Derrick, Rozynek race to titles

Updated: October 9, 2011 3:35PM

The Nike Northside/Southside Challenge is everything most high school cross country meets aren’t: run on pavement, point to point and at a shorter distance than usual.

As if that weren’t enough unknowns for Mark Derrick to deal with, he wasn’t very familiar with the course, which covered the final 2.62 miles of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and finished in Grant Park.

But what Derrick didn’t know didn’t hurt him. The Neuqua Valley took advantage of near-perfect conditions to cruise to a comfortable win – the first of his prep cross country career – in the Northside/Southside Challenge with a time of 12 minutes, 38 seconds. Geneva junior Michael Bianchina was runner-up, 10 seconds behind.

Though some runners fret about the pounding their bodies take from running on city streets, Derrick actually liked it. “It feels like a better rhythm, running on pavement,” he said.

Getting in sync is job one for Derrick and his Neuqua Valley teammates, who are among the favorites in what looks to be a wide-open Class 3A field. “We’re kind of getting together right now,” Derrick said. “We haven’t really had a race where all of our guys ran well. We’ve had some guys coming back from injuries; we’re kind of gathering for a postseason push.”

So are Young’s girls, including senior Veronica Rozynek. She held off Rolling Meadows senior Ashley Miller by three seconds to win the girls race in 15:46.

The challenge was a good warmup for next Saturday’s Public League championships at Washington Park. The Dolphins have dominated the city meet in recent years, but aren’t expecting an easy time this season.

“We have a lot of competition this year,” Rozynek said. “Lane Tech is looking very good, so we’re going to have to treat this very seriously.”

She has done the same for her own training. “I put a lot of work in this summer, a lot of miles,” Rozynek said. “I had a really good freshman year. Then I kind of ... plateaued a little bit. But I’m really stepping it up this year.”

Neuqua Valley’s boys and Geneva’s girls won team honors, while the Southside boys and Northside girls prevailed.

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