Avik Vaish (19:51), Andrew Schloderback (20:03), Andrew Gutierrez (20:05), Erik Thompson (20:21), Ben Serna (20:46), Ian Kim (20:47), James Teune (20:52), Kevin Shaffer (21:23), and Patrick Conniff (21:24). Freshman Nick Rohlwing (22:17)—in his first race—summed up the Lockport experience thusly: “I ran it. I’m proud. And now I can’t walk.”

He’ll get up soon; he’ll have to. Twilight is only a few days away, and Conference soon after. The season started flat and fast. We’re passing through the obstacles. Let the long climb begin.

On Saturday, we made another trip out of Illinois, this time heading East to Culver, Indiana for the Culver Invitational. With a squad of only Juniors and Seniors, we looked compete with some of the best teams in Indiana and Illinois despite the fact that some of top runners would not be present.
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Our Varsity squad raced first and quickly set the tone for the meet. From the gun, our athletes were engaged. Michael Madiol (Sr.) and Chris Keeley (Sr.) were right in the front pack for most of the race and had their first major taste of being front runners. However, Michael O’Connor (Sr.), feeling great with the 30 degree temperature difference compared to earlier this week, was chasing and determined to grab a top 10 spot as he worked his way through the fragmenting top pack late in the race. Madiol (15:56) would cross the line first for Neuqua Valley and took 4th. O’Connor (16:07) and Keeley (16:08) came in together in 7th and 8th places, respectively, for some great low scoring positions. ​

Nicolas Drechsler (Sr.) (16:29) and Spencer Teske (Sr.) (16:32) found each other during the race to round out the Top 5, placing 19th and 21st. Given that this course runs about one minute slower than Detweiller Park in Peoria, this is a great step forward for both of these athletes and they kept great focus and posture to finish stong. Blake Storoe (Sr.) (16:47) and Jack Orengo (Sr.) (16:55) were together for most of the race with Storoe pulling ahead later in the race to take 38th while Orengo took 45th. Quinn Kennedy (Jr.) (17:16) and Ramsay Johnson (Jr.) (17:24) both kept charging forward to put up 5000 m personal bests.
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In the end, it was a team from Illinois, 4th ranked Lyons Township, that took the team victory for the day, while Neuqua Valley took 2nd by a margin of 43 to 59. However, it is still early and there is much work to be done. ​

In the Reserved (Open) Race, we saw the same engagement from these athletes and some impressive personal bests. Sam Stuart (Jr.) (17:55) came from behind, passing athletes to snag the last of the Top 10 spots, running one of the best races of his career thus far. Josh Rodriguez (Jr.) (18:05) actually took the lead for a short time during the race, showing that he was ready to put it all out there but fell back to 11th in what would still be a great and courageous effort. Erik Thompson (Sr. ) (18:18) would be next at 15th place with a little disappointment that will fuel his next race. It has felt like forever since David Tassone (Jr.) has raced as he dealt with injury issues. With his first race back, David took 20th in a time of 18:32 and the knowledge that the first race back is a rough one. Sahil Yemul (Sr.) (19:03) completed our Top 5 in 25th place and a huge personal best for 5000 m. In another outstanding personal effort, Ethan Lockwood (Jr.) (19:17) broke his personal best for 5000 m by 2 full minutes! Finally, in the friendly brotherly competition, Nate Spencer (Sr.) (19:29) edged out his brother Joey Spencer (19:32) by a mere 2 seconds but both brothers achieved personal bests. ​

The York Freshman/Sophomore Invitational moved to Berens Park in Elmhurst four years ago. The course—a relatively fast and flat 2.1 miles—loops around twice before bending to the left into a chute at the base of a hill. It can be a disorienting final 150 meters, as runners can’t even see the finish until they’re almost upon it.

After a grueling weekend at Detweiller, that chute may as well have been in Eugene, Oregon. Our freshmen were beleaguered, our sophomores bewildered, and our coaches belabored. But a chance to test ourselves against the rising stars of some of Illinois’ best teams? As the ailing sophomore Brian Jett might have said, “LET’S GOOOOOOO!”

The Sophomores had first serve, eager to improve on a 2nd place finish over the weekend. There was a Jett-sized hole in the lineup, which Luke Suman (11:14) and Stephen Smilie (11:37) would have to fill. Fortunately, they do a good impression; both finished in the top 20, with Smilie taking home a 16th place ribbon and Suman locking down 8th. Ryan Horn (11:16) secured the championship in 10th; Luke Mennecke (9th, 11:15) proved himself a quick study after a freshman football season; and Leif Anderson (6th, 11:12) seeded his tough finish with a new early-race aggression. Team leaders Vasant Fong (5th, 11:06) and Nick Dovalovsky (10:44) executed perfectly, with Dovalovsky winning his second race in three invitationals. The sophs had not forgotten their second place finish the year before, and the team championship embodied the improvement that can happen when freshmen commit to their training and to one another.

Fifteen minutes later, the freshmen took the line, their heads spinning and their hearts throttling. Yet having traveled more than 1,000 miles together in the past 10 days, they were beginning to learn some lessons about racing with one another. Charlie Rook (7th, 11:38) and Sachin Fong (5th, 11:30) took the race out hard, but found a rhythm, and human pinball Noah Schalliol (8TH, 11:39) careened after them, impressively keeping pace with the more seasoned runners. Nathanael Howard (10th, 11:50) once again summoned a burying kick, while the laconic Liam Dorsey (14th, 11:53) ambled in four places later to close the door. Alex Del Genio (32nd, 12:41) and Adam Johnson (34th, 12:44) both set PRs in their first mile, showing their mettle and courage, even when sun-battered and spent.

But it was in the Open Race where we showed up perhaps most impressively, taking the top three slots. The redoubtable Aidan Stone (12:02) took the race, a sophomore who blends Gary Cooper with Rudy in equal measure. Stone has had a long road back from injury, and his win was as inspiring as it was satisfying, demonstrating what young men can do with patience and hard work.

​Full results can be found HERE. 

The Varsity Race lived up to the hype, with Wheaton-Warrenville South dominating the lead packs. Once again, Michael Madiol (15:04) and Chris Keeley (15:04) set a brisk early pace, trailed boldly by the untested sophomore Nick Dovalovsky (15:27). Seniors Matt Jett (15:34) and Michael O’Connor (15:35) paired up early on, with Nick Drechsler (15:48) and Spencer Teske (16:02) fighting through some initial separation. Detweiller’s famous trapezoid is perfectly positioned to test racers, depriving them at the midpoint of crowd support and coaching. In the unwatched quarter mile beyond the treeline, each runner silently wrestles with doubt, this time sapped with every arm-swing by the sweltering sun.
Exploding out of the copses, the Wildcats pushed furiously into the third mile, and team running helped overcome the absence of a low stick. Keeley and Madiol crossed together, followed by a leg-spent Dovalovsky. Jett and O’Connor similarly came through united, the five of them all earning medals for the effort. We were a proud and fortunate third place, solid marks for our first Illinois test, with plenty of work still to be done. ​

The sophomores took the field next, with the sun a little higher and the course a little flatter. Despite the hundreds of miles spent in preparation, there’s something about staring at the bunting in the northwest corner of Detweiller that shakes the legs and resolve of young runners. Any trepidation, however, was quelled early on by Vasant Fong (15:55), who ran a smart, disciplined race. Leif Anderson (16:15) ran with added aggressiveness; Brian Jett (16:16) with greater poise; and Ryan Horn (16:20) with renewed confidence. Luke Mennecke (16:31) once again demonstrated impressive reserves of determination, closing the door for a second place team finish, then collapsing just outside the finish line, mouth opening and closing in exhaustion. Luke Suman (16:52) and Stephen Smilie (17:06) both set lifetime PRs, a comforting reminder that though it’s always wise to fear a three mile race, they need not doubt their training or preparation.
The Open Race began just before noon, the sun at its zenith, with little shade to cover us. The tilt contained every possible Cross Country story, from the last-chance power-drives of cagey seniors to the wide-eyed debuts of newly-minted freshmen. And while each had their own narrative, their purposes overlapped. Led by the flinty trio of seniors Kevin Daneliak (16:03), Jack Orengo (16:13), and Blake Storoe (16:15) the Wildcats packed the scorebox early and convincingly. Junior Quinn Kennedy (16:47) ran a gutsy race early, only to be joined at the end by a surging Ramsay Johnson (16:38). The finishes were particularly stirring, as freshmen Charlie Rook (17:04) dueled Noah Schalliol (17:05), Erik Thompson (17:41) demonstrated a veteran’s composure and Austin Burke (18:33) a sprinter’s form. Freshmen Sachin Fong (17:36), Nathanael Howard (17:44), Liam Dorsey (18:10), Alex Del Genio (19:06), Jacob Nauman (19:23), Adam Johnson (19:26), Andrew Gutierrez (19:51), Nick Rokosz (19:52), David He (20:06), Ben Serna (20:11), and Henry Golden (20:28) all showed Detweiller promise, while sophomores JD Hastings (18:09), William Fu (18:09), Daniel Gutierrez (18:34), and Dominick Grammarosso (18:33) revealed the benefits of a year’s seasoning. Juniors Josh Rodriguez (17:32), Sam Stuart (17:33), Ethan Lockwood (18:52), and Joey Spencer (19:09) raced with courage, while Patrick Kelly (19:44), Sahil Yemul (18:37), Nate Spencer (19:30), and Joseph Klaips (20:14) all ran with the dignity befitting their seniority. ​

The legend says that Rene Descartes emerged from his kiln with an unassailable certainty, proclaiming “Cogito, ergo sum”: “I think, therefore I am.” He was dehydrated, exhausted, and spent, but he would not doubt again. Detweiller was not quite an oven, and our Saturday will not change the course of Western thought. But we were different afterwards, carrying a burgeoning conviction that seemed to speak through our posture and our eyes. “This is happening,” it seemed to say. “This is real.”

Results   Splits   

One of the joys of traveling abroad is the freedom of anonymity. Familiar eyes carry expectations, and our acquaintances own little pieces of our identities. Every graduate and expatriate knows the thrill of walking into a foreign room unburdened by a past. Of course, the danger of unrecognizability lies in losing oneself. So much of a man’s integrity depends on the shared memories of everyone who knows him; how will he know himself when all of them are gone?

This question weighed on us this summer. We graduated a special class of athletes. Some of our friends and teammates moved on. Parents and boosters we’d grown used to were suddenly cheering in other fields, their sons running for new teams. Even the Hornet-Red Devil Invitational abandoned us—how’s a team supposed to start its season without the creek?

Thus, we boarded our bus with a sense of unease on Friday, making the trip down to St. Louis for the 13th annual Forest Park Cross Country Festival. The forecast for storms was prominent. We had never met these teams and coaches. We knew nothing of the course. Our program had never raced in Missouri. And few there knew anything about us.
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We introduced ourselves in the JV Green Division 5K. Though still early in the day, the rolling course of arbors and hillocks had been churned to mud, and the rain-slicked hills were more easily descended on buttock than feet. Our pack broke out early, led by sophomores Nick Dovalovsky and Vasant Fong. Dovalovsky (18:18) won the race, his first as a member of NVXC, trailed by Fong (18:35) and seniors Jack Orengo (18:45) and Blake Storoe (18:46) and junior Ramsay Johnson (19:03). The team championship secured, we were further blessed by strong performances from sophomores Leif Anderson (19:07), Brian Jett (19:16), Luke Mennecke (19:16), Stephen Smilie (19:23), Ryan Horn (19:28), and Luke Suman (19:47). Quinn Kennedy (19:54) and Sam Stuart (20:02) further represented the junior class, while Erik Thompson (21:11) and Sahil Yemul (22:05) brought additional glory to the seniors. ​

Well, the meet was rained out. It’s a great shame, because the Hornet Red-Devil Invitational is annually one the brightest lights of the Illinois high school Cross Country galaxy. But just because our athletes didn’t race does not mean that we can’t celebrate what might have been. Here are the highlights of the races that didn’t happen:

Varsity Race: Seniors Chris Keeley and Michael Madiol almost didn’t get to run the race, despite pressure from the Prince of Wales and the British Olympic committee, because of something to do with religion. “I believe that God made me for a purpose,” said Madiol. “But he also made me fast, so IDK.” But then senior Matt Jett showed up… he had been running across the country for two years after his girlfriend Jenny left him. And Matt brought with him seniors Kevin Daneliak, Michael O’Connor, Jack Orengo and Nick Drechsler, who had learned how to race picking while strawberries in McFarland, USA. They all convinced Keeley and Madiol to race, so they did. And then they were discovered by this crazy coach named Bill Bowerman, who made them shoes on a waffle iron and let them run for Oregon, and hopefully that story ends well without any deaths.

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Sophomore Race: Sophomore Vasant Fong just wanted his chance to race in the big time, but he was just a lowly nobody growing up in Philadelphia in the 1970s. But then he got his shot to race the champ, sophomore Nick Dovalovsky. Nobody gave Vasant a chance, but it turns out he had The Eye of the Tiger, and their race was so great that they got a sequel. And then another one. This time, Leif Anderson showed up, and he was crazy and mean, and at first he beat Vasant, but then Dovalovsky gave him some training advice, and Vasant won!  But then a giant Russian runner named Ryan Horn showed up, and he defeated Nick, and so Vasant went to Russia and ended the Cold War. Then some other stuff happened… Luke Mennecke, Luke Suman, Brian Jett, and Stephen Smilie were somehow involved. And then it turned out that Nick Dovalovsky had a son named Daniel Gutierrez, and HE wants to race, but that may have to wait until next week in St. Louis.

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Freshman Race: Swackhammer, an evil alien theme park owner, needed a new attraction at Moron Mountain. When his gang, the Nerdlucks, came to Hinsdale to kidnap Charlie Rook, Sachin Fong, Noah Schalliol, and the rest of the Neuqua freshmen. Liam Dorsey and Nathaniel Howard challenged them to a race to determine their fate. The aliens agreed, but they stole the powers of the Kenyan Olympic Marathon team, so our freshmen lost and now reside in an alien zoo. Awkward.

Anyway, it was a memorable weekend in Hinsdale. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that our team will never forget the races we didn’t run!

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Our first official practice is Wednesday, August 8th from 7:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. at Dupage River Sports Complex (2807 Washington St.).  We will meet in the back of the parking lot.  Athletes should bring a reusable water bottle.  The full practice and meet schedule can be found under XC Schedule in the menu above.   Please register if you have not already done so - ​http://nvhs.ipsd.org/Subpage.aspx?id=300