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28 | November 9, 2017 | The highland park landmark sports<br />
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Cross-Country<br />
Injuries slow Amster at state meet<br />
Brittany Kapa<br />
Sports Editor<br />
Nate Amster has run<br />
more than 7,000-miles<br />
during his tenure at Highland<br />
Park High School.<br />
The cross-country runner<br />
was hoping to make<br />
his most recent three miles<br />
memorable, but his body<br />
had other plans.<br />
Amster, who competed<br />
in the Illinois High School<br />
Association’s Class 3A<br />
State Cross-Country meet<br />
Saturday, Nov. 4, struggled<br />
after the first mile.<br />
Amster had a tumultuous<br />
season, to say the<br />
least, and he sustained a<br />
shin injury early in the season,<br />
was sick and finally<br />
tweaked his knee towards<br />
the end of the season.<br />
Amster battled back,<br />
worked hard and eventually<br />
punched his ticket to<br />
state.<br />
Amster was hoping that<br />
the momentum from the<br />
sectional race, where he<br />
ran 15:14 to qualify for<br />
state, would translate Saturday.<br />
“I wanted to do my best,<br />
under the circumstances<br />
with my knee,” Amster<br />
said. “I took a chance and<br />
went out with the leaders,<br />
around the Top 30 by the<br />
mile. My joints, my knees<br />
and my waist just didn’t<br />
hold up. The injuries just<br />
caught up with me.”<br />
Amster would cross the<br />
finish line in 158th place<br />
with a time of 15:51. Much<br />
This Week In<br />
Giants varsity<br />
athletics<br />
Boys Hockey<br />
■Nov. ■ 10 - at Loyola<br />
Maroon, 5:20 p.m.<br />
■Nov. ■ 11 - at Prep V1, 9:30<br />
p.m.<br />
■Nov. ■ 16 - at Latin Romans,<br />
8:30 p.m.<br />
Girls Swimming and<br />
Diving<br />
■Nov. ■ 11 - at Glenbrook<br />
South Sectional<br />
Girls Basketball<br />
slower than he would have<br />
liked.<br />
“I’ve only been running<br />
12 miles a week because<br />
that was all I could handle,”<br />
Amster said. “It was<br />
bound to happen.”<br />
As the lone Giant to<br />
make it down to state,<br />
which was held in Peoria<br />
at Detweiller Park, Amster<br />
faced the tough challenge<br />
of running the race by<br />
himself.<br />
“It was very odd; I’m so<br />
used to having the guys in<br />
the box with me,” he said.<br />
“I had nobody with me this<br />
time. I was warming up by<br />
myself, stretching by myself<br />
and then on the line<br />
when the gun went off. It<br />
was a little bit different.”<br />
Amster did get out to<br />
a hopeful start but as the<br />
race progressed things<br />
started to take a turn for<br />
the worse.<br />
“He got out really well<br />
into the position he wanted<br />
to and we talked about before<br />
the race,” said Steve<br />
Buti, Amster’s coach. “He<br />
came through the mile<br />
where he wanted to be, and<br />
even slightly faster. By the<br />
time he got into the back<br />
loop of the course you<br />
could see his form starting<br />
to shut down and not looking<br />
as strong as he looked<br />
at sectionals.<br />
“Every time he came<br />
by me, or his other teammates<br />
or coaches and we<br />
were cheering for him you<br />
would see him try and respond<br />
and push himself,”<br />
Buti said.<br />
However, no matter<br />
the encouragement from<br />
teammates and coaches,<br />
Amster’s body would not<br />
cooperate.<br />
“There was no lack of effort,<br />
he ran with such heart<br />
and it was just really his<br />
body wasn’t able to perform<br />
the way he wanted it<br />
to,” Buti added. “His form<br />
was shutting down and his<br />
posture wasn’t as upright<br />
as he usually is. Once that<br />
starts happening, at this<br />
level of racing, it’s hard to<br />
hold your position. He was<br />
just consistently losing positions<br />
as the race was going.<br />
You could see he was<br />
fighting and trying and it<br />
just really wasn’t his day.”<br />
Buti is proud of Amster<br />
for making it to state after<br />
the season he has had.<br />
“His perseverance<br />
showed all season long<br />
and even to qualify for the<br />
state meet was a huge accomplishment,”<br />
he said.<br />
Amster, understandably,<br />
was disappointed after the<br />
race but this isn’t the end<br />
of his running career with<br />
the Giants. He will return<br />
for the track season in<br />
Spring.<br />
“It’s been a roller coaster<br />
of a season,” Amster<br />
said of his cross country<br />
season. “It’s for sure not<br />
a fairytale [season] or a<br />
fairytale ending. At least I<br />
got to make it to the state<br />
meet.”<br />
■Nov. ■ 13 - at Mundelein<br />
Tournament vs. Mundelein,<br />
7:30 p.m.<br />
■Nov. ■ 14 - at Mundelein<br />
Tournament vs. Grant, 4:30<br />
p.m.<br />
■Nov. ■ 15 - at Mundelein<br />
Tournament vs. Glenbrook<br />
South, 7:30 p.m.
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