Minooka goes 1-2-3 in Girls Varsity, but its Naperville North’s pack that wins team title; Horn and Neuqua Valley winners in Boys Meet

By Michael Newman

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Naperville, Ill – Since the inception of the Naperville Twilight Invitational in 2011 on the Neuqua Valley Campus, it has been a family affair between the schools from the Naperville area in District 203 and District 204. This year, Minooka was invited to compete in this meet. It did not take the Indians too long to get used to the tight turns of this course especially in the Girls Varsity race.

As compared to the two previous weeks, conditions were perfect for running with temperatures near 60 degrees and no precipitation in sight. Minooka’s Ashley Tutt, MacKenzie Callahan, and Emily Shelton took advantage of the near perfect weather sweeping the first three positions of this race. The three guaranteed that early in the race when they opened up a twenty meter lead in the first mile. #3 Naperville North bided their time early in the race. Elly DeTurris lead a tight pack of six Huskies’ runners that was just waiting for their moment to move.

Tutt made her move in the second mile of the race pulling away from her teammates Callahan and Shelton. Every turn she made in the switchback section of the course, Tutt made a surge lengthening her lead. DeTurris led her teammates Claire Hamilton and Judy Pendergast some ten seconds behind the Minooka duo. With Minooka’s three runners ahead of Naperville’s three runners, it looked like the Indians had the lead. It was the depth of Naperville North that had a clear advantage with 10 runners ahead of Minooka’s fourth runner.

DeTurris tried to make a move in the last mile to go after Shelton and Callahan. The chances of getting Tutt were nil as her lead had grown to 15 seconds heading into the last half mile. Tutt headed into the stadium for the last 100 meters veering towards lane 1. She crossed the line in an amazing 16:40.5. Even though the course was short of three miles (2.85 miles according to Neuqua Valley assistant coach Jamie Janota), to run a time under 17 minutes at this point of the season shows she will be a challenger in the state series. Callahan and Shelton came sprinting down the track both finishing in 16:55. Callahan was screaming in joy that her teammates finished 1-2-3 and all three were under the magic 17 minute barrier.

“I did not expect that fast of time,” Tutt said after she finished. “We were expecting to run good but not expecting that good,” a joyous Callahan added.

“Ashley Tutt, MacKenzie Callahan, and Emily Shelton are three great kids. They have been working so hard this season,” said Minooka coach Kevin Gummerson. “They are getting more and more confidence with every race. They can believe that they can run with any runner in the state. I am very proud of them. This was a great step forward tonight.”

Naperville North’s incredible depth putting seven runners in the first fourteen wiped out the 1-2-3 advantage that Minooka had. The Huskies actually placed 10 runners in before Minooka’s fourth runner Morgan Crouch. That was enough to give them the win 33-53 ahead of #8 Minooka.

“I was impressed. We split up a couple of weeks ago with some of our runners going to Minnesota for the Griak Meet and the others at our own invitational. It was nice to get them back together and see what we could do,” said North coach Dan Iverson. “All fifteen of them ran well in the varsity race. We were prepared. Minooka has a very good top three. We were hoping to break them up a little bit but that’s all right. We were able to pack it in close together so that we ended up okay.”

Naperville North’s five runner split was a tight 20 seconds. DeTurris finished fourth followed by Claire Hamilton (5^th), Judy Pendergast (7^th), Sara Schmidt (8^th), and Jennifer Gibson (9^th).

#24 Neuqua Valley was third in this six team meet with 77 points. #6 Naperville Central finished fourth with 80 points but did not have top runners Katie & Rachel Hoffman along with Ellie Marcet in the race.

Just as Naperville North displayed patience within their pack in the Girls race, the same applied to Neuqua Valley boy’s team in the Boys Varsity race preceding that. In the first mile, #8 Naperville Central set their sights on the team championship with a strong presence of red in the front of the pack. The #3 Wildcats just stayed in the middle of the lead pack as the group went through the first mile in 5:00.

The action picked up in the second mile as Naperville North’s Jon Klaiber and Kerry Gschwendtner started to force the pace. Neuqua’s Connor Horn, Daniel Weiss, and Michael Widmann stayed close. The team race was pretty much decided at two miles. There were six Neuqua runners behind their front pack all with in the first 16 runners. No other team that kind of presence at that point.

In the last half mile heading into the switch back section of the course, Horn made a surge to take the lead with his teammate Widmann close. Klaiber was also close refusing to be dropped by the Neuqua duo. Horn entered the stadium for the last 100 meters in a full sprint. He crossed the line in 14:31 two seconds ahead of Widmann. Klaiber finished third another four seconds back. Weiss edged Gschwendtner for fourth both running 14:43.

“We got out hard and in a good position,” Horn said. “We like to maintain that position and go hard the last mile. It was super nice to see Mike (Widmann) with me at the end. He was kind of nervous before the race. I just went for it and was happy to see him right behind me.”

Neuqua Valley commanded the team race placing three out of the first four places and eight runners in the first fifteen to win the team title with 28 points. After Horn, Widmann, and Weiss, Dominic Dina (10^th), Matthew Horsley (11^th), Austin Kinne (12^th), Aidan Livingston (13^th), and Caleb Ferguson (14^th) all finished within a second of each other. The five runner split was 30 seconds for this meet.

“I had some mixed feelings. We had some guys step up and some guys that did not run as well for one reason or another. It is hard to say sometimes how kids react racing on a school day,” Neuqua Valley Coach Paul Vandersteen said. “Overall, I was really happy with our team effort especially those five guys finishing within a second of each other.”

#15 Naperville North finished second with 46 points. The Huskies are starting to look strong with two good team races in a row. Their split on five was only 36 seconds. #8 Naperville Central finished third with 63 points. Geoffrey McCullough was the first runner in for his team (6^th). The fast early pace effected them but they hung in the last mile running a tight 31 second split on their first five runners.