Our 3A team is now racing in 2A

I ran four miles last week for the first time in three years—and then I did it again a couple more times since.  These are more miles than I’ve run in the last three years total.  In August I saw a new PT, Lindsey Plass at the University of Chicago Medical Center, who told me that the osteoarthritis in my left knee might be painful, but I could run on it.  And if I run on it, she suggested, it might get a little bit less painful.  You kind of just get used to it.  She was right.

Two weeks ago, our Saint Ignatius boys cross country team won the Latin regional, our first IHSA win since 2014.  Last week, our team won the Fenton 2A sectional, the first sectional win in school history.

It has been a long time, as well, since I’ve written anything for my old coaching blog.  Here goes:

We’re actually on the bus to Detweiller Park in Peoria right now as I write, with a team that we think can contend for the state 2A title.  We are traveling in relative style on a small coach bus, 30-seater.  We told our Athletics Director Kendall Griffen that we think we have a chance to win the state meet; he got us a coach bus.  “That way,” he said,  “you can be a coach instead of a minibus driver.”

He also arranged for our boys and girls teams to get a big send-off when we left this morning.  The parents provided our “fat heads.”

And so since I wasn’t driving, I started writing on the bus.

We’ve been to Peoria pretty much every year since 2010—except for 2011, the infamous year when neither our team nor one of the favorites to win a state championship that year, Jack Keelan, even qualified—with either a full team or individual entries.  We brought teams previously in 2010, 2013, and 2014.  Keelan was an individual when he won the state championship in 2012; he was joined that year by another individual qualifier, Chris Korabik. Dan Santino was 25^th in 2015.  Michael OBroin competed as an individual in 2016 (56^th) and 2017 (12^th).  John Walls qualified with OBroin in 2017 and again in 2018.  In 2018 Walls was joined by Jacob Flynn.

Flynn now leads us back to state as a team—but as a 2A team.

Our Ignatius boys are competing at the 2A level for the first time in 2019.  The IHSA began separating teams according to enrollment into three divisions of cross country in 2007.  Our Saint Ignatius boys team has always competed in the 3A division against the largest high schools in Illinois.  The Ignatius enrollment should have put the cross country team in the 2A medium-size division of schools with enrollments from around 750 to 1600 students, but a “multiplier” system was in place to penalize independent and Catholic schools by upping the enrollment number by 60 percent.

Even when the IHSA began awarding waivers for the multiplier so that only teams with certain criteria of success had the multiplier applied, the Wolfpack boys cross country team remained multiplied by qualifying for the 3A state meet in 2013 and 2014.

Our boys never complained.  In fact, they always said they were happy that they got to compete against the biggest and best teams in the state.  It probably made us a better program overall to compete at that 3A level all those years.

Our five-year multiplier after qualifying for state in 2014 was set to expire this year, anyway, but new rules from the IHSA place us securely in the 2A classification for two years.  But having won regional and sectional championships already this year and with the prospect of a high finish at the state meet, the Wolfpack will likely earn a bump into 3A in 2021 when the classifications are reviewed again.

That’s our goal, in fact.  We want to earn our way back into 3A.   But we also want to take advantage of the opportunity while we have it.

We took a big step last Saturday at the Fenton 2A sectional.

Senior Jacob Flynn, in his I jersey, winning the Fenton sectional.  Photo creditL Steven Bugarin

Our number one runner is senior Jacob Flynn, who was runner-up individual in the Chicago Catholic League championships in October.  He had a big breakthrough as the individual winner at Fenton.  His winning time of 16 minutes and 56 seconds was a minute and a half slower than a personal best, but the race course was soggy and water-logged after a fall of rain and then snow the week before.  More importantly, Flynn beat a longtime rival, Dan Weizeorick of Wheaton-St. Francis, who had beaten him convincingly a month ago at the First to the Finish Invite at Detweiller.  He also led his team, which like Flynn had finished second in the CCL, to a sectional win at Fenton, the first sectional win ever by an Ignatius boys cross team.

Flynn took the race lead right from the start, but Weizeorick and two St. Francis teammates had chased him—leaving our Ignatius team chasing them.

Then Ignatius sophomore Brian Moore stepped up to chase them down over the final two miles.  He  finished as the number two runner for our Wolfpack, third overall behind Weizeorick, and another sophomore Theo Conroy chased them down, as well, finishing fifth.  Senior Harry Lesak finished ninth at the sectional, the number four runner for the Wolfpack, with sophomore Zach Kiley tenth.  Sophomores Nick Kiley (13^th) and Sam Hansen (16^th) completed the seven-man team at Fenton.  With seven runners in the top 16, the Wolfpack dominated the race to score just 28 points, defeating Wheaton-St. Francis with 51 (low score wins in cross country).

The top five Wolfpack runners from Flynn to Kiley were just 50 seconds apart.

Junior Liam Linnen sat out the sectional with a minor injury, but he will run at the state meet.  He finished eighth at the CCL meet as the Wolfpack’s number two runner.

The Wolfpack’s 14-man varsity roster at the state meet also includes junior Colin Linnen, sophomores Henry Gilbert, Declan Glaysher, and Ted Schmiedeler, and freshman Jack Rhyner.

If you are counting, we’ve got eight sophomores and a freshman in our top 14 right now.  We expect to be ready to compete well when we get back to 3A in 2021.

We’ll see how our sophomore-dominated team fares at the state meet tomorrow.

But first, before the day gets crazy, I think that I’m going to try and wake up early and go for a run–and then, maybe, start writing something about tomorrow.