Sports
York Boys Cross Country Team Rebuilds With More Talent
York returns just two runners from its 2010 state championship lineup but still is ranked No. 4 pre-season in Class 3A by DyeStat Illinois.
YORK BOYS CROSS COUNTRY PREVIEW
COACH: Joe Newton (52nd season at York; 54th season overall)
2010 RESULTS: Won West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet (35 points) and overall title; won Lake Park Regional (22 points); won Niles West Sectional (57 points); won Class 3A state title (162 points)
RETURNING 2010 STATE COMPETITORS: Juniors Alex Mimlitz (41st place) and Scott Milling (55th)
OTHER VARSITY RETURNEES: Seniors Henry Benson, Eric Glaubke and Carlos Vega
VARSITY NEWCOMERS: Senior Billy Clink; juniors Patrick Crowley, Evan Fabry, Zach Herrara, Mike Kirby, Alexi Krumrey, John Libert and Chris May; sophomore Nathan Mroz; and freshman Matt Plowman
OUTLOOK: The Dukes captured their 27th state championship—all since Newton took over as head coach in 1960—and their first since 2006 with a 2-point victory over Lake Zurich after taking third in 2009, and second in 2008 and 2007.
No. 2 and 4 team finishers Mimlitz and Milling, both juniors, are the only two returnees from that state lineup, and the Dukes graduated state runner-up Jack Driggs, now at North Carolina, Tom Hedman, Nick Gornick, Matt Simo and Ron Hedman. Still, they are No. 3 in the Class 3A pre-season rankings by DyeStat Illinois.
The Dukes open their season Sept. 15 with a Silver triangular against No. 17 Hinsdale Central and Lyons Township in Western Springs followed by the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational Sept. 17 at Detweiller Park, site of the state meet.
“A lot of people think we’re not going to be very good because we lost five seniors. It’s a rebuilding year for us really,” Newton said.
“We’ve got about 15 guys trying to make our top seven. We’ve got a lot of depth this year. A lot of guys who are going to be all-state (top 25 at state), who knows? But we’ve got a lot of decent guys. We’ve got a long way to go before picking out who our top seven is going to be, that’s for sure.”
Mimlitz had his best postseason race at state, ending up as the 12th highest finishing underclassmen and third-best sophomore. Milling was the 17th highest underclassmen and fifth-best sophomore.
In track, injuries kept Mimlitz sidelined throughout most of the indoor season and the entire outdoor season but he is back to 100 percent. Milling continued his progress outdoors with a personal-best 9:33.20 in the 3,200-meter run at sectionals that just missed the state cut of 9:29.04.
“They’re our No. 1-2 guys and they’re tough. They’re nice guys, good team members but so much can happen. They should be up there in the state, and they make all of the other guys better,” Newton said.
The Dukes should get a lift from move-in Clink, who has competed at state the past two years with St. Charles North’s qualifying team. Clink was the No. 4 state finisher (158th) for the second year in a row for the North Stars (25th, 599 points) after being their No. 2 finisher at the Upstate Eight Conference Meet (4th) and No. 3 finisher at the St. Charles North Regional (3rd) and St. Charles East Sectional (25th). In 2009, Clink finished 140th at state for the North Stars (20th, 417 points).
Several other candidates helped the Dukes sweep Silver titles on all four levels last season. Many earned all-conference medals with top-16 finishes in their respective races.
Mimlitz (15th) and Milling (16th) took the last two all-conference spots on varsity as the Dukes’ No. 5-6 finishers to secure a 35-44 victory over Oak Park-River Forest and clinch the overall Silver title outright.
Glaubke (2nd), Benson (11th) and Vega (15th) were the three York underclassmen to earn all-conference in the junior varsity meet. Fabry (2nd), Kirby (3rd), Herrera (4th), Baughman (6th), Krumrey (7th), Libert (11th) and May (12th) were York’s top-seven finishers in the sophomore race with Crowley 17th. Mroz won the 2.0-mile freshman race by seven seconds.
“Glaubke’s the senior who has really stepped up. People are going to be shocked about him,” Newton said.
Plowman comes with impressive credentials. At Churchville Middle School, Plowman ran a 4:45 to break the school’s 4:53 eighth-grade mile record set by former York great Donald Sage.
“He’s an outstanding prospect,” Newton said. “I like to keep my freshmen, sophomores down until halfway through the season. I want them to get early success and then it gets harder (competing on varsity).”
Last year’s third and fourth-place state finishers, Neuqua Valley (180 points) and Palatine (182), are the top-two rated pre-season teams. At Saturday’s Hornet-Red Devil Invitational at Katherine Legge Memorial Park, No. 2 Neuqua edged No. 1 Palatine for the title (41-58 points) with No. 4 New Trier third (98).
Neuqua returns its No. 1-2 state finishers and one all-stater, Palatine returns its No. 1-3-5-7 finishers and one all-stater, and New Trier returns its No. 2-6-7 finishers.
York will see New Trier at the Woodruff Invite and Palatine at its Palatine Invitational Sept. 24.
In the Silver, Oak Park-River Forest (No. 12), Hinsdale Central (No. 17) and Glenbard West (No. 18) also are ranked. OPRF (6th), LT (9th), Hinsdale Central (14th) and Downers Grove North (18th) were among last year’s 25 Class 3A state team qualifiers.
QUOTABLE: “(Our newcomers have) got to step up. It’s their turn to go into the arena,” Newton said. “It’s too early to tell now (how we’ll do). But Milling and Mimlitz are outstanding leaders. They work hard themselves, so other people see that so they work hard too. It’s like Michael Jordan made everybody else better because he worked so hard. They’re just great young men.”
