OP_110719

46 | November 7, 2019 | the orland Park Prairie sports
OPPrairiedaily.com
Sandburg boys CC team wants to ‘dominate people’
JEFF VORVA, Sports Editor
3
Talk about an unsweet
16.
After five straight years
of finishing in the Top 10
in the state in Class 3A,
including a state championship
in 2015, last year’s
state run at Detweiller
Park in Peoria found the
Sandburg boys cross country
team in 16th place, and
that did not sit well with
the team.
A chance to erase that
memory and start a new
Top 10 streak and maybe
even grab the third Top
4 trophy in program history
awaits on Saturday,
Nov. 9, at the Illinois High
School Association State
Final in Peoria.
“We’re really hoping to
just go out there and dominate
people,” senior Ben
Giblin said. “We have big
plans. We will see what we
can do. Everyone wants it,
and we will do whatever
we can to get it.”
Sandburg’s boys team,
individual girls runners
Paige Killen and Brielle
Morris, and Orland Park
resident and Marist star
Thomas Leonard headline
the local runners in the
state meet as they qualified
at the Hinsdale Central
Sectional on Saturday,
Nov. 2. Junior Ella Jeffries,
a state qualifier last
year, missed the sectional
with an injury.
Three Orland Park residents
claimed the Top 5
slots in the sectional. Will
Giblin finished second
with a time of 15 minutes,
47.75 seconds, 2/100ths
of a second ahead of this
twin brother, Ben. Minutes
after the race, neither
one knew who finished
second and third; it was
that close. Leonard took
Sandburg’s Ismail Tineh finished third among his
teammates at the Hinsdale Central Sectional.
fifth with a 16:10.48,
28/100ths of a second
away from a fourth-place
showing.
Sandburg, which had a
hard time cracking Top 10
polls in Illinois in the preseason,
was ranked 13th
in the nation by DyeStat
Rankings in late October.
St. Charles East was
ranked eighth, and Wheaton
Warrenville South was
right behind the Eagles at
14th and York 16th, so Saturday’s
meet has not only
local but also national intrigue.
Sandburg coach John
O’Malley said his squad
is gunning to make a little
more history and to put
last year’s finish in the
rearview mirror.
“They are super excited
to do that,” O’Malley
said. “That was a bad performance
last year. Honestly,
it was more my fault
than anybody’s fault in
preparing them the wrong
way. They are really fired
up just to have a good experience.
I don’t think it’s
a mentality of trying to fix
something. They want to
express who they really
are.
“It’s been probably the
most enjoyable season I
have ever had,” O’Malley
Sandburg’s boys cross country team warms up before the start of the Hinsdale
Central Sectional. PHOTOS BY JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
SANDBURG’S STATE RUNS
Sandburg’s Class 3A
state finishes the past
six years
2013 — 7th
2014 — 2nd
2015 — 1st
2016 — 10th
2017 — 9th
2018 — 16th
added. “The guys are fun
to be around. And they are
overachievers. I think the
highest we were ranked
in the preseason was
ninth. Now we are near
the top of the state and
might be competing for a
trophy.’’
Sandburg won its eighth
sectional title and first
since 2015, scoring 61
points at Lyons Township
High School in Western
Springs. The sectional
was originally scheduled
for Katherine Legge Park
in Hinsdale, but the venue
changed because the
Hinsdale facility was in
bad shape because of the
snowy and wet weather
from last week. Lyons was
no picnic, as the muddy
conditions kept some of
the times in check.
Ismail Tineh of Sandburg
finished 16th overall,
Sam Rodriguez 20th and
Griffin Lehnhardt 25th.
T.J. Cosler and Ahmad
Alhayek ran but did not
score points.
Leonard is making his
third state appearance. He
finished 48th in the state
in Class 2A in 2017 and
98th in the state in Class
3A last year.
“Last year was a lot different
than the 2A experience,”
Leonard said. “I had
my teammates with me in
the 2A race, but I was by
myself last year. The race
got out really fast. It made
me learn that I have to get
out really fast and stay active
in that last mile.”
Juniors Killen and Morris
are making their state
debuts. Killen finished
31st Saturday with a
20:14, and Morris grabbed
the final individual spot
with a 36th-place finish
with a 20:28.
RIGHT: Sandburg’s Paige
Killen (left) and Brielle
Morris (right) qualified
for state at the Hinsdale
Central Sectional.