SENECA — This season is all about team for Marquette. With that, the Crusaders knew Seneca’s Twilight in the Woods would provide the perfect gauge as to how they match up against the state’s best.
They can’t argue with the results.
In a strong field with state title contenders, Marquette finished second overall at Friday’s meet with 64 points. The Cru fell four points shy of champion Yorkville, but still beat out Beecher, which is ranked No. 1 in Class 1A early in the year, by one point.
“This year our whole goal is team-oriented toward state,” said Marquette’s Evan Darm. “With this, we knew coming in that we’d have the No. 1 team in the state in Beecher. We were interested to see how we matched up with them. I don’t think they ran their No. 1, but we still wanted to see how we matched up as a team. We’re preparing ourselves for the bigger meets we have coming up in the season, and hopefully this will set us up for a good run in the state series and get us down state.”
Darm was leader of Marquette’s first pack of runners. He was a very strong third in 16 minutes, 9.4 seconds.
He was one of three MA runners to finish in the top 10. James Weissensel was sixth overall in 16:29.4. Luke Hill beat his older brother Buck’s best time at the Seneca FFA course by 10 seconds, allowing him to claim eighth place in 16:38.0.
“We’re stressing pack-running this year, and we had three guys who were pretty close,” Darm said. “Then our next three or so were in a pack together. But I think once we move our pack times closer together, I think we’ll be looking like a real solid team this year. We’re looking at the pack, and they all ran great races.”
Drew Gama was 27th overall in 17:56.7 for the Crusaders. Dave Finn completed the Marquette scoring with a 46th-place time of 18:50.7.
In his second year with cross country, Sandwich’s Mike Gaydos has proven his talents. The talented distance runner claimed fourth place in 16:22.3, leading the Indians to sixth place as a team.
“As I learned from one of my coaches, you can be happy but never really satisfied,” Gaydos said.
“I have big goals for myself, but it takes time to achieve them. This is only my second year in cross country. I’m getting up there and trying to press myself.”
Seneca’s Ray LaFree also earned a medal at the meet. He finished 11th overall in 19:02 as the Irish placed seventh as a team.
Elsewhere for the Irish, Ben Barnett was 35th overall in 18:31 and Miguel Williams placed 54th in 19:02. Travis Koetz (67th place/19:42) and Patrick Sandness (80th place/20:20) also scored for Seneca.
Cristian Martinez has been nursing an ankle injury, but still mustered enough strength to lead Streator to 11th place. Martinez finished 29th overall in 18:15.
Tre Wade dropped 30 seconds from his time at last year’s Seneca meet and placed 69th overall in 19:47. Cristian Russell and Gavin Reed, both newcomers to the Bulldogs team, claimed the Nos. 3 and 4 spots. Russell was 79th in 20:19 and Reed 83rd in 20:24.
Nate Welch was 88th overall in 20:40.
“Our boys team is deep; we just need to get more training under our belts,” said STHS coach Brad Brittin. “To finish 11th out of 16 teams, I’ll take that. I’m real happy with the boys, and we’re only going to get better because our No. 2 runner, Willie Clark, has been out with mono. Willie is the difference of 30-40 points tonight.”
Ottawa finished right behind Streator in 12th place despite another strong outing from T.J. Draper. A rookie in the sport, he claimed 31st place in 18:21.
“T.J. Draper is a very hard worker and a very smart runner,” said OTHS coach Doug Hearn. “He’s just really coming along, especially for a guy who’s never run cross country before.”
Matthew Maunu finished 57th overall in 19:05 and Eddie Weber was 78th in 20:17. Joaquin Santoy claimed 90th place (20:49), and Thomas Wolfe was 124th overall in 22:47.
Fieldcrest did not accumulate a team score, but it did receive a solid performance from James Leigh. He finished 23rd overall in 17:31.
Recent Comments