Geneva Boys Cross County Team So Good It Can Be in Two Places at Once

The Geneva boys cross country team divided and conquered in two meets on the same day Saturday.

The Vikings finished 11th of 19 teams in the 2010 Royal Cadet Invitational at Marmion Military Academy and 12th of 38 teams in the Peoria Woodruff Invitational at Detweiler Park in Peoria.

In Peoria, Bill Koskiewicz was 26th out of 254 runners with a time of 15 minutes, 33.21 seconds. Connor Bartel was 55th at 15:58.66, Peter Archibald was 56th at 15:33.21, Ryan Ahern was 87th at 16:22.26, Nate Wendt was 128th at 16:40.82, Ryan Fromm was 129th at 16:41.26 and Michael Bianchina was 132nd at 16:42.66.

At the Royal Cadet invite, Kristoffer Larson, a junior, paced Geneva on the three-mile course, finishing with a time of 17 minutes, 56.7 seconds, good for 41st place among 108 runners. Freshman Stephen Guevara was 51st at 18:11.0, sophomore Dan Herrera was 58th at 18:15.5, Vince Schaper was 59th at 18:18.3, Freshman Michael Sheehan was 66th at 18:31.6 and sophomore Christian Stronello was 67th at 18:32.3.

The boys cross country team has the talent to surprise some teams in Chicago area and around the state this season after winning a conference title and taking 14^th in the state in 2009.

One big change for the Vikings will be a move into the Upstate Eight Conference River Division, joining border rivals Batavia, St. Charles East and St. Charles North, among other schools.

"I feel we'll be in the mix for the Upstate Eight title, but St. Charles North looks like the team to beat," said Vikings' coach Bob Thomson. "One goal is to try to win the conference. The other is to try for a run at state. Many won't give us a chance, but they didn't last year and look what happened."

In addition to the conference title and 14^th place in state, the Vikings also won a regional title and took fifth in the sectional a year ago.

Returnees from that team include Kevin McDowell, a senior who was 56^th in state in 2009; senior Ryan Ahern, 134^th at state; senior Connor Bartel, 165^th at state; junior Peter Archibald, 183^rd at state; and junior Ryan Fromm, an alternate on the 2009 state-qualifying team.

"The strength of our team is experience to some degree because (it is) hard to talk to kids about state when there is no one (who) knows what it's about. We have kids (who) know what it's about."

One key newcomer is Koskiewicz, a senior competing in cross country for the first time.

"He is running near the top of the squad. He is working hard. We have a good tier of runners in our five to 12 spots. It's wide open for many of them to break into the top seven."

Thomson said keys to the Vikings achieving their 2010 goals will be to stay away from injuries; develop the younger kids to make a contribution; and have some luck.

"Our weakness may be depth," he said. "We also are very young. About 65 percent of our team (are) freshman and sophomores."