A Trip to Peoria

It is always a great day when you can race at Detweiller Park, the home of the IHSA State Championship. The weather was hot and humid but that didn’t stop some great performances from the Wildcats.

The open boys’ race got the day started for the team. Ethan Collins continues his impressive improvement this season. The first race of the season, Ethan ran 2 miles in 24 minutes, on Saturday in Peoria, Ethan ran 24:43 for 3 miles! Incredible improvement. Zack Omiecinski also took advantage of the chance to race, running a strong race where he was passing people left and right the entire last mile to come away with nearly a 1 minute PR.

Varsity girls were next. Bridget Kemp led the way, coming off her Senior Night victory on Tuesday, BK ran a season best. Cyan Bradley ran an aggressive race at the start and had a few hiccups in the later stages of the race, but still managed a season best time. Lydia Velazquez also came away with a season PR. Some strong performances from the seniors in the varsity race.

The varsity boys were led by Luke Adair, who got out with an incredibly fast first half mile and then battled strong the rest of the way to dip under 16 minutes for the first time this season. Aden Veljacic ran the best race of his life to break 19 for the first time, with a time of 18:52, not bad for someone who ran 29 minutes as a sophomore on this same course.

The frosh/soph girls saw a great performance by Cynthia Velazquez, who set a strong pace early and it resulted in a new PR.

The frosh/soph boys were led by Joey Des Garennes, who blast a fast last mile to run a time that equals his PR from last week in Joliet. Liam Thompson ran like a man on a mission to finish as our 5^th man and come away with a big lifetime PR.

Just like every meet, this one was a great chance to learn something about yourself as a runner, and come away with confidence as we move forward this season.