Schager, Lowe way ahead of the DuKane Conference field

Batavia repeats in winning Girls conference title, Wheaton-Warrenville South just too much in Boys title win

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Roselle, Ill – The sole purpose of Saturday’s race for Glenbard North’s Grace Schager was not only winning the DuKane Conference title, but also working on race tactics that will help her racing experience this November in Peoria.

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Her last race on the Lake Park East Campus course resulted in a new course record in September. According to her Coach Eric Day, she was all over the course. Today’s lesson would be running the tangents on the course.

“We wanted today to map out the course. I just wanted not to cut the corners but run the shortest distance and not giving up extra space,” Schager said. “I ran all over the place in that last race. My coach has been trying to bury me about that.”

It was evident that Schager would be the favorite in this race. She admitted after the race that she did get a little excited running the first 880 of the race harder than she expected. She calmed down to go past the first mile in 5:22 almost 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. The lead continued to grow the next two miles as Schager crossed the line, stopped her watch that read 16:19.9 to set a new conference record.

“I knew I would be running by myself. This race was a mental learning experience,” Schager added. “I’ve run races by myself before. This race I just need to be comfortable doing that again.”

Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South pulled away from Norah Dorrance in the second-mile of the race and went on to run 17:47 to finish second. Dorrance ran 18:06 in finishing third.

Batavia bounced back from a good race at the Naperville Twilight Invitational a week ago to improve on that effort to repeat as conference champions scoring 51 points. The Bulldogs placed 5 runners in the top 20 to get his win led by top 10 finishes from Liliana Bednarek who finished fourth and freshman Madeline Cassidy finishing sixth. Brooke Silbernagel (12th), Sasha Semanision (16th), and Madison Wnek (20th) were also a part of Batavia’s top five that had a 56 second split on those runners.

#8 Wheaton-Warrenville South did not use as an excuse that two of their top 5 runners early in the week were sick but still raced on Saturday morning. The Tigers finished second overall (76 points) paced by Poglitsch’s finish and their pack led by Frida Martinez who finished 13th that had a 40 second split between them. #24 Wheaton North finished third (86 points) just ahead of #30 St. Charles East (96 points).

Batavia’s Quintin Lowe’s confidence continues to grow heading into the state series. He tested positive for COVID after his first race of the season. His top 10 finish at Naperville Twilight gave his confidence a bump up. His race on Saturday morning jumped him up higher in winning the Boys Individual conference championship.

Nathan Virginelli of Wheaton-Warrenville South picked up the pace after the lead group that included Lowe, Mitch Garcia of St. Charles East, and Caleb Youngstedt of Wheaton North passed the first mile in 4:54. Lowe countered with a surge of his own and started to pull away from the pack. Garcia went with Lowe as the two runners passed 2-miles in 10:07. Just as he dis after the first mile, Lowe made another move that no one I this race could keep up with. Lowe blazed a final 4:49 mile to win with a 14:56.5 time.

“I knew it would be tough up front. I knew I needed to make a move after the first mile,” Lowe said. “I was happy that Virginelli surged because I did not want to lead the whole way. It has been a tough year for me. I knew after I finished third at last year’s meet, I wanted to go for the top spot.”

Lowe’s move and win was decisive as he won by 32 seconds ahead of Youngstedt who ran 15:28 to finish second. Sam Cruz of Wheaton-Warrenville South was one second behind running 15:29 to finish third. Garcia ran 15:32 to finish fourth.

The success of Wheaton-Warrenville South’s season this fall has been tight pack running. The displayed that again in this race placing five runners in the top ten to win with 33 points. The split off Cruz’s third-place finish was only 23 seconds with Josiah Narayanan (5th), Nathan Virginelli (6th), Aiden Noel (9th), and Colin Nelson (10th) following Cruz.

Wheaton North finished second with 50 points with Youngstedt, Aidan Murphy (7th), and Jude Hubbard (8th) finishing in the top ten. #25 St. Charles East (75 points) and #29 Batavia (85 points) finished third and fourth.