Jamison Dale, Dhiaa Dean win Public League cross country titles

Updated: October 15, 2011 8:58PM

Jamison Dale kept his eyes on both the big and bigger prizes on Saturday.

The Jones junior took off after the first mile and ran away from the pack to win the Public League boys cross country title at Washington Park.

Dale covered the flat 3-mile course in 14 minutes, 58.47 seconds, beating runner-up Eric Shan of Young by just over 15 seconds.

The plan was for Dale to run with his teammates for the first part of the race before taking off, and he followed it perfectly. “I went [to the lead] a little after the mile,” he said. “From then on I kept pushing and trying to lengthen the lead.”

His goal was to break 15 minutes and help the Eagles get prepared for the IHSA state series that starts next week. Jones, a Class 2A school, finished with 73 points and finished fourth on a sixth-runner tiebreaker with Young, trailing champion Lane (40) and Mather (67). Lane, Mather and Young all are in Class 3A.

“We took today seriously, but definitely regional, sectional and state are a lot more important for us,” Dale said. “Hopefully we can make a statement at state [and get] a trophy.”

Lane used a 44-second spread for its top five runners to outdistance Mather. David Timlin (fourth, 15:24.10), Lucas Beltran (sixth) and Marcelo Burbano (eighth) finished in the top 10 for the Indians.

Kenwood senior Dhiaa Dean won the girls race in 18:31.59, about five seconds ahead of runner-up Joanna Podosek of Lane, and between the tough competition, a stiff wind and a case of sports-induced asthma, it was a hard-fought victory.

“I thought, ‘I’m probably going to fall, they’re boxing me in,’ ’’ Dean said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do?’ ’’

Dean attempted to pull away several times, but Podosek and Young teammates Shianne Baggett (third) and Veronica Rozynek (fourth) hung tough. “I tried to break away but they just kept coming for me,” Dean said.

Still, she prevailed and like Dale, gained some momentum for the state series. “It makes me feel like I can stay with the big dogs,” Dean said.

Lane edged Young 34-39 for the girls team title, with both schools putting four runners in the top 10.

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