Tolosa Scores 7th Place Finish At IHSA Sectional

Essay Tolosa started the season wondering if he’d even crack Evanston’s varsity lineup.

He wound up running with the state’s cross country elite.

Tolosa’s 7th place finish Saturday at the Class 3A Hoffman Estates Sectional meet cemented his status as a runner who might have been the most improved racer in the state of Illinois during this pandemic-plagued, abbreviated season. Competing in what is arguably the state’s toughest sectional field, Tolosa earned 7th with a time of 15 minutes, 29.27 seconds over a course that measured just over 3 miles and “qualified” for the Illinois High School Association state finals.

The fact that the IHSA won’t conduct a state meet next weekend didn’t take away from Tolosa’s performance. Why? Because if he continues to improve at such a torrid pace, Tolosa will eventually play in Peoria --- for real.

Saturday, he was one of 7 runners who would have qualified for at-large berths at State. He led Evanston to 11th place in the team standings overall with 289 points in the 15-team field.

On the girls side, the Wildkits settled for 13th place with 342 points, paced by senior Hope Leman’s 21st place finish.

Tolosa, a junior who didn’t compete in cross country last year, just kept dropping time all fall and his first breakthrough came when he finally beat sophomore teammate Declan Ahern in a dual meet.

The rest is an open chapter in the ETHS distance history book, with plenty more to come from a runner who is just starting to tap into his potential.

“I didn’t imagine this happening, not at all,” Tolosa said. “I wasn’t even the best runner at ETHS coming into the season --- I was always second to Declan. I didn’t even think I’d make the varsity until I surprised myself and finished 2nd to him in our (2-mile) time trial right before the season.

“I got closer and closer to Declan, who was still beating me by a second or two. It was always a little bit of a rivalry, always me and him together. Then in our 4th race of the season I finally beat him, and I just kept PRing ever since.

“I didn’t get a PR today, but I really wanted to qualify for State. And yeah, I feel like a state qualifier! I worked hard to achieve what I did and I think today’s race proves that I’m one of the best in the state.”

“Essay was gunning to win it today, and I was his best fan,” confessed ETHS head coach Donald Michelin Jr. “We really don’t know what Essay can do at this point. He continues to amaze us all.

“We’ve always known that the he had the potential to be better --- but not at this level. He told me the wind (gusting to 30 miles-per-hour at times on the compact Hoffman course) didn’t bother him a bit. I told him to sit and kick, but the pace was rinky dink over the first half of the race and then everyone really picked it up tremendously.

“I thought he ran a great race. He always puts it all out there, no matter what. His confidence level is through the roof and he really wants to be that (No. 1) guy for us.”

Tolosa actually ran 6th in the No. 1 flight (meet officials conducted flights to space the runners out and prevent COVID spread), but New Trier’s Charlie Siebert bettered his time in another flight and knocked the ETHS runner back to the No. 7 spot. Warren’s Luke Wiley captured the individual title in 15:07.27.

Evanston’s point total took a hit when junior Sonny Granzetto developed a “stitch” in his side in the first mile and was unable to finish his race. The Wildkits did count Ahern, 40th in 16:22.20; junior Dylan Eyler, 86th in 17:10.88; junior Solomon Greene, 95th in 17:23.56; and senior Elis Allen, 104th in 17:37.23.

Also competing for the Wildkits was senior Owen Briggeman, 106th in 17:45.90.

“It was disappointing because we all ran slower times than we did last week (at the regional) on the same course,” said Michelin Jr. “We were hoping they’d at least run the same times. Part of the problem was that our training was different this year than what I’d like it to be. They did a lot of long mileage, between 500 and 600 miles this summer, but it wasn’t fast enough.

“Then when the season started we had to back off on the training because of injuries and they really weren’t ready to run up-tempo at this point. And it really hurt that they missed out on the track season (cancelled because of the pandemic). Prior to COVID, during indoor track, we had 8 or 9 guys who were at 10:09 to 10:20 for 2 miles, but we lost that (edge).

“I need to communicate better with them about their training and now I realize it’s not one size fits all. I did see progress, and in a normal year when we were also able to run track, I think we’d have been looking to challenge (Central Suburban League South division champion) New Trier.”

Besides the fact that Evanston’s top 5 runners by season’s end were all underclassmen, the Wildkits will get a boost from the return of Sam Bennett to the lineup after he opted out over health concerns, plus talented freshmen Henry O’Malley, Jack Kleinschmidt and Michael Singer, next fall.

In the girls competition, Leman bounced back from a disappointing showing at the regional but it wasn’t quick enough to land an individual qualifying spot. She was clocked in 18:47.01. A two-time state qualifier prior to this year, Leman wasn’t able to challenge the front pack that included winner Aly Negovetch of Grant (17:35.06).

Next best in order for the Kits were junior Lauren Dain, 86th in 20:53.38; junior Tate Lucas, 89th in 21:02.11; senior Mayerli Collantes-Cook, 94th in 21:07.55; senior Mollie Davis, 98th in 21:12 flat; senior Emily McCandlish, 102nd in 21:22.21; and senior Gabrielle Froum, 104th in 21:28.66.

“I did have plenty of time to prepare for this year mentally, knowing there’d be no state finals,” said Leman, who advanced to State as a freshman at Deerfield and qualified last year after transferring to Evanston. “If this was my fastest year, and I never got a chance to go to State, I’d be more disappointed. Every season’s different.

“Today I just decided to take it out with the pack. I felt like it was my last race, so I might as well take it out hard. I didn’t run my best in that race last week and I was determined to finish with a race I was decently happy with today. So I met that goal, even though this was a slow course.”

Leman did pick up a scholarship offer from the University of Illinois-Chicago last week but said she’s undecided regarding her future as a runner. “If I do decide to run in college, I might run track (at ETHS) to get more prepared for college,” she noted. “But if the track season gets pushed back to the summer, I might have some conflicts then.”