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Boys Cross Country: Leland Later lands 3A state title
| Rob Dicker~Sun-Times Media
Updated: November 5, 2011 8:41PM
PEORIA – Leland Later had trouble walking Saturday afternoon, but a few minutes earlier his running was letter-perfect.
Later, who had never won a varsity cross country race before this fall, capped a spectacular breakout season by winning the Class 3A title at Detweiller Park with a three-mile time of 14 minutes, 17 seconds. The New Trier senior finished 10 seconds ahead of O’Fallon’s Alex Riba, who edged Oak Park-River Forest’s Malachy Schrobilgen by one second.
“My legs, that’s the worst I’ve ever felt in my life,” Later said after heading to a bench to sit down after his win. “But it’s the best emotional feeling.”
It was the second meeting in as many weeks between Later and Schrobilgen, the area’s top two distance runners and the result was similar – they finished 1-2 at the Niles West Sectional with Later winning by 10 seconds. But the Trevian’s mind-set was different this time.
“I was surprisingly cool,” Later said. “Last weekend against Malachy, [before] the big showdown, I only slept a couple hours. This race, I wanted to be in control and I wanted to feel good the whole race.”
He did, improving 43 places and 43 seconds from a year ago.
Palatine won its first state title after finishing second five times since 1980, edging O’Fallon 114-120. Neuqua Valley earned its fourth trophy in five seasons, edging defending champ York 144-151 for third place.
“We did just enough,” Palatine coach Chris Quick said. “O’Fallon almost ran us down. It was a good job by our guys hanging on that last 300 meters.”
The Pirates had a 40-second split for their top five runners and were led by a pair of all-staters: Peter Tomkiewicz (11th) and Anthony Gregorio (18th). Neuqua Valley also had two all-state runners: Mark Derrick (ninth) and Taylor Soltys (10th).
“People started ranking us in the national polls, then Neuqua beat us in the first invitational [of the season],” Quick said. “That was kind of a wake-up call. We had our nose to the grindstone after that.”
Sophomore John Wold was fourth in 14:40 to help Glenbard South finish second in Class 2A with 128 points. Belvidere North (110) won its third consecutive title. Beecher junior Grant Nykaza had his third straight top-four finish in Class 1A, taking second in 14:37.
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