When Greg Nordahl watched Reese Jordan take the sharp left turn onto the track for the final stretch at the Class 3A cross country sectional meet at Lake Park, the Maine South coach couldn’t hide his excitement.
Nordahl had good reason to jump up and down.
Not only was the sectional meet on Saturday, Oct. 31, Jordan’s first race in nearly one month, he competed on a still-injured right foot.
“The poor kid worked so hard to get back, and he deserved the opportunity to run,” Nordahl said. “He put it all on the line for the team.”
Running with what Nordahl called a stress reaction, Jordan finished 40th in 16 minutes, 3.89 seconds on the cool and rainy afternoon in Roselle. It was his first competitive race since Palatine’s invitational on Saturday, Sept. 26.
More importantly, he helped the Hawks finish fourth (162 points) and earn a trip to the state meet as a team for the second consecutive year. The state meet is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Detweiller Park in Peoria. The top five teams advanced as well as the seven top individuals not on qualifying teams.
“I really wanted to run for the team,” said Jordan, who was on last year’s team that placed 12th at the state meet. “I was happy as long as the team got [to the state meet].”
In an effort to return to running, Jordan spent the last several weeks training in the pool, on a stationary bike and on an elliptical machine. He said his endurance was there at the sectional, but he was missing his speed.
But Nordahl wasn’t about to critique Jordan’s performance.
“He did everything he could, and that’s all you can ask for,” Nordahl said.
Evanston
Neither senior Spencer Eanes nor sophomore Joey Eovaldi qualified for the state meet. Eanes finished 83rd (16:45.89) at the Class 3A Lake Park Sectional and Eovaldi placed 85th (16:49.21).
Loyola
More Top Picks Best Beard Trimmers
In one of the surprises at Lake Park, according to several coaches, the Ramblers finished eighth as a team with 188 points and didn’t advance any individuals to the state meet.
Junior Andrew Niewiarowski was the team’s top finisher, placing 26th in 15:53.4. Oak Park-River Forest senior Henry Harper was the seventh and final at-large individual qualifier after taking 17th in 15:40.73.
Maine East
After taking eighth at the regional at Niles West, senior Torrain Haughton ended up 49th at Lake Park’s sectional in 16:14.44.
New Trier
As a junior, Josh Derrick was buried on the varsity depth chart, a long way away from the top seven.
A lot has changed in one year.
Derrick had a blood test in June that revealed low iron levels. He changed his nutrition and sleeping habits, and became New Trier’s top runner this fall. He finished second in 15 minutes, 18.97 seconds at the Class 3A Lake Park Sectional on Saturday, Oct. 31,
“The turnaround has been amazing,” New Trier coach Dave Wisner said. “He was something like 15th or 16th on the team at one point last year. To be No. 1 as a senior was completely unexpected at this time last year.”
Derrick started taking a multi-vitamin with extra iron, began eating more red meat and slept at least eight hours a night. That enabled him to perform better during summer workouts and prepared him for the cross country season.
“Going into the first meet of the season, I was looking to be in the top five on the team,” Derrick said. “After I ran pretty darn well in the second meet, I was the No. 1. I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished.”
Behind Derrick’s runner-up finish, the Trevians took third with 92 points and qualified for the state meet for the seventh season in a row.
But junior Warren Blood (fifth, 15:24.2) had the better day, according to both Derrick and Wisner.
“He runs his best at the end of the year when the lights are the brightest,” Wisner said.
Niles North
Vikings coach Dave Shafron said he was confident senior Martin Barr could qualify for the state meet.
Shafron admitted he wasn’t so sure about sophomore Conor Perreault.
“He was on the bubble,” Shafron said. “I had at least 15 individuals fighting for the seven spots.”
But according to Shafron, Perreault ran his best race of the season at the sectional, finishing 15th in 15:39.40. The team’s No. 7 runner a year ago, Perreault will join Barr at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
“He’s made a big leap,” Shafron said.
Barr followed a similar path, Shafron said. The low runner as a sophomore, Barr now is the team’s best. At Lake Park, he placed 12th in 15:33.77 and will make his first trip to the state meet.
“Conor likes to kid Martin that he’s ahead of him, but they’ve both had very large increases in their performances from year to year,” Shafron said.
As a team, the Vikings took 10th with 258 points.
Notre Dame
In the Class 3A sectionals for the first time and with only two seniors in the top seven, Notre Dame coach John Barrett said he managed his expectations for the meet at Lake Park.
As far as Barrett was concerned, the Dons did well by placing 17th out of 18 teams with 478 points. No individuals qualified for state.
“We were happy to be here, and it was a good learning experience for us,” he said. “It was a good day.”
Senior Matt Contreras was the low Dons runner after finishing 60th in 16:23.15. Sophomore Jeremy Ermilio (108th, 17:25.11), senior Travis Martin (113th, 17:32.24), junior Adam Sadko (116th, 17:39.89) and junior Braulio Alvarez (118th, 17:43.15) rounded out Notre Dame’s scoring five.
Northridge
More Top Picks Kites
Paced by junior Peter Conroy’s fifth-place finish, the Knights took second at the Class 1A Lisle Sectional and advanced to the state meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria. Conroy finished in 17:20.
Northridge totaled 125 points to finish behind Bishop McNamara, which had 108.
Other runners who counted for the Knights included junior Sebastian Fuentes-Branas (ninth, 17:34), junior Drew Litkowiak (29th, 18:21), sophomore John Madigan (46th, 18:52) and junior Joe Barisas (58th, 19:12).
Twitter: @harnesspreps