Graham leads Glenbard West girls domination with individual win; Conroy boys victor as Huntley comes up short to Jones College Prep

By Eric Hofmann

September 12, 2014

Lake Park High School East Campus, Roselle, IL 

Fall came early this year with Saturday morning temperatures in the mid-40s, great running weather for the races on the east campus of Lake Park High School.  A number of top Illinois teams competed in Peoria this weekend, but the Harvey Brauss Invitational was perhaps the biggest Chicago area meet.  Spectators watching at the finish line were not to be disappointed, as that was an eventful area in both varsity races.

The girls varsity race unfolded pretty much as one would have expected.  Glenbard West, holding the Dyestat number one ranking in class 3A, was the class of the field, let by their frontrunner Lindsay Graham.  A pack of Schaumburg’s top three runners went out hard from the gun, ahead of most of Glenbard West’s runners early on.  However, as the field strung out and athletes established positions, Glenbard’s top six runners had moved ahead of all of Schaumburg’s.  To their credit, Schaumburg coach Courtney Smith pointed out their other girls, who started out further back in the field, all moved up during the race.  In the first mile, Lindsay Graham ran with a group near the front, but then surged ahead and extended the lead over the rest of the three mile distance.  In second and third for most of the race were Audrey Ernst (St. Charles North) and Gabby Juarez (Streamwood).  Just short of the two mile point, Glenbard West’s third through 6^th runners continued to move together, but a trio from Hoffman Estates looked strong ahead of them.

With three quarters of a mile to go, Graham appeared to have the race wrapped up, but behind her, Juarez gained ground on Ernst.  This set up a fight for second, which Juarez later described as “pretty exciting.”  She overtook Ernst, only to fall behind again in the waning meters.  Juarez had enough in the tank, though, for one final push to cross the line virtually even with Ernst.  With the result not immediately obvious, Juarez appeared resigned to the thought she had taken third, only to be granted second – by one tenth of a second – when the official decision was made.  She said she was confident when passing Ernst the first time, but was not sure if she had enough to come back after being overtaken again, knowing it was going to be a close one.  She hopes to use this as a springboard for a successful senior season, with a goal of a top ten finish at the state meet after making a major leap since last year.

Behind them, the rest of the Glenbard West girls finished in close proximity, their top six having all passed the Hoffman Estates pack.  They backed up their top ranking with a smart performance.

Next up were the boys.  Teams from Huntley and Deerfield made their presence felt in the front early on, most of them running with teammates including Huntley’s Seth Conroy and Keagan Smith in first and second.  Halfway through, Huntley held four of the top ten positions.  Jones College Prep, one of the top teams in the field, but missing three of their top five due to ACT testing, still had several top-fifteen runners.  Their number one, Markiyan Protsiv, broke up the Huntley duo by pushing the pace at the front.  He and Seth Conroy ran neck and neck for the last three quarters of a mile.  As they entered the track, the day’s theme of dramatic finishes continued.  In one of his finals strides on the grass, Conroy slipped in the mud, falling to the ground.  Protsiv, however, failed to capitalize on the opportunity, running through a line of cones marking the course.  He backtracked, allowing time for Conroy to recover and kick n the last 200 meters for the win.   Despite the disappointment, Protsiv experienced a different kind of victory when he learned Jones had taken the team title.  Despite Huntley’s group tactics and early front running, several Jones athletes moved up late in the race for valuable team points.  Before the announcement of the team scores, head coach Andrew Adelmann was unsure of their result, and preferred to emphasize key individual performances of those who had stepped up with the team being shorthanded.  He singled out Nick Merten, the fourth place finisher who set a personal record and also stated their sophomores and juniors, in particular, “came through big.”

St. Charles East was another top boys team at this meet, but was also hindered by absence due to the day’s ACT, in this case, in the form of their top runner, Mark Sciurba.  Head coach Chris Bosworth was pleased with the performances of those who he did have with him.  He highlighted the narrow time spread between their first and fifth scoring runners (thirty-five seconds), but noted room for improvement, pointing out a slow start that resulted in several of their athletes getting stuck in a narrow section around the first turn, slowing them to a walk.

As the season rolls on, big names like the Glenbard West girls and Jones boys will try to maintain their success, Graham and Conroy have established themselves as individual contenders, and Juarez proves she belongs with the state’s elite, carrying through from her successful track season.