Aurora schools make statements in wins at Amboy

Rosary edges Eureka, Winnebago in Girls Top five battles; Aurora Central Catholic places 3 runners in the top 10 for Boys win; Grant, Mabry pull away for individual wins

(Photo:  Monticello’s Mabry Bruhn on her way to an Amboy Girls win)

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Sublette, Ill – The destination for some Class 1A teams on Columbus Day Monday is to head to the western portion of the state to assess themselves on the Shady Oaks Golf Course south of Amboy for the Columbus Day Invitational

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The course is a mix of hills in the first and final mile and middle mile where the pace dramatically picks up. Two Aurora schools, Rosary and Aurora Central Catholic, took advantage of near perfect conditions with no wind and cloudless skies with temperatures in the 60’s in winning the Boys and Girls team titles.

The Girls team race came down to the final mile to decide the winner. #4 Rosary edged #3 Eureka 78-80 for the team win. #2 Winnebago placed 3 runners in the top 7 and finished third with 90 points. #21 Elmwood ( 136 points) and #19 Rock Falls ( 149 points) were also in the top five.

#18 Aurora Central Catholic took control of the Boys race just before two-miles to help them win the team title with 67 points ahead of #7 Eureka (105 points), #24 Monticello (151 points), and #12 Elmwood (176 points). Rock Falls and #25 Mercer County both scored 178 points finishing fifth and sixth.

Monticello’s Mabry Bruhn was the pre-race favorite on this sunny Monday morning. She failed to disappoint. The senior had a slight lead after the first mile, then pulled away in the second-mile flats to run 17:35 for a convincing win.

“I really did not feel good coming into this race. I have allergy problems where I am allergic to 90% of the trees. I get shots and also have asthma induced by the allergies. Some how I make it through in running during my high school years,” Bruhn said. “Today I wanted to work off the runners in the front and then start to push the pace during the second mile. That strategy worked today.”

Bruhn won by 31 seconds ahead of Jolene Cashmore of Johnsburg. The senior is in her first season of cross-country running and improving with every race. She held off Winnebago’s Marissa Roggensack who was a second back in third.

Bryson Grant of Iroquois West was also a pre-race favorite that went on to win the individual title running 15:22 on the 2.95-mile course. Grant had company in the first two miles of the race as Aurora Central Catholic’s Patrick Hilby stayed within five seconds of Grant. The Iroquois West senior made his move just before the final steep hill on the course to pull away by 21 seconds ahead of Hilby who ran 15:43.

“I remember in last year’s race that the hill was pretty hard. I decided in this year’s race to take it easy the first time I went up,” Grant said. “I let some kids get a little bit ahead of me. I knew I could make it up in the end.”

The Girls team race was close throughout. This was the first race of the season that Rosary has run against a mainly 1A team race. Eureka had a nice pack. Would that keep them away from Rosary and Winnebago? Winnebago had the top three runners that would get them single digit numbers. Where would their fourth and fifth runners place on Monday?

All of those questions were answered. Rosary placed 3 runners in the top 11 to help them get to the win. Chiara Surtz led the Royals by finishing sixth overall. Natalie Goetsch (10th) and Vivian Wyller (11th) followed. There was a 79 second gap before Olivia Kunio crossed the line in 26th followed by Ana Hathaway who finished 11 seconds later in 29th place. Their top five split in this race was 126 seconds.

Eureka’s top five split was 88 seconds in this race led by Laurel Munson finishing eighth. The next four runners were separated by 54 seconds from each other led by Claire Albertson finishing 13th followed by Meika Bender (17th), Natali Roth (22nd) and Adeline Hubert (24th).

Winnebago did get their top three runners in the top 10 led by Roggensack in third, Grace Erb in fourth, and Kaylee Woolery in seventh. The three teammates were separated by 32 seconds. There was over a two minute gap before Reese Erdahl finishing 36th for Winnebago. Emma Woolery was the team’s fifth runner placing 46. The team’s overall split on five runners was 3:32.

Aurora Central Catholic’s Boys team is in the same situation as Rosary as they have run mainly against 2A and 3A schools. That experience helped them in this race. Hilby’s second-place finish was followed by Armando Acosta (7th) and James Stolfe (9th) in the top 10. The first three runners were separated by 56 seconds. Kevin Lilliwitz (21st) and Matthew Gay (33rd) were the team’s fourth and fifth runners. The Chargers had a top five split of 103 seconds.

Eureka finished second even though their normal second runner Carson Lehman finished as the team’s seventh runner. The Hornets also had a 103 second top five split led by Charlie Bardwell finishing third, Brady Monk finishing 14th, and Tucker Hinkle finishing 20th.