Crane and Kotler find their way to wins at Hinsdale

Hersey edges New Trier for Boys title; Shorthanded Prospect defends Girls team title

By Michael Newman

Hinsdale, Ill – The expected heat that was supposed to hit the Chicago area waited until after the races were over at Katherine Legge Memorial on Saturday morning. There were too many rated teams to count as they lined up for the Varsity races in the Red Devil Invitational.

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#2 Hersey was a newcomer in this meet having run at Fenton for over a decade before the meet was postponed this year due to construction on the Fenton campus. The Huskies found a new meet to call home on Labor Day weekend. They also found the course welcoming to them as they edged #7 New Trier to win the Boys team title 95-97.

Prospect is the defending meet champion and the Class 3A State Champion  coming into this season. The Knights were shorthanded without top seven runners, Lily Ginsberg, and Bridget Derengowski, but still handled the field in this meet defending their team title with a 71-130 win ahead of #6 Naperville Central.

Mia Kotler of Latin School came back from an injury plagued sophomore season and showed she is ready for the 2023 season with a convincing win in the Girls Varsity race. Ben Crane of New Trier pulled away from the field to win the Boys race holding off pre-race favorites Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central and Zac Close of Neuqua Valley.

Boys Varsity Race – The first race of the day was a game of cat and mouse. Ben Crane needed to put himself ahead of the field with a large enough margin and having the fear not to be caught. “I knew I had to make the move when I did,” Crane said after the race. “My coaches told me it was essential to go when I did because there were a number of good kickers that could run me down.”

The two runners that were feared the most were defending Class 3A Champion Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central and Zac Close of Neuqua Valley who in the previous week stormed away himself from the field on his home course. The pack in the opening mile of 5:02 were feeling each other out with pacing and who would make the initial move. Close, Bandukwala, and Close were joined by Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South, Finn Richards of Benet Academy, Alex Krieg of Palatine, and Nate Wehner of Highland Park in the front.

The moves started to happen as they entered the south fields of the course. Close and Bandukwala made small moves to see what would happen. Crane countered that move catching the two runners but kept going to define taking the lead for good at the halfway point of the race.

By the time that Crane got to the wooded section of the course just by the finish line with 880 yards to go, he opened up a 10 second lead on the field. He was not content though as his head started swiveling around his neck. “I was nervous no doubt,” Crane said. “I knew the guys behind me had great finish speed, so I knew I just had to get to the finish.”

Crane made one final look as he came off the final curve and knew the lead was large enough to get the opening season win. His time of 14:55.8 is exceptionally good on this course in this meet. Times become faster during championship season. Finding a sub 15-time in this history of this meet is hard to find.

Bandukwala made a surge to finish second (15:02.3) just ahead of Close (15:02.8). Narayanan was one of the many surprises of the meet as he ran a huge personal best of 15:11.4 to finish in fourth-place. Krieg ran 15:14.7 to finish in the top five. Two seconds separated Nate Wehner (15:15), Finn Richards (15:16.7) and Brian Hatoum of Highland Park (15:17.6) in sixth through eighth places. Aiden Noel of Wheaton-Warrenville South also had a breakout race as he finished tenth running 15:23.9.

The key to success in Hersey’s win in this meet was having two solid packs in the front of the race in which they accomplished. The Huskies placed 5 runners in the top 32 to claim the win. Zack Frayder (9th), Cameron Donner (11th), and Liam Naughton (13th) were separated by just three seconds. There was a 32 second gap between their first three and fourth and fifth finishers AJ Svienty (30th) and Rob Geissenberger (32nd). Their top five split in this meet was 39 seconds.

New Trier came within two points of Hersey and using a similar formula with a strong pack behind Crane. Their second through fifth runners were separated by 40 seconds between 14th and 41st place. Atticus Miller and Felix Hekster came in together at 15:33 in 14 and 15-places. Walter Garrett was the Trevians fourth runner (26th) followed by Michael Moran (41st).

#13 Neuqua Valley finished third with 141 points. Close and Robert Glenn (12th) led the front pack for the Wildcats. Tony Hinderliter (35th), Anthony Pastore (39th), and Ryan Adamski (52nd) were separated by 12 seconds. #18 Highland Park finished fourth (165 points) led by Wehner and Hatoum in the top ten followed by Barak Goldstein (23rd), Dylan Dominguez (36th), and Henry Garrison (101st).

Evanston was the surprise team in the race as the Wildkits finished fifth with 178 points behind their pack led by Jack Kleinschmidt (21st), Emir Arber Bombaci (24th), and Sam Froum (26th). #10 Naperville Central scored 188 points to finish sixth behind Tyler Browning in 18th and Nick Kamp placing 20th. Wheaton-Warrenville South finished seventh (190 points) behind the top 10 finishes from Narayanan and Noel.

Girls Varsity Race – The question when the gun went off for the start of this race was what the fitness level would be for Mia Kotler of Latin School in this race. The junior did not run in this race last year and did not race until the state series races were she eventually finished fourth in the Class 2A State Meet. Her track season again was slowed down because of the injury bug. She raced sparingly and did not run in the final meets of the season including state.

Her race on Saturday showed her fitness level in a big way taking the lead at the mile and never looking back. Her winning time of 17:05 was exceptional on this day as she won by 20 seconds. Liv Phillips of Naperville Central showed she was ready for this fall a month ago when she ran 17:21 at Detweiller Park. She looked strong throughout running solo with the gap she was at behind Kotler and then another 25 second gap behind of the rest of the field. Her 17:25 second-place finish is just the start of a great senior season for this Naperville Central runner.

The big story of this race was the comeback of Holly Johnson from Downers Grove South. She raced only twice last fall before discovering that she had an injury that would shut her down for the rest of the season. The only getting around the course last fall was in a boot. On this day, it was all smiles as she made her way around the course enjoying just what she loved to do. Johnson moved into third in the final mile and finished that way (with a smile on her face) in 17:50.8. Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South surprised almost everyone on the course except her teammates, family, coaches, and most importantly herself in her race this Saturday morning. She positioned herself in the front at the start of the race and stayed there throughout. Johnson passed Poglitsch in the final mile, but the Wheaton junior came across the line in a confident 17:59.9 and a personal best on this course.

Runners that finished in the top 10 included Abigail Jordan of Palatine running 18:27 to finish seventh, Stella Davis of Evanston finishing eighth (18:29.6), Maya Ledesma of Minooka in ninth (18:33.7), and Lucy Schlachtenhaufen of Lake Forest in tenth (18:36.20).

This was not an all out effort form the defending state champion Prospect in this race. They were missing two runners (Ginsberg and Derengowski) but as the team knew afterwards it was next runner up mentality for the Knights that won them this race. They only ran six runners on the Varsity level but still was a step ahead of the rest of the teams in this meet scoring 71 points. 5 runners in the top 30 led the way for this team led by the 5-6 finish from Meg Peterson and Veronica Znajda who both ran 18:04. Ireland Wildhart was the team’s third runner finishing 13th (18:47) followed by Sophie Fransen in 17th and Kaitlin Skelton in 30th. Their top five split was 93 seconds. Their split from 3-5 was 50 seconds.

#6 Naperville Central was the closest team to Prospect as they finished second with 130 points. Phillips’ second-place finish led the way for the Redhawks. She was followed by Abby Mogg (14th), Lola Satre-Morales (16th), Ava Hendren (46th), and Allie Opalka (52nd). Central actually had their top 7 runners in the first 55 places. #5 Minooka finished third (153 points) led by Ledesma’s top 10 finish and followed by Taya Gummerson in 22nd, Cassie Brushaber (33rd), Kylie Myers (38th), and Liana Blount (51st). #16 Glenbard West ran a great pack race finishing fourth (171 points) with their top three runners separated by 15 seconds. Maggie Hibbard (19th) and Sophie Mitra (21st) led the Hilltoppers up front followed by Moira Ahern (28th), Maia Kaslewicz (41st), and Maddie Morgan (63rd).

#14 Oswego East finished fifth (180 points) led by an 11th-place finish from Morgan Dick. #27 Hersey led by top 20 finishes from Margaretha Grabske (12th), and Elizabeth Waltz (18th) finished sixth with 193 points. #22 Metea Valley finished seventh (203 points) led by Maya Hall finishing in 25th-place.