Hinsdale Central pair Magnusen and Haff win individual crowns; Hinsdale Central packs it up to win Boys team title.

By Michael Newman

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Hinsdale, Ill --- It was supposed to be the opening race for 3A defending state champion Madeline Perez (Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn) this season. Instead, it was the start of a promising running career for Alexa Haff (Central HS, Hinsdale).

Perez has been bothered by some nagging injuries early in this season. Instead of forcing the issue, Glenbard West Coach Paul Haas is willing to take the time to let her recover and race when she is ready. “Madeline took three weeks off after New Balance Nationals,” Haas said. “She has a little bit of soreness, tightness. We are just taking our time until she is ready.”

The absence of Perez in this race opened down to a little known freshman from Hinsdale Central. Haff ran stride for stride with Lindsay Graham (Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn) the last 800 meters before pulling away the final stretch for a stunning five second win. A charging Mimi Smith (New Trier HS, Winnetka) just caught Graham for second place.

Temperatures in the mid 80’s with high humidity slowed the pace down a little bit early on. In fact, Jessica Lincoln (Palatine HS) opened up an early lead on the pack. That lead evaporated before the mile when Smith, Graham, Haff, and Kendall Cast (Metea Valley HS, Aurora) opened up a sizeable gap on the rest of the pack.  The last mile was the freshman Haff and the sophomore Graham moving together stride for stride. Smith was 10 meters back just staying in contact with the two. This time it was the experience of Haff training on this course that proved the difference at the end.

“All I did in the 200 meters was work on my kick and give it my all,” Haff said. When she was asked if thoughts during the summer of winning this race were in her head she shook her head no. It was an emphatic no as a matter of fact.

Lisa Luczak (Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn) charged from tenth in the last mile to grab fourth. It was not enough to stop #3 Palatine from exhibiting a tight pack in edging #1 Glenbard West for the team championship. The Lady Pirates were led by Liz Cox’s sixth place overall finish and backed up by sophomores Sabina Yousif (11^th) and Kelly O’Brien (12^th). Their overall five runner split was 39 seconds. The overall score at the end of the race had Glenbard West winning by four points. However with Hinsdale Central losing two runners during the race and only have four scoring runners, they were scored as individuals. The outcome changed as Palatine won by two 59-61.

“This first meet we just went out, put our self in position and see what shape we were in,” Palatine coach Joe Parks said. “Jessica had the early season I want to test my summer strength. I told her you don’t just run away from 3 top 10 girls in the state last year in the first half mile. We do have some depth. Whenever you have a team that can back up each other that is a good thing. If that happened two years ago with Jess, we would have been in trouble. Our race today was very encouraging.”

In the boys’ race, it once again came down to familiarity of the course that Billy Magnesen (Central HS, Hinsdale) had trained on this summer. It paid off with a win.

It was a quick first mile with Magnesen, Nolan McKenna (Wheaton-Warrenville South HS, Wheaton) and Graham Brown (Palatine HS) leading the pack through a swift first mile of 4:46. By the half way point, the trio built up a ten meter lead on Angel Estrada (Highland Park HS), Kevin Huang (Central HS, Hinsdale) and Pete Cotsirilos and Chase Silverman (New Trier HS, Winnetka).

The turning point of the race happened on the hill on the south end of the course just before the two mile. That is when Magnesen made his move. “McKenna was speeding up on the downhills and slowing down on the uphills,” he said. “A fan yelled at me that he was dying. So I decided to put the hammer down now. That is when I pulled away.”

Magenesen pulled away in that last mile for a thirteen second win. Angel Estrada made a great move to nab second place. Cotsirlios moved up beautifully the last half of the race to capture third. It is a rebirth in a way for the New Trier senior. This was his first cross country race in almost two years. He won the sophomore race in this same meet. “I had a tibial stress fracture two years ago after this meet. Last that injury kind of came back,” said Cotsirilos. “I felt really good of what I could do today.”

Central proved that they will be a team that will be reckoned with by the time we get to the state series. After Magnesen, the #7 Red Devils had four runners between 10^th and 19^th with a tight 13 second split between Emmett Scully (10^th) and TJ Caveney (19^th). That pack gave them a fourteen point win over #3 New Trier. #6 Wheaton-Warrenville South was third with 83 points. #12 Neuqua Valley was five points back (88) in fourth.

“I know I was going to compete for the win and I knew my team was going to compete for the win,” Magnesen said. “To come out with the results, I am really excited.”

“We just wanted to put ourselves in a position early on, hold it, then come in strong,” added Hinsdale Central Coach Jim Westphal. “This weekend is a byproduct of what we have done this summer. It is a nice benchmark for us. We are under no illusion that this will define our season. We are totally humbled by how good the state is. We are humbled by the top programs York, Neuqua, Palatine, Lyons, and O’Fallon. Those are the programs that have established themselves. We need to continue to work hard and stay healthy.”

Both frosh/soph races gave the fans a glimpse of what is to come. The boys race produced a 1-2 finish from the Hinsdale Central pair of Blake Evertsen (15:54) and Chris Brenk (15:58).

The girls’ race was a coming out party for a talented Wheaton-Warrenville South frosh-soph team that placed 5 in the first 9 to easily win the team championships. Maybe the most surprising of all for their squad was the win by freshman Sara Atkins who stormed ahead of fellow freshman Cara Keleher (New Trier HS, Winnetka) in the final 200 meters for a three second win.

“I came by my coach (Rob Harvey) on that last lap and he told me twice that I could catch her (Keleher),” said Atkins. “I passed him with 200 left and he told me that I could win it. I just went.” Harvey has an extremely talented frosh-soph squad that we could see up on the varsity level by conference time.

One thing that was a non-factor was the new configuration of the course. In fact, it may be a tougher course for the athletes with its uphill finish and a better course for fans. A great job by the Hinsdale School District especially Jim Kupres of Hinsdale Central.