Hinsdale Central’s Colin Yandel made the most of his only appearance at the boys cross country state meet, capping a season of accomplishments by finishing 16th in the Class 3A meet.
Yandel, a senior, was not among the Red Devils’ top seven runners before this season; however, he completed the state race in 14 minutes, 43 seconds on Saturday in Peoria.
“Colin has been really, for the season, a real surprise in terms of how he has been running,” Hinsdale Central coach Jim Westphal said. “I think Colin would tell you that his goal for the season would probably to be in the top five or top seven to contribute. He kept plugging away. Every meet he got a little bit better.”
Yandel finished 11th at the Naperville Twilight Invite on Oct. 4, and just continued to get better after that race.
“He got a lot of confidence from there,” Westphal said. “If you can earn all-state honors in cross country in the state of Illinois, you are doing pretty good things.”
Each finisher in the top 25 earns all-state recognition.
The Red Devils finished fourth in Peoria after finishing third at their own sectional on Oct. 28.
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“I am pretty sure we were in the toughest sectional in the state,” Westphal said.
In addition to Yandel, junior Alec Hill (14:58), senior Sean O’Connell (15:10), junior Matt Kusak (15:11) and senior Neil Cumberland (15:14) contributed to the Red Devils’ team score at state.
“We thought the kids did an exceptional job of running one of the best races of the year at the right time,” Westphal said. “The group this year just really had good chemistry and earned every accolade, whether it was a top-two finish at an invite, or top-three in conference (West Suburban Silver).”
York
Dukes senior Sean MacGregor was not going to change his approach in his final race for York. He resisted the temptation to try and stay with the leaders right at the start of the Class 3A final on Saturday in Peoria.
“The pack went out really fast in the first mile, and I just wanted to run my own race,” MacGregor said. “I did not want to go out too fast, I have never done that in a race. I just kind of stuck back in the 30s … and after that I just turned it into another gear. I really started racing after that, and started passing people.”
The strategy worked for MacGregor, who was 27th around the 2-mile mark, and worked his way up to finish in 20th place in 14 minutes, 45 seconds.
“He is a great finisher,” York coach Charlie Kern said. “Even more so (at state) he put together his best race, just like the team did on its most important day.”
York captured sixth place in Peoria. Seniors Tim Stevenson (15:04), Jackson Bode (15:12), Charlie Kern (15:16) and sophomore Ethan Kern (15:24) also contributed to the team score.
MacGregor, who plans to run cross country at Dayton, attributes his closing approach to both training and mentality.
“I think it is a little mixture of both,” MacGregor said. “When you are at the end of a race, why leave anything (left) at the end of a race. That is what I think going into it. At practices, we always finish strong at the end of the workouts.”
Hinsdale South
Senior Brett Haffner likely will have a lasting memory from his final boys cross country state meet with the Hornets. For a good portion of the Class 2A race, he was leading.
He ended up in 13th place with a time of 15 minutes, 6 seconds.
“He is talented. He is fast: He ran a 4:25 mile in practice a couple of weeks ago,” Hinsdale South coach Jim Dickerson said. “So he just went out at a pace that was strong, but comfortable. There was just nobody with him. He is winning the state meet, so at that point, you just go with it.”
It was the third straight year that Haffner ran in Peoria for Hinsdale South after attending St. Ignatius as a freshman. He plans to run in college, but is undecided as to where.
“I am very proud of him. He is a great kid,” Dickerson said. “I always joke that he is my second assistant coach, but he really is. He organizes the guys on the team.”
As a team, the Hornets finished in 19th place. Senior Trevor Schauer (16:25), junior Tim Rudolph (16:32), sophomore Nick Beronio (16:34) and junior Antonio Garcia (16:56) also contributed to the team score.
It was the fourth consecutive trip to Peoria for Hinsdale South.
“It is great. We have our routine, we have our little traditions now,” Dickerson said. “We are confident we are going to make state every year.”
Timothy Christian
The Titans finished 21st in the Class 1A boys cross country state meet on Saturday in Peoria.
Junior Clint Fincher (16 minutes, 4 seconds) and senior William Terpstra (16:16) led the Trojans in Peoria, followed by sophomore Caleb Mitchell, junior Alex Oldenburger and senior Simon Detmer.
Mitchell dropped almost a minute off his sectional time (17:24) at Peoria (16:26).
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Patrick Kelly is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press