Watcke repeats as Hornet-Red Devil Boys Champion

Hinsdale Central opens with convincing win; Prospect dominates Girls divisions behind Erickson win

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Hinsdale, Ill – Daniel Watcke’s final season of high school cross country running started a little later than expected. The Hinsdale Central senior’s track season went longer than expected staying in Oregon until the end of June.

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His kick at the end of the Saturday’s Hornet-Red Devil Invitational started earlier than expected compared to last year where he waited until the final 200-meters for the win. Saturday he made his move with a half-mile to go to pull away from the pack and to claim back to back wins.

“I broke up my breaks after U-20 Nationals to give myself a little more time after track, Watcke said after his win. “I may have put in some mileage than I did last summer. We are in the middle of a tough training block right now.”

Watcke made it look easy at the end running 14:56.3 for the win. Any times under 15:00 this early in the year on this tough Katherine Legge Memorial course deserves notice. Watcke played it cool for the first half of the race letting Parker Nold of Oswego East and Jack Casaccio of Palatine set the lead. Nold and Watcke broke away the field just after 2-miles. The move came 800-meters later.

Zac Close of Neuqua Valley matched his great race last week on his home course with another fine effort. Close stayed back but looked strong making a move on Nold in the final straight leading to the finish. Nold held of Close both running 15:02 and separated by two tenths of a second.

Zachary Balzer of Minooka made it into the top five running 15:11 to finish fourth. Michael Skora of Hinsdale Central was the second Red Devil runner to come across the line running 15:16 to finish fifth and just one second ahead of Mason Krieg of Palatine and Akili Parekh of Latin School who finished sixth and seventh.

Hinsdale Central enters this season as the top ranked team in Class 3A. They showed why in this meet only scoring 67 points to claim the championship. Led by Watcke and Skora in the top five, the Red Devils placed their next two runners in the top 15. Overall, they had 5 runners in top 35 with a 78 second split on the group. Aden Bandukwala (11th) and Jesse Gamboa (15th) were the third and fourth runners for the team. Grant Miller finished 35th as the team’s 5 runner. The split from Skora to Miller 58 seconds.

#11 Neuqua Valley had a strong second race of the season finishing second with 103 points. Close finish third overall and Robert Glenn finishing 17th to lead the Wildcats. Their top five split was 75 seconds with 5 runners in the top 38. Their split on two through five was only 27 seconds. #6 Oswego East, behind Nold’s second-place finish and the 13th place finish from Alex Das, scored 117 points to finish third. #3 New Trier finished fourth (122 points) just five points behind Oswego East. The Trevians had only a 24 second split on their top five led by sophomore Ben Crane’s 16th place finish. #13 Naperville Central (182 points) and #5 Palatine (185 points) finished fifth and sixth.

There was no clear individual favorite as the Girls Varsity runners stepped to the line after the conclusion of the Boys race. There was still no answer on who would take charge in the first half of the race. 10 runners had separated themselves from the rest of the field in a pack led by Audra Soderlind of Oswego. Hinsdale Central’s Sarah Fischer and Catie McCabe, Prospect’s Hailey Erickson and Lily Ginsberg, Kate Tueting and Liv Phillips of Naperville Central, Abigail Jordan of Palatine, Carissa Hamilton of Neuqua Valley, and Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South.

Soderlind continued to push the pace the second mile with lead growing with every stride. Erickson saw the move that was happening and was trying to stay as close to the Oswego runner as posing. Tueting and Hamilton worked together along with Fischer to keep that top five constant. McCabe was forced to drop out at that point due to some small nagging injuries.

It looked like Soderlind was in command of the race as she closed to a half mile left. Erickson had other plans. The Prospect senior used the rolling hills of the course to close the gap and then pass Soderlind for the lead.

Erickson’s last half to the finish was dominating to say the least. She rolled across the line with the win (17:40) almost 20 seconds ahead of the pack.

“She (Soderlind) is such a good runner. I was just trying to push myself to the most of my potential,” Erickson said about the final mile. “On the down hills I was going fast. On the up hills I was going as hard as I could. I was just thinking about my affirmations and give it all I had out on that course.”

Kate Tueting, who was the team’s third runner in last fall’s state race, is healthy and well as evidenced by her run in this race. The junior was Naperville Centra’s top runner as she finished second overall running 18:01. Soderlind held on to run 18:06 in finishing third. Hamilton (18:11) and Fischer (18:12) rounded out the top five.

Phillips was four seconds behind Fischer (18:16) to finish sixth. Jordan (18:17), Poglitsch (18:22), and Ginsberg (18:26) finished seventh through ninth places.

Prospect was the team favorited in this race ranked #2 in Class 3A before the meet. The Knights scored 79 points to claim the team championship. Cameron Kalaway (16th), Samantha Patterson (22nd), and Sophia Angst (31st) were the team’s other scorers.

Prospect only ran five runners in the Varsity race. The other two runners that could find their way into the top seven lineup could come from the Frosh/Soph race that came later in the meet. Prospect’s Meg Peterson and Veronica Znajda stormed away from the field in that race to win by more than a minute. Peterson’s winning time of 18:15 and the second -place finish of Veronica Znajda (18:17) were the second and third fastest times for the overall team in the meet.

#5 Minooka continues to run better with every race. The Indians finished second (96 points) led by Gabriella McCollom (10th), Gabrielle Kics (11th), and Maya Ledesma (13th). Minooka placed 5 runners in the top 33 with a 70 second split on the group.

#30 Palatine ran a great race in finishing third (148 points) as did #26 Glenbard West (150 points) who finished fourth. #22 Oswego East finished fifth (165 points) ahead of #13 Batavia (173 points). #4 Naperville Central, who were without one of their top three runners Ava Hendren, scored 185 points to place seventh.