DeKalb’s Newport wins at Sterling

STERLING — A duel between DeKalb’s Riley Newport and Sterling’s Dale Johnson developed early in Saturday’s Sterling Invitational.

The two were neck-and-neck for the first mile and a half before Newport started to pull away. He took first in 15:13.2. Johnson was second in 15:36.7.

“I knew that we were both tired, so in the woods it’s quiet and no one’s around, so it’s easy to make a move,” Newport said. “So I opened up with a couple surges. He ran great. He’s a great runner, but I made a couple surges and I was able to finally separate.”

Johnson and Newport were well ahead of a large pack of runners at both the one-mile and two-mile marks, the pack consisting of a large group of pack-running Oswego runners, as well as runners from Guilford, Fenwick and Pleasant Valley.

Oswego took spots three through seven, as well as having runners claim 10th and 11th, to easily win the team title with 25 points. DeKalb was second with 75.

In the girls race, Sycamore was seventh as a team with 187 points to beat Boylan by two. Kaneland was 12th with 339.

Pleasant Valley had 49 points to claim the team title. Pleasant Valley’s Grace Boleyn won with a time of 17:33.6.

Sycamore’s Lily Baker took 16th in 19:18.5.

“It was good. It was pretty quick at the beginning and it started to get really warm, but I think I finished strong,” she said. “I think everyone was a bit excited for this race. This is a fun one. We get to see a lot of different teams here.”