Strayer sets Boys 1600 Meter Run record at Batavia Distance Madness

Ihrke just misses Hilby’s 800 record; last laps move gives Nitz the win; Berris wire to wire for Girls 1600 title, Swan runs away for 3200 win; Oceguera holds off field in Girls 800 title

By Michael Newman

Batavia, Ill – It was a race lesson learned by Nick Strayer of Lyons Township two weeks ago at the Proviso West Invitational in Hillside. Strayer thought he had the win nailed down in the 1 Mile Run until Brady Golomb of York passed on the outside just before the line to take the win.

“I learned in that race to never take anything for granted in any race,” Strayer said.

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It could be a lesson that will pay off when he gets to the starting line at the IHSA State Meet in May. The Lyons Township senior held off Rory Gaan of Fremd in the final race of the night to win the Boys 1600 Meter Run at Batavia Distance Madness.

Strayer’s time of 4:16.85 established a new meet record in the event. The old record was set last year by Batavia’s Quintin Lowe of 4:17.00. It was the only meet record of the evening.

The first lap of the final section of the Boys 1600. The pack seemed to be in slow motion as they group passed the first 200-meters in 33.8 seconds. In the seventh section of the event, Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South wowed the crowd blowing away the field in running 4:23.57. That was the standard that the section was trying to better. For Strayer, it was time for him to start the move.

A second 32 second lap picked up the pace as they passed 65 seconds at 400-meters and 1:37 at 600-meters. Rory Gaan took the lead in the middle of the fourth lap. By the time they passed 800-meters in 2:10, Strayer wanted that lead back. A pack of Strayer, Gaan, and Jacob Barraza of DeKalb broke away from the rest of the field. Two laps later, they three runners were about to pass 12—meters in 3:15. Gaan tried to take the lead, The Lyons senior refused to let that happen making a surge and not leaving anything to chance.

The surge dropped Barraza from the lead. It could not break the perseverance of Gaan. However, the race was Strayer’s for the win. Gaan finished second in 4:19.04. Barraza finished in 4:20.07 for third. Brendan Lawson of Rockford Guilford ran a season’s best of 4:23.09 to finish fourth. Narayanan’s time in the Section 7 win gave him fifth overall.

In the race a week ago at North Central College, Emma Berres of Naperville North stayed with Liv Phillips before Phillips broke away for the win in the 1600 Meter Run. With Phillips running this weekend in Boston for the New Balance Indoor Nationals, Berres ended up doing all the work in the final section of the 1600 Meter Run at Distance Madness.

Delilah Helenhouse of Benet Academy broke away from the field just after 800-meters to storm away with the win. Her time of 5:07.86 set the standard that final Girls 1600 would strive to go after. Berres along with teammate Julie Piot and Vernoica Znajda of Prospect broke away from the pack early with the three runners in 2:29. Piot began to fall of the pace at that point. Berres put surge in the pace just before two laps to go in the race. It looked like that would be the move that would clinch the win. Znajda made one more move in the final lap, but Berres got to the line before the Prospect junior could catch up.

Berres was timed in 5:02.85 for the win. Znajda finished second in 5:04.91. “I was hoping for a sub-5 race today but that did not happen,” Berres said afterwards. “I know that (the sub-5) will happen soon. I’m happy with the win.”

The Naperville North junior had a busy weekend. She flew out early Saturday morning to compete in the Emerging Elites 800 Meter Run at the Nike Indoor Nationals. Berres finished second in her section, 17th overall  with a 2:19.60 best. It was a good double for her especially considering the traveling she had to do.

Sofia Arcuri of Maine South came from the middle of the pack in the final three laps to run 5:06.35 to finish third overall. Helenhouse finished fourth followed by Hannah Diete of Taft who ran 5:08.27 to place fifth overall. Lola Satre-Morales of Naperville Central had a time that won Section 6 (5:09.70) and finish sixth overall. Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South ran 5:09.92 to finish fifth in her section and seventh overall.

John Ihrke of Glenbard South had command of the final sectional of the Boys 800 Meter Run but had to fight off several challenges to get that win. Payton Whitehead of Lakes Community and Liam Naughton of Hersey took their shots of trying to take the lead away from Ihrke, but the resilient runner would not allow it. Ihrke ran 1:55.72 to win missing Patrick Hilby’s meet record of 1:55.30.

Whitehead ran 1:56.22 to finish second ahead of Naughton’s 1:56.48. Hussein Almousawi of Bolingbrook finished fourth (1:56.38). Tim Jochum of Glenbard South celebrated his birthday by running a personal best of 1:56.79 to finish fifth.

The Girls 800 Meter Run was expected to be a wide-open race and it was. Close to three seconds separated the top four runners in the Championship Section in the race. Janelissa Oceguera of Joliet West figured to be the runner to watch for. As the gun went off, that thought became true. Oceguera refused in the entire four laps of the race try to pass last year’s state qualifier. She refused anyone pass her. The group went trough 400-meters with surges starting to happen and Oceguera refusing to let them by her.

Oceguera came home with a wire to wire win in a personal best of 2:19.14. Allegra Triner of Yorkville was within three tenths of a second with a 2:19.44 time. Freshman Natalie Nahs of Minooka finished third in this section, fifth overall (2:21.89). Avery Braker of Morton was right behind Nahs in fourth (finishing sixth overall) with a 2:21.96.

The first three runners would have to wait it out to see what their overall finish would be. In this meet, the fastest section went first and then worked down from there. There was a scare to Oceguera’s time in the second section. Jenna Bachara of Wheaton-Warrenville South took the lead just after 400-meters from Keira Jenke of Benet Academy and rolled to the section win. Bachara did get close running 2:20.00 to miss Oceguera to finish third overall. Jenke’s time of 2:21.82 finished second behind Bachara, fourth overall.

There was no secret for the runners in the second section of the Girls 3200 Meter Run. Just stay with Annika Swan of St. Ignatius College Prep for as long as you can. On this night, it was easier said than done. Meg Peterson of Prospect and Jane Lynch of Loyola Academy maintained contact for the first four laps of the race. Swan broke away after that passing the first 1600-meters in 5:16.

This was only the third time that Swan had run the 3200 Meter Run in  a race. She said afterwards that she hit the pace she wanted for the first mile. She was alone lapping runners during the last mile, but her pace slowed. Her winning time of 10:43.68 was an indoor personal best and a race to build from in future races. Swan is showing that she is developing as one of the top female distance runners in the state.

Peterson and Lynch fell to 15 seconds behind at 2000-meters of the race but kept that gap the same the rest of the race. Peterson ran 10:58.11 to finish second ahead of the 11:01.53 time from Lynch as she finished third. Holly Johnson of Downers Grove South worked up during the race to finish fourth with a 11:08.95 time. Danielle Jensen and Skyler Balzer of McHenry worked together throughout this race. They got close to Johnson at the end with Jensen running 11:09.80 to finish fifth and Balzer running 11:10.30 to finish sixth.

The craziest race of the night was the third section of the Boys 3200 Meter Run where it seemed none of the front runners could hold on to the lead. Dale Johnson of Sterling was running his first race at this distance of the season. He led the pace through an opening 2:18 for the first 800-meters. Owynn Garrelts of Maine South, Tommy Nitz of Huntley, and Braden Hoff of Lincoln-Way Central at one point of the first mile passing that point passed in 4:43.

Nitz was the runner that made the final move to close the door on the rest of the field. Garrelts along with Hirsi Hirsi of Mather were staying within touch of Nitz. That was until four laps left in the race. Nitz made a surge running the penultimate 400 in 68 seconds with the two runners behind him barely holding on. Nitz dropped them running a final 64 second 400 to run 9:22.48 to claim the win.

Hirsi ran 9:29.45 to finish second with Garrelts running 9:30.20 to finish third. Sean Hanrahan of Lincoln-Way East ran 9:31.99 to finish fourth ahead of Hoff (9:33.21) and Johnson (9:33.79).