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44 | July 12, 2018 | The orland park prairie sports opprairie.com Van Borstel trumps the field and JEFF VORVA, Sports Editor Two years in a row, Orland Park’s Patrick Letz had won the Liberty Family Fun Run, including 2016, when he ran under the alias of Donald Trump. Letz, who graduated from the University of Nebraska this spring, was on a schoolsponsored trip to Spain on July 3, so he missed the 21st running of the Veterans Liberty Run & Walk at Centennial Park. But his friend, 24-year-old Michael Von Borstel, ran the 2-mile course in 10 minutes, 0.5 seconds to claim first overall, while Matt Swiatkowski took second with a 10:35.9, and Nicholas Prajka placed third with an 11:11.3 for an all-Sandburg alumni sweep of the Top 3 slots. Chicago’s Calista Stefaniak 19, won the women’s division with a 12:54.3 and finished ninth overall out of 235 finishers. Von Borstel is also a graduate of Carthage College. He did practice runs with Letz in recent weeks before Letz took off for Spain. “He told me to win it in his absence, and that’s what I did,” Von Borstel said. The Liberty champ never qualified for state in cross country or track, but he said he improved a lot and “grew into the sport” at Carthage. He is hoping to become a doctor in sports medicine and planning to head to Midwestern University in Downers Grove in the fall. Stefaniak, 19, made her Liberty Run debut and was successful. The sophomoreto-be at Moraine Valley Community College was a National Junior College Athletic Association national qualifier as a freshman and was the fifth-fastest athlete Orland Park’s Michael Von Borstel won the Veterans Liberty Run & Walk on July 3 at Centennial Park. PHOTOS BY JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA Chicago’s Calista Stefaniak won the women’s division of the Liberty Run. in program history, after her first year at the Palos Hills school. In late June, she won the PNC Chicago Bears 5K women’s division with a 20:41 and finished 28th overall. St. Xavier University and Trinity Christian College have had their eyes on her during her freshman campaign at MVCC. She competes on the 5K level frequently and has some half marathons under her belt. She is working up to running marathons, which she hopes to start in the fall. “I want to experience that, because I think that would be the best accomplishment I will ever have,” she said. “That would be better than winning [smaller distance] races, and my goal is to someday make it to the Boston Marathon.” Make yourself at home Two-year-old Zac Russell stole the show during the 50- Yard Dash for Kids. Before the starter of the race could say “go,” Russell Ava Giblin (No. 5452) and her sister Ella (5402) won their age groups at the Liberty Run. Ava finished second among all female competitors one year after finishing first as an 11-year-old. shot out and was the only participant out of the hundreds who started running. He picked up plenty of laughs when he fell, got up and ran in all sorts of directions before his mother, Amy, scooped him up, and Matt Swiatkowski finished second in two races during on July 3 and 4.
opprairie.com sports the orland park prairie | July 12, 2018 | 45 wins Liberty Run for his pal Letz the rest of the runners were able to tackle the course. Russell’s father, Lee, said the family lives in Virginia but is staying with in-laws in Orland Park and the family plans on moving to Orland when they can find a home. Meanwhile, the interview with Lee was cut short because Zac was racing from a soccer field to a baseball field. Giblins bring home medals Last year, 11-year-old Ava Giblin won the overall women’s division, and this year she finished second to Stefaniak. She still dominated her age division with a 13:34.4. Grant Giblin won the 10- 14 male division and was fifth overall with an 11:45.6. Ella Giblin won the 9-under female division with a 15:21.4. Runner-up runner Swiatkowski finished second in the Liberty Run and the next morning raced in the Stars and Stripes event in Tinley Park, where he finished second to Lisle’s Mitch Gilbert. “It’s the story of my life,” he joked of the second-place finishes. Em and Em Finishing in 66th and 67th place overall were a couple of Emilys. Emily Matre took 66th and Emily Mankina was 67th, with the exact time of 17:14.2. Political race In the men’s 50-54 age group, Congressman Dan Lipinski finished first (16th overall) 13:29.3, while Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau was second with (69th overall) with a 17:36.3. Prajka recalls 3,200 relay team that started huge Eagles streak PATRICK Z. MCGAVIN, Freelance Reporter The moment is cast in time for Nicholas Prajka: a late May Saturday afternoon standing on the track at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Running the second leg of Sandburg’s 3,200-meter relay in the finals of the Illinois High School Association Class 3A state track championship, he felt a jolt of excitement through his body. “The other runners were Kevin O’Flaherty, Derek Hevel and Patrick McMahon,” said Prajka, who finished third on July 3 in this year’s Veterans Liberty Run & Walk. “It was a great group, Kevin and Derek were seniors, and we all aimed at running our fastest splits, around a 1:53. We ran a time that would have won in most other states, but it speaks to the quality and depth of Illinois track.” The Eagles’ quartet of middle distance runners posted a strong mark of 7 minutes, 49.65 seconds to finish in fourth. That day in the spring of 2012 proved a remarkable prelude in the Eagles’ program. The standout finish began a seven-year run of excellence, as the Eagles turned the race into a signature event. Sandburg has won it three times in the last four years. The Eagles have also finished second twice and set a state record in 2016. In 2013, Prajka and McMahon returned. Joined by Joe Licata and Denis O’Callaghan, they improved for a third-place finish. “Nicholas was such a fast athlete, with tremendous leg turnover,” Sandburg coach Joe Nemeth said. “He anchored a majority of our 1,600-meter that season and the next, and he ended up helping the team to Top 5 school-record times. “The biggest thing I recall about that [2012] group was the confidence we had that any of them could anchor any race and put us in a position to come out on top. They were Nicholas Prajka, who finished third in the July 3 Liberty Run, was on the ground floor for a wildly successful seven-year state run for Sandburg’s 3,200-meter relay team. JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA the start of what has been a special seven seasons.” Growing up in Orland Park, Prajka developed a passion for running at an early age. He was a natural, precious and charmed, and he was drawn to the competitive nature of proving his early competence. “My love started when I was around 10,” Prajka said. “I started running in local 5Ks, and I’d just had pride in winning my age group and that kept motivating me to continue my training. I’d run two-mile runs at the time, and in time I became a real track aficionado.” At Sandburg, his running career took a nonlinear path. He also excelled at volleyball, and being part of the Eagles’ celebrated program proved a strong lure. “My path running to Division I was unique,” he said. “I wasn’t good until my senior year at Sandburg. I was a setter and opposite hitter in volleyball my first two years. Then I was in a car accident and I broke my finger. I switched to running track, and I started talking to college coaches, and the rest is history.” The transition was at times rocky, Prajka admitted. He just finished up his running career at Loyola University and recalled tough times his first season. “My first coach said there are three aspects for the college athlete: social, academic and athletic, and he said you have to choose wisely,” Prajka said. “Freshman year can be so overwhelming. I was not always mature enough to understand how important [an] academic career was at the time and how everything affects how you perform on the track.” Running created its own elixir, and everything connected. It was a sensibility, a perspective or point of view that colored every aspect of his life. “I like to think about how when I put in 75 miles a week [training] on the track how that was going me in my performance,” he said. He took a redshirt season his senior year, after dealing with the complications of an illness. As a graduate student for the Ramblers, Prajka reached new marks. He set a personal best with a 1:51.76 in the outdoor Missouri Valley Conference championship, slicing nearly 3 seconds off his previous top time. “Being a college athlete taught me so much about myself, and how important discipline was to me in keeping myself, no pun intended, on the right track,” Prajka said. “When I was younger, I sometimes had trouble balancing those different aspects. I did a 180 for my fifth year. I was taking 15 hours of graduate work, and I was working 30-35 hours a week. I had a 3.5 GPA in graduate school, and I ran my best times.” After receiving his undergraduate degree in marketing, Prajka earned his masters in public policy. Now he is working in Chicago as a senior associate and manager of ad operations for the Education Funding Partners. “I had all of this stuff, and I learned about the importance of having a schedule, a routine, waking up at 6, going to practice and then having class and getting all of my stuff done,” he said. “I learned the discipline.”
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