Making the Unknown Known, Sectionals 2018

Stepping into the unknown and making it known, this is the backdrop for doing something you have not done before. As a team The Wildcats had not run in the IHSA Sectional meet as a team since 2009. This year we knew coming in we wanted to begin to rewrite the story of Wildcat cross country and Saturday was a big step in doing that.

Coming into the meet we had our eyes set on a top 10 finish, something that hadn’t been done in a long time (if ever, still doing some research) in school history. After a strong (but not our best) race at regionals, the guys were relaxed and confident coming into the race. They also carried excess confidence because they witnessed another PR filled time trial on Wednesday with their teammates. Alex Rojo, Patrick McCormick, Ryan Robinson all broke 18. Luke Edmondson broke 20. Mike Forbear and Paul De Avila broke 17:30. PRs from Jacob Obman, Chris Cockrell, Patrick Kacena, and Henry Matson. The varsity guys saw that and knew that we were ready to get after it on Saturday.

Race day was a perfect morning, dry ground, no wind, 50 degrees. The plan going in was to get out more aggressive and then really push in the middle of the race. The guys all executed very well. Javy Garcia led the field through the first 400 meters, he settled into a rhythm at that point and rolled through the mile just over 5 minutes, he was followed closely by Austin Emrath, Jonathan Goetsch, and Ryan Bonomo. Tommy Adelmann, Dean Eubanks, and Aaron Wyckoff were a few seconds back. Jonathan began to assert himself the second mile and closed the gap on Javy as we had a group of two together leading for the Wildcats. Austin was just a few second back followed very close by Ryan. Three of those four guys went through the mile and two mile faster than they ever have. The second mile was when freshman Aaron Wyckoff began to move up, he, Tommy, and Dean all rolled through two miles just over 11 minutes. The last mile we talk about racing with guts and racing for more than just yourself but for the program. Guys did not disappoint as they all closed hard. Jon led us in, just under 16. Next in was Javy who broke 16 for the first time in his career 15:54. Austin and Ryan were next in just over 16, running PRs of 27 seconds for Austin and 38 seconds from Ryan. The future, freshman Wyckoff and sophomore Adelmann were next in both running PRs of 16:36. Dean Eubanks closed out the day for us finishing in 16:54. On the biggest staged of the season the guys executed perfectly, running our best team race of the year.  

As a team we finished 9^th place in a field of 18 that included 6 teams ranked in the top 25.

I will put together some full season reflections in the next few days, but for now I can’t tell you how proud I am of this group and what they represent. It is so fun to see them race well, but that is a by product of who they are as young men. What they have accomplished is because of their commitment to the process of building a strong team culture. I can’t wait to see them mix it up at NXR in two weeks.