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New Trier’s Later takes Palatine Invite
Updated: September 24, 2011 5:13PM
With two-time defending national and state champ Lukas Verzbicas off running for Oregon, the race for the Class 3A boys cross country state title looks wide open.
That’s fine with New Trier senior Leland Later, who hopes to be in the mix at Peoria’s Detweiller Park in early November.
“It’s wide open,” Later said after winning Saturday’s Palatine Invitational at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve in Palatine. “I love it when I go to these big invitationals and there’s five or six guys who could win it.
“I think it’s good for the sport.”
This season has been good for Later, who won the Hinsdale Central/Hinsdale South title and then ran 14 minutes, 23 seconds to finish second to Edwardsville’s Garrett Sweatt two weeks ago at Detweiller.
On Saturday, Later ran 14:34.4 to edge out Loyola senior Todd Ford (14:35.1) and St. Ignatius junior Jack Keelan (14:35.6).
“It went out slower than I expected,” Later said. “I expected with this talented field it would be pretty aggressive out there.”
Later looked to push the pace at times, but couldn’t pull away. “I tried to move a little bit, (but) guys would just swarm me,” he said. “I couldn’t get any separation. So near the end when people started to fall back a little, I felt that was a good time to strike.”
Class 3A top-ranked Palatine won its own invitational for just the second time, beating Rock Bridge (Mo.) 110-126. Class 3A No. 3 York was third at 136, followed by 3A No. 8 Niles North (178) and 3A No. 11 New Trier (179).
“We’re happy to win,” Palatine coach Chris Quick said. “We had a big win last week (in the Richard Spring Invitational at Detweiller). We didn’t know how the guys would react. ...
“I told them, I don’t know if we were at our physical best. But we were at our emotional best.”
The Pirates were paced by Anthony Gregorio (eighth, 14:49.2) and Peter Tomkiewicz (15th, 15:05.8).
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