Evanston Runners Advance To Sectional

Ever since he took over the Evanston boys cross country program, Donald Michelin Jr. has tried to get his runners to embrace a “pack attack” theory of racing instead of focusing on individual achievement.

The Evanston coach even admitted to at one point giving up on the idea of stressing that strategy for the postseason this fall --- until Torin Ravi showed his teammates the way to succeed.

Ravi and three of his teammates raced within 3 seconds of each other Saturday as Evanston placed 3rd in the team standings at the Class 3A Wheeling Regional meet held at Heritage Park and easily advanced a full squad to next week’s Hoffman Estates Sectional.

Also qualifying were the Wildkit girls, who placed 4th in the team standings paced by a 12-13-14 individual finish by teammates Stella Davis, Sammy Schuneman and Rory Malia.

The top 6 teams automatically qualified full teams to the sectional, set for next Saturday at Busse Woods. New Trier topped the boys standings with 33 points, followed in order by Hersey (42,) Evanston (100), Glenbrook South (135), Niles North (142) and Glenbrook North (150) in the 11-team field.

On the girls side, Loyola Academy placed 4 runners in the top 8 for a team score of 39 to beat out Hersey (67), New Trier (84), Evanston (110), Glenbrook South (122) and Glenbrook North (143).

Ravi, a senior who has endured an injury-plagued running career for the Wildkits, showed the way with a 16th place finish in 16 minutes, 27.07 seconds over the hilly 3-mile test at Heritage Park.

Right on the heels of the team’s No. 1 runner --- for the first time this fall --- were Henry O’Malley, 17th in 16:27.57; Sam Froum, 19th in 16:31.52; and David Choldin, 20th in 16:32.09. Sophomore Arber Bombaci made sure the Kits would survive and advance by contributing a 28th place finish in 16:53.72.

Ravi’s leadership made the difference Saturday and could spur his teammates to a similar performance in their team bid at the sectional.

“They’re becoming believers because they’ve been training with Torin and now they’re right there with him,” Michelin Jr. said. “Everyone wants to get a PR (personal record) and be an individual superstar, so you don’t see much pack running in our sport these days. But it’s about team morale and feeling good as a team.

“We’ve been packing in practice, but in the past it’s been a tough sell to get it done at a meet. We got away from it in mid-season because everyone was so competitive. Then I noticed that on our long run days Torin was encouraging them and telling them yes, you can do it. It’s just happening naturally. Now they have a different mindset.”

“We packed up pretty well today, and what really matters is our placing,” said Ravi. “We had a plan to go out conservative (as a foursome) and try to move up together, and that’s basically what we did today. We’ve been talking about packing a lot more lately and I’m happy we were able to do it today. I’m hoping we can qualify for State now as a team. I think we’re good enough.”

Michelin Jr. is just happy to have back a senior captain who has missed most of the past two seasons with bad knees and hasn’t been able to contribute much.

“Torin’s had to work through a lot of ailments and he was so far behind the 8-ball,” noted the ETHS coach. “But he’s been so consistent this year and it’s really motivating for all of us. He has the other guys’ attention and he’s bringing the rest of them along. He’s really been spot on for us all year.”

“I’ve been able to stay injury free this year and it feels great,” Ravi added. “I did more weight lifting to keep my legs stronger and that’s really helped. I requested weight lifting for my junior year gym class and lifted twice a week. I’ve found that lifting and running need to be combined for me to be successful.”

For the Wildkit girls, Schuneman and Malia continued to close the gap between them and Davis and all 3 will likely have a chance to advance through the sectional as individuals if they continue to improve.

Davis was clocked in a slower-than-expected 19:16.84, compared to 19:17.11 for Schuneman and 19:21.55 for Malia. Next best for Evanston were senior Ella Gutierrez, 32nd in 20:40.63, and freshman Sam Caldwell, 39th in 21:12.11.

Davis, a sophomore who also qualified for the sectional last season, said her timing was off because none of the expected contenders broke out to a big lead with a fast pace early in Saturday’s race.

“It was a really weird race,” Davis said. “We were all confused at the end of the race when we saw our times. Everyone just went out slow.

“My goal was to keep up with the No. 2 girl from GBS because I thought that would be about an 18:30 pace, but now I’m thinking that wasn’t the right strategy. But it was good to have Sammy and Rory right up there with me. We’ve had good practices and it’s good for us not to have such a gap (between finishers). I’m still not used to being the No. 1 runner --- it’s hard not to have people around that you’re trying to catch up to like last year --- but it’s also motivation for me because I know I have to do well for the team.

“I’m trying not to get hung up about my time today. Placing is more important, especially at the sectional. I need to place better this year to make it to State and I might keep my eyes on the Loyola runners next week. Their No. 2 girl ran an 18:30 today and that’s my goal for next week.”

“I’m excited that all 3 of them were so close today,” said Wildkit coach Beth Arey. “I would have liked to see one of them take it out a little more, but today showed me that we have a lot of potential in our top 2 or 3 runners that’s been untapped. They haven’t been that close together before today.

“Maybe I didn’t push some of them enough at the beginning of the season (Schuneman, a sophomore, and Malia, a freshman, are both competing in cross country for the first time for the first-year head coach). Now they’re a lot more successful in practice and they’re able to translate that into the races, and that’s awesome! Now I’m a lot more confident about the sectional because I think some of them can make it as individuals.”

A wild card in Evanston’s team longshot bid could be Caldwell, who moved into the varsity lineup this week after placing 7th in the Central Suburban League South division frosh-soph meet and led the first part of that race.

Her time at the regional was just five seconds off her season PR.

“I put her in the lineup because I put my trust in her commitment and passion for the sport,” explained Arey. “She has a drive you don’t see in a lot of young athletes these days.”