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2007 Mid East Meet
Indian Rifle Park, Kettering, Ohio
geiger@illinoispreptoptimes.com
Complete
Results The
21st running of the Mid East meet came together as an excellent day.
With mild temperatures in the upper 40's/ low 50's, there were perfect
conditions for running. Team Illinois came together on the Friday
before the meet, as they all traveled together via Coach Bus.
Sponsored by the Illinois Track & Cross Country Coaches Association, the
team features the top ten seniors for the State Meet who choose to
participate in the meet. Notably absent for this years meet were
the Illinois State Champions, Chris Derrick from Neuqua Valley and
Kristen Sutherland of Sandburg. Derrick won the Nike Team Regional
Championships last week, while Sutherland opted to sit out this week in
preparation for the Foot Locker qualifying meet, which will take place
on November 24th in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The Illinois Girls "Muscle Up" before the
start of the Mid-East Meet This years team
did feature former AA girls State Champions, Caitlin Comfort of Peoria
Notre Dame (2006), and Amber Stack of Wheeling (2004). The boys
team had 800 meter State Champion Mat Smoody, and all ten
representatives from the boys team were All- State performers.
The girls race was under way first. A fast race, the
Illinois girls had Comfort and Kailin Kuzmuk
(Andrew High School) out in the top ten. The rest of the Illinois
pack was well situated in the mid 30 places. Claire Durkin of Ohio
took the early lead, opening a 25 meter lead in the first mile.
Comfort sat in the chase pack along with Tiffany Abraham of Michigan and
Alexandra Banfich of Indiana.
"I wasn't thinking about the race (strategy) too much
beforehand.", said Comfort "I wanted to get out with the front
pack. I knew Alex (Banfich of Culver Academy, Indiana), so I
wanted to keep her in my sights."
Kuzmuk, who battled food poisoning at the Sectional meet, and
had the flu at the State meet, was out to a great start, as she sat in
9th before hitting the hill (1.5 miles). Bad luck continued to
haunt her, as she was tripped up and fell at the two mile mark.
 Comfort,
took the other route, as she made a move at the 1.5 mark, putting 20-25
meters between herself and 3rd place. She held that position
through both the two mile (11:30), and three mile (17:33), before
finishing 2nd in (18:08 5K). Overall, Durkin won in a
meet record time of 17:23 (5K). The prior record had been set by
Ohio's Katy Radkewich in 1996. Her time eclipsed the old record by
11 seconds (17:35). Aisha Praught moved into the second spot
for team Illinois, and ended up finishing in 22nd place (18:59 5K).
Kuzmuk held on to finish 3rd for Illinois in 34th place.
Overall, the Illinois girls finished 5th with 134 points.
Michigan won the girls race by 3 points over Ohio (40-43). Illinois
Girls Splits and Places
|
NAME |
|
HIGH SCHOOL |
1 mile |
2 mile |
3 mile |
5 K. |
Place |
|
Caitlin |
Comfort |
Notre Dame |
532 |
1130 |
1733 |
1808 |
2 |
|
Aisha |
Praught |
Moline |
539 |
1209 |
1826 |
1859 |
22 |
|
Kailyn |
Kuzmuk |
Andrew |
535 |
1152 |
1852 |
1928 |
34 |
|
Amber |
Stack |
Wheeling |
540 |
1232 |
1929 |
1950 |
37 |
|
Colleen |
Standridge |
Palatine |
545 |
1228 |
1915 |
1952 |
39 |
|
Kristian |
Baldwin |
Carbondale |
550 |
1244 |
1929 |
2002 |
42 |
|
Kelsey |
Dolan |
Loyola |
552 |
1244 |
1930 |
2004 |
46 |
|
Lauren |
Sible |
Byron |
602 |
1259 |
1956 |
2030 |
51 |
|
Erin |
Rauch |
East Richland |
600 |
1259 |
2007 |
2044 |
53 |
Team Scores Michigan 40
Ohio 43 Indiana 69 Pennsylvania 105
Illinois 134 Kentucky 239 In the boys
race, the Illinois boys got out in a tight pack, as all ten runners came
through the mile mark between 4:49 and 4:54. The flat first mile
gave way to the very tough hill at Indian Rifle Park. Illinois'
Nathan Troester (Lincoln Way East High School) took the lead spot at
this point for the boys. "It went out really fast", explained
Troester, "I didn't figure that all of these guys (in the lead pack)
could hold the pace, so I just tried to stay relaxed and maintain the
pace."
The Illinois pack stayed tight, as Troester lead the way at the 2 mile
mark in 10:02. He was followed by teammates Rich Eber (Brother
Rice 10:04), Neal Anderson (Chatham Glenwood 10:04), Mat Smoody
(Palatine 10:04), Ron Revord (Lincoln Way East 10:05), and Chase Kadlec
(Wheaton North 10:06). Michael Fout of Indiana (LaPorte HS) was
in second place at the 2 Mile (9:36), while Maverick Darling of
Michigan (Ovid-Elsie HS) lead with a 9:30. Fout ended up winning
the 5 kilometer race in the last 250 meters with a record time of 14:59,
beating Michigander Tim Ross' 15:09 set in 2001. Former Olympian
Bobby Kennedy of Ohio had run 15:07, however the course had no hill at
that time.
Troester ended up finishing first for Illinois, Placing 9th
with a 5 K time of 15:36.
He was followed by Eber in 23rd (15:49), Anderson in 28th (15:53),
Kadlec in 29th (15:54), Palatines Kevin O'Brien in 30th (15:54), and
Revord in 31st (15:58). The Illinois boys also finished in 5th
, as Ohio took the team competition with 41 points over Michigan's 51
Illinois Boys Splits |
