IHSA Regional - october 22nd, 2016

It’s fitting that the Cross Country State Series parallels the browning of the leaves. In the long yawn of summer, legs feel loose and shoulders are light. But as the ground turns hard and the air crisps, a runner’s gaze sharpens and his breath goes hard. Gone are the airy July runs. As the Starks of Game of Thrones would say, “Winter is coming!”
With the senior valediction of Conference behind us, we focused our attentions on the Regional Race. Returning to the Kress Creek Farm in West Chicago, our squad hoped to repeat the results of the previous year, where alumni Aidan Livingston led the Wildcats to a 7th straight championship. Frontrunners Jake McEneaney and Jackson Jett earned the day off, throwing JV stalwarts Ryan Kennedy and Tyler Bombacino into a fierce melee that would feature several probable all-state athletes.
However, it was sophomore Zach Kinne who took the race out hardest in the first two miles, flanked by senior speedster Matt Milostan. The pack cruised through the mile with seven under 5:00 and through the two mile mark with all under 10:00. In the end, it came down to a final kick by Milostan (1st, 14:50) to claim the Regional Championship, his first victory as a Varsity athlete. Kinne (3rd, 14:51) closed hard behind him, with senior Josh Mollway (5th, 15:11) breaking into the top 5 soon after. However, the strongest races may have come from Kennedy (6th, 15:12) and Bombacino (9th, 15:17) who both ran enormous PRs to score for the team. Seniors Jeremy Hayhurst (15:18) and Scott Anderson (15:19) streamed in a few ticks later, allowing us to join the Girl’s Team as Regional champions.

Cross country runners look almost comical in mid-October: thin, naked legs supporting narrow torsos in the brisk fall wind. But our advantage lies not in the training with which we’ve prepared those legs so much as the layers of with which support we’ve surrounded them. This past week, for instance, we were hosted by Naperville Running Company, which leant us space to train and commune. We were fed and cheered repeatedly by generous parents on Saturday, Monday, and Friday. We were treated by alumni families—the Duncans and the Peters—who have stood by our program for more than a decade, reminding class after class that NVXC is a family bound by values. And our band of brothers—freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors—continues to train, resolved to put in their miles to support and inspire the week’s chosen seven.
Next week returns us to the Stuart Sports Complex in Montgomery, the site of the coldest, harshest meet in our program’s history. The miles ahead are increasingly numbing, brisk, and arctic. But though we are bedecked in only a singlet and short shorts, our runners are insulated by our family. Tell winter we’re coming.

Results        Naperville Sun Article