ETHS boys and girls teams are advancing across the country to next week’s divisions
Since taking over the Evanston Boys cross-country program, Donald Michelin Jr. has tried to convince runners to embrace the “pack attack” theory of racing rather than focus on individual achievement.
Even coach Evanston at one point admitted to giving up on emphasizing that post-season strategy this fall — until Turin Ravi showed his teammates his way to success.
Raffy and three of his teammates raced within 3 seconds of each other on Saturday, as the Evanston Boys finished third in the team standings at the Wheeling Regional Class 3A meet at Heritage Park, and easily advanced a full set to Hoffman Estates next week.
The Wildkit Girls, who finished fourth in the team standings, also qualified with a 12-13-14 singles run by teammates Stella Davis, Sammy Scheunman and Rory Mallya.
The top six full teams automatically qualified for the division scheduled next Saturday at Busse Woods.
The New Terrier led the boys’ standings with 33 points, followed by Hersey (42), Evanston (100), Glenbrook South (135), Niles North (142) and Glenbrook North (150) in an 11-team field.
On the girls’ front, Loyola Academy placed four runners in the top eight by 39, ahead of Hersey (67), New Terrier (84), Evanston (110), Glenbrook South (122) and Glenbrook North (143). .
Ravi, a senior who experienced an injury-ridden sprint run with the Wildkits, showed the way with a 16th place in 16 minutes 27.07 seconds on the 3-mile hill test at Heritage Park.
On the heels of the team’s first feud — for the first time this fall — was Henry O’Malley, 17 in 16:27.57; Sam Fromm, 19 in 16:31.52; and David Holden, 20 at 16:32.09. Sophomore Arber Bombaci made sure the groups survived and advanced by contributing to 28th place in 16:53.72.
Sharpen the mentality of the pack
Ravi’s leadership made the difference on Saturday and could motivate his teammates to perform similarly in their division’s display.
“They became believers because they trained with Turin and now they are there with him,” Michelin said. Everyone wants to get PR [personal record] And be a singles star, so you don’t see a lot of toughness in our sport these days. But it’s about team morale and feeling good as a team.
“We packed in practice, but in the past it was hard to do in a meeting. We walked away from her in the middle of the season because everyone was so competitive. Then I noticed in our long days Turin was cheering them up and saying yes, you can do it. It happens. Naturally. Now they have a different mentality.”
“We packed well today, and what really matters is our situation,” Ravi said. “We had a plan to get out the governors [as a foursome] And we try to move forward together, and that’s basically what we did today.
“We’ve been talking about packing a lot lately and I’m glad we were able to do that today. I hope we can qualify for State now as a team. I think we’re good enough.”
Michelin is just happy to have a great captain who has missed most of the past two seasons with a bad knee and hasn’t been able to contribute much.
The ETHS coach noted: “Turin had to work through a lot of ailments and was far from the eight ball.” “But he has been so consistent this year which is a motivator for all of us. He gets the attention of the other players and he brings the rest with them. He has really been in the right place for us all year.”
“I’ve been able to stay injury-free this year and that’s a great feeling,” Ravi added. “I did more weight lifting to keep my legs stronger and that really helped me. I took weightlifting for my junior year gym class and weightlifting twice a week. I found that lifting and running had to be combined in order to be successful.”
ETHS Girls Cross Country Team
For the Wildkit girls, Schuneman and Malia have continued to bridge the gap between them and Davis and the three will likely have a chance to advance through the department as individuals if they continue to improve.
Davis clocked a slower-than-expected 19:16.84, compared to 19:17.11 for Scheunemann and 19:21.55 for Malia. Evanston’s second-best team was Ella Gutierrez, 32 in 20:40.63, and freshman Sam Caldwell, 39 in 21:12.11.
Davis, a sophomore who also qualified last season, said her timing was off because none of the expected contenders made significant progress at such a brisk pace early in Saturday’s race.
“It was a really strange race,” Davis said. “We were all confused at the end of the race when we saw our era. Everyone came out slowly.
“My goal was to keep up with Girl #2 from GBS because I thought it would be around 18:30, but now I’m thinking that’s not the right strategy.
“But it was good to have Sami and Rory with me. We have good practices and it’s good that we don’t have such a gap [between finishers]. I’m still not used to being the #1 runner – it’s hard not to have people around you trying to catch up like last year – but it’s also a motivation for me because I know I have to do well for a team.
“I try not to give up on my time today. A much more important position, especially in the sections. I need a better position this year to be able to make it to state and may have my eyes on the Loyola racers next week. Girl #2 ran at 18:30 today and that’s my goal for next week “.
“I’m excited that they were all so close today,” said Wildkit coach Beth Ari. “I would have liked to see someone take it out a little more, but today it showed me that we have a lot of potential in the two or three top riders that hadn’t been tapped. They weren’t close to each other before today.
“Maybe I didn’t push some of them enough at the start 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 are practically more successful and they are able to translate that into racing, which is great! Now I’m more confident in the department because I think some of them can make it as individuals.”
Caldwell could be the wildcard in Evanston’s long-running bid for Team Evanston, who moved into the lineup this week after finishing seventh in a South Suburbs Central League game and leading the first part of that race.
Her time in the zone was just five seconds short of her personal record of the season.
“I put her in the squad because I put my faith in her commitment and passion for the sport,” Ari explained. “She has leadership that you don’t see in a lot of young athletes these days.”
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