Top ranked Naperville North and Neuqua Valley (pictured) cruise to conference team championships (Paul Vandersteen Photo)

By Michael Newman

DyeStat IL Editor

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Warrenville --- Naperville North’s Sarah Schmitt and Neuqua Valley’s Jake McEneaney applied strategies that were used nine days ago at the Naperville Twilight Invitational. Both runners used strategies that the other used in that race. It paid off for both of them as the two crossed the line as DuPage Valley Conference individual champions Friday afternoon.

Schmitt charged towards the front in last Wednesday race on her home course only to fade a little at the end to finish sixth. This race was different. The Naperville North junior stayed behind Wheaton-Warrenville South’s duo of Sara Atkins and Allison McGrath for the first half of the race. Just after the 1 ½ mile point, Schmitt took over the lead and did not relinquish it. She captured her first conference title crossing the line in 17:20. Atkins and McGrath came in together in second and third (17:33.7 – 17:34.1) holding off a charging Alexis Morris (Naperville North HS) who finished three seconds back.

“I was working on my start today. I took it out too hard at Twilight and paid for it the rest of the race,” Schmitt said. “Today I just wanted to get out a little more relaxed and see how much I could move up throughout the race.”

Naperville North’s 1-4 finish by Schmitt and Morris gave the Lady Huskies the conference championship with only 31 points. It was a little dicey for Naperville North Coach Dan Iverson in the last mile of the race. He chose to only run six runners in the varsity but lost Kayla Glowacki at the two mile mark due to an injury.

“I think we ran well,” Iverson said. “There is a reason why we run seven. My stress level started to go up when we went from six down to five. The girls ran great. It was just a matter moving forward in the race.”

It was not the perfect race for Naperville North but it was good enough for the win. They paced their five “remaining” runners in the first thirteen to capture another conference championship. Following Schmitt and Morris into the finish were Hannah Ricci (5^th), Claire Hamilton (8^th), and Gabrielle Champion (13^th). The five runner split on their top five was 51 seconds. #5 Wheaton-Warrenville South followed up their good race at Naperville last week with one just as good in this meet scoring 46 points to finish second. Laurel Moneysmith (9^th), Amanda Obrist (12^th), and Maria Rucoba (20^th) followed Atkins and McGrath across the line. Their split on five improved from last week going from 72 seconds down to 59 seconds. It was a race that Coach Rob Harvey was looking for.

“We are right where we are supposed to be,” Harvey told his team after the race. “We are gaining momentum and running better and better and better every meet.”

#12 Metea Valley finished third (78 points) behind Leana Goldman’s sixth place finish. #13 Neuqua Valley finished fourth (88 points) paced by the seventh place finish by Caitlin Horn.

It was a given in the Boys race that IL #1 / US #2 Neuqua Valley would have the Boys Varsity race totally under control. They did by the first mile but not in the same manner that they did a week ago. Instead of keeping together in a close pack, McEneaney and Jackson Jett tried a new strategy pushing the pace from the gun. Why not test a different way of running and see if it works three weeks before the state meet. They did just that.

McEneaney was in control throughout the race. By the two mile mark, he had opened up a six second lead on teammate Zach Kinne. That lead grew in the final mile with McEneaney crossing the line in 14:51 eight seconds ahead of Kinne. That was only the start for the Wildcats. They took three of the next four places to score only 16 points to defend their conference title. Jackson Jett followed one second behind Kinne in third. Matt Milostan (4^th) and Scott Anderson (6^th) were the other scorers for Neuqua. Only Metea Valley’s Ralph Papa, who finished fifth, broke up the Neuqua pack who placed seven in the first eight with a five runner split of 26 seconds.

“A lot of big names in this program have won this race. It is always a goal to come into a race and win,” McEneaney said. “That was my first varsity win. I can’t complain.”

“We were a little more spread out. Jake and Jackson wanted to press the pace a little more to see how that felt,” Neuqua Valley Coach Paul Vandersteen said. “I think Twilight took a little emotional energy out of us. We had a school day today and the guys were just not up for it. That’s okay. We can’t be up four weeks in a row. We will just get ready for next week. I’m satisfied.”

#12 Wheaton-Warrenville South had a good pack race but it just could not match up with what Neuqua Valley had. The Tigers scored 70 points to finish second behind a 10-11 finish by Kyle Thompson and Aleksi Sorokin. The five man split on their top five was only 17 seconds. Naperville North finished third (117 points).