Boys cross country: Evan Nosek paces Kaneland to Kane County title

GENEVA – Cloudy days make athletes like Evan Nosek smile.

The Kaneland junior enjoyed the favorable weather during Saturday’s Kane County Meet at Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course in Geneva, knocking exactly a half-minute off his time from last year’s meet to win with a 15:25.9.

“I’m glad for the opportunity to race here,” Nosek said. “It’s a little bit hilly, but I got to admit that it was definitely better than last year when it was super sunny and everything. I’m super grateful for this cloudy weather. I love running with the cloudiness and the coolness because last year it was definitely pretty hot.”

Nosek’s effort helped the Knights (60) run past Marmion (65) and St. Charles East (71) for top honors. St. Charles North (112) followed in fourth place while Batavia (132) was fifth.

Kaneland senior David Valkanov (16:09.8) and sophomore Evan Whildin (16:23.1) placed fifth and seventh, respectively, to key the great start for the Knights.

“We’re just hoping for the best this season,” Valkanov said. “Coach is doing the right thing for us and we’re all putting in the work and he’s helping us achieve our goals. It’s just our first meet. We still have to lock in, you know, and do our best.”

Marmion was right on Kaneland’s footsteps with junior John Daffenberg (16:03.5) and senior Connor Carlson (16:04.9) leading the way, taking third and fourth place, while Robert Gramley (16:38.8) and Matthew Sullivan (16:42.6) took 13th and 15th.

“I think we did exceptionally well for our first meet,” Gramley said. “We’re just getting back into racing and figuring out where we are so times are never extraordinary, but I think we competed very well and getting second overall is really good for our team.”

The Cadets showed off their depth with sophomore Michael Whitacre (16:25.2) winning the freshman/sophomore race, which was the eighth best time overall of the morning.

“I usually don’t run the fresh/soph race, but I felt confident going into it and felt great the entire time,” he said. “We only lost two seniors and gained a bunch of freshmen so I think by end of the season we’ll have some solid underclassmen too.”

Such a strong finish against formidable foes has the Cadets excited for what’s in store this fall.

“We did really well and getting second at Kane County wasn’t ever something I really expected,” Daffenberg said. “And it’s always fun to run against these schools like Kaneland and Batavia.  The way we competed makes me real excited to see how the postseason comes along in October and the first week in November.”

Junior Greyson Ellensohn (16:25.4) took eighth place and seniors Oscar Frontjes (16:27.3) and Adrian Ahuatl (16:29.5) were right behind him, pacing St. Charles East to third place.

“It was good and kind of what we wanted to do,” Saints coach Chris Bosworth said. “We have a little bit of a different plan moving forward. We’re starting off slower and we’re not going to go crazy, crazy right now, so we’ll ease into the season. The varsity guys, they kind of cruised today, which was really nice to see, and they ran faster than they ever did before on this course.”

And they did it without standout Jed Wilson in action who will certainly be leading the way for the Saints as the season continues.

“With his training and racing he should be our No. 1,” Bosworth said. “We were third, but if we put in Jed, then it’s a different story. But it’s still August, so we’ll see. It’s a long season. But this was a big step for these guys and some of the kids that never ran that fast before.”

Other top finishers included Elgin junior Cole Tupper (15:46.6) who was second, Burlington Central senior Ryan Kries (16:17.8) who placed sixth and Hampshire junior Jack Sheets (16:26.0) was took ninth.

Dundee-Crown junior Joseph Hillyer (16.39.5), South Elgin junior Logan Iott (16.44.1) and St. Charles North senior Wilhelm Lackner (16:48.7) were the top runners for their respective teams.