Cross country: Benet Academy’ Finn Richards, Delilah Helenhouse take individual titles at Eddington Invite

MAPLE PARK — It was a battle of two of the top runners in Class 2A. Or at least it was for the first half of the boys race.

After a mile and a half of close racing, Benet Academy’s Finn Richards surged ahead of Kaneland’s Evan Nosek to take a commanding victory in 14:12.30 at the Larry Eddington Invitational on Saturday.

Despite not having the race go his way, Richards felt like his victory was his first solid race of the season, even if he felt a little tired the entire time.”

“I found myself at the front, which I didn’t mean to do,” Richards said. “I wanted to hide on Evan’s tail for the first half, but he just wouldn’t take the lead, so I took it upon myself. And then after the first half my plan was to try and surge and break him. And honestly the gap was big enough before that, so I just slowly sped up and just powered through in that final 800 meters.”

It’s the first time that the top two racers of Class 2A have faced off since last year’s state race. Richards came into the season as the top returner from Class 2A after a fifth-place finish in the state race at Detweiler Park. Nosek finished right behind him in that race, coming in sixth place.

Despite falling off the pace, Nosek ended up finishing second in 14:38.30. The Kaneland standout said that while Richards got the best of him Saturday, it was great to see how his competition for the state title was fairing.

“He’s really fit right now,” Nosek said of Richards. “I just feel like our program is dedicated to peaking at the right time. Right now, I haven’t felt the best so far, but I feel like as the season progresses, I’ll feel a little better and I’ll be more up there with him.”

Dixon took the team title in commanding fashion with 66 points on the day, clearing second-place Downers Grove North, who ran their second team in the race, by 42 points. The Dukes finished with their 1-5 runners finishing just 41 seconds apart, with Aaron Conderman leading the way with a fourth-place finish in 15:01.60.

After a tough showing at the First to the Finish meet last week, Dixon coach Simon Thorpe said it was great to see the Dukes running with such confidence and having the team step up to get the win, especially against teams they’ll face in the state series such as Kaneland, who finished third on the day with 111 points.

“Going into this week, we talked about racing hard, racing through the 2-mile, and ultimately racing with confidence,” Thorpe said. “I thought they really ran with that confidence today, and that was something new in that last week. They raced how I thought we could race, and that makes us a pretty good team.

“It’s a lot of pride on the line, so it’s nice having Duke pride and beating a team like Kaneland.”

Girls race: While the boys race was mainly a two-runner competition for the win, the girls race ended up being a one-runner show for the individual title.

Benet’s Delilah Helenhouse took an early lead and never looked back, cruising to an easy win after crossing the line in 16:51.60.

It’s the first time that the senior finished under the 17-minute mark in a 3-mile race, but Helenhouse said that she felt in control for the entire race.

“I really had no idea what the competition would look like here, so I just paced myself off of what I ran last week since I was happy with my time and how I executed it then,” Helenhouse said. “So I knew if I could stay within the 5:30s in the first mile and see how I felt from there it would be good. And it was so great.”

The next closest runner to Helenhouse was her teammate junior Keira Jenke, who surged in the second half to finish in 17:27.60, a personal-best time of hers in the 3-mile by over 40 seconds, to secure a 1-2 finish for the Red Wings. The junior, who was in seventh at the halfway mark, used a huge second-half surge to take the silver medal.

“Our coach always tells us that the second mile is the biggest part of the race, because that’s where we should pick off some girls,” Jenke said. “I saw the group in front of me and I thought that it would be easier if I got up there now, and if I lose it, I lose it. But I just needed to take my chance, and it worked out.”

Behind the duo was a trio of St. Francis runners in sophomores Erin Hinsdale (third, 17:35.40), Elena Mamminga (fourth, 17:42.30) and junior Margaret Andrzejewski (fifth, 17:48.90), who helped pace the Spartans to a second-place team finish with 116 points. Boylan Catholic won the meet with 82 points, and Hampshire took third with 143. Crystal Lake Central edged Benet 151-153 for fourth place.