O/A-P's Davis leads race, cheers
Sunday, October 26 2014 - IHSA Regional|
CHAMPAIGN — Jon Davis finished his regional cross-country race at St. Thomas More on Saturday in first place.
He could have hung around the finish line and gotten congratulatory wishes and slaps on the back after running a season-best 14 minutes, 52.09 seconds for 3 miles and beating the runner-up by 19 seconds.
The Oakwood/Armstrong-Potomac junior had other thoughts on his mind.
Davis positioned himself where he could see teammate Lucas Vasquez approach the finish, where he could shout a few words of encouragement.
The O/A-P teammates have another week to spend together. Vasquez secured the final individual sectional-qualifying spot by posting his best time of the season, 17:47.98.
“This means so much to him, and I tried to make it possible,” Davis said. “I helped him with his stretching.”
He also offered a word of advice.
“I told him not to start too fast,” Davis said.
Vasquez started, however, like he was shot out of a cannon. Just 200 meters into the race, he was the leader of the 86-runner pack.
Defending Class 1A state champion Davis pulled away from Tuscola’s Eric Ponder in the second mile.
“I wanted to post a decent time, but I didn’t want to spill my guts,” Davis said. “I have a lot of confidence going into next Saturday (sectional at Decatur), and I hope to run even faster.”
Former Oakwood runner Justin Jones, who helps train Davis, said Davis met all expectations in a meet in which the state’s top two ranked teams competed along with Ponder, “who may be the second-best runner in 1A,” Jones said.
“Jon is in phenomenal shape and used this as a dress rehearsal for what he will see the next couple of weeks. He’s the hardest-working high school athlete I’ve seen.”
There was no discouragement in the Tuscola camp.
“We will learn from this and work on it this week,” Tuscola coach Doug Robinson said. “Eric did an awesome job, and this will push him to do his best. Jon is a tough runner, and we will try to narrow the gap each race.”
Team honors in the 15-school field were captured by second-ranked Monticello, which edged No. 1 Unity 35-44.
Also advancing full teams to the sectional were St. Joseph-Ogden, Paxton-Buckley-Loda, Urbana Uni High, St. Thomas More and LeRoy/Tri-Valley.
The Sages’ top five runners finished within 32 seconds of one another, with Matt Norvell (fourth), Zach Mesplay (sixth) and Justin Furcich (seventh) running within 20 seconds of one another.
“Our teams (Monticello and Unity) are so tight, it could go either way depending on the day,” Monticello coach Dave Remmert said. “We had a very hard workout on Thursday, and to come back and run like this is very pleasing. Zach made a big impression.
“He turned the corner Thursday in his workout and carried it over (Saturday).”
Unity had six runners among the top 18, the only school to achieve that feat. The Rockets were led by Andrew Warnes (third), Getch Eisenmenger (ninth) and Austin Woodard (10th).
“We tried to give Monticello a race, and I’m not displeased,” Unity coach Dike Stirrett said. “If we run this well next week, we’ll be running in Peoria (for the Nov. 8 state finals). It’s good to have two local teams right together duking it out for top honors in the state.”
Unity’s top five ran within 45 seconds of one another.
Joining Davis, Ponder and Vasquez as individual sectional qualifiers were Villa Grove/Heritage’s Gage Knoll and Bismarck-Henning’s Aaron Inda.
Uni girls set the pace. Freshman Arielle Summitt and sophomore Annemarie Michael, from Urbana Uni High, were the runaway leaders in the girls’ regional race. Summitt was timed in 17:51.27. Michael finished second in 18:04.78 and was 34 seconds ahead of the next runner, Unity’s Nicole Bagwell.
“It felt good to have Annemarie with me,” Summitt said. “When she picks up the pace, I try to go with her. I like having her as a training partner.
“We both benefit from it.”
Times weren’t a concern Saturday for Summitt, who has registered a 17:27 this season.
“Coach (Doug Mynatt) was telling us to focus on moving on,” Summitt said. “We’re in pretty good shape for the sectionals.”
Fifth-ranked St. Joseph-Ogden — which had five runners among the top 11 — captured team honors in a strong four-way race. Monticello was second, followed by Uni High and Unity.
Other full teams moving on to sectionals were St. Thomas More, LeRoy/Tri-Valley and Judah Christian, which advanced a girls’ team for the first time.
SJ-O girls’ coach Terri Rein couldn’t have asked more from her Spartans, who were led by senior Abby Fisher in fourth place and freshman Faith Houston in fifth.
“They are locked in, and they ran out of their minds,” Rein said. “They’ve been training insanely. No taper yet. They know they can be a special team.”
The first five SJ-O runners entered the finish chute within 54 seconds of one another. Other team leaders were Abby Gawthorp (seventh), Hayley Grice (ninth) and Keely Smith (11th).
Unity’s squad had a split of 2:58 among its top five and left room for improvement, according to coach Gary Wieneke.
“We lived to run another day, and that was the major goal,” Wieneke said, “but we lacked a little intensity, and we’d better correct it. Everybody will feel a little pressure next week.”
Individual sectional qualifiers from the STM site were Tuscola’s Emma Henderson, PBL’s Audrey Bloomquist, O/A-P’s Shaina Andrews and Hoopeston Area teammates Hannah Bray and Shania Goble.