Mines starts off season with 14:43 for Yorkville win
McCollum pulls away for Girls race win; Minooka edges Yorkville by four points for Girls Team title; Oswego East packs it up for Boys team win
By Michael Newman [email protected]
Yorkville, Ill – The last race of Monday evening was the Boys Varsity race at the Yorkville Invitational. Marcellus Mines of Joliet West hammered a final 4:43 mile to take home the win in 14:43. Oswego East was short handed in this race by they still put 5 runners in the top 14 to take home the Boys Team title.
Two of the top 10 teams battled in the Girls race. #5 Minooka edged Yorkville 36 to 30 behind the individual win from Gabriella McCollom.
The Boys race had some of the top runners in Class 3A at the starting line with Mines, Oswego East’s Parker Nold and Alex Das, Zach Balzer of Minooka, and Brady Nelson of Oswego the top runners. Within the first 500-meters of the race, the five runners formed a pack in the front that no other runner will stay with them after the first mile.
Temperatures in the 70’s seem to be not normal historically in this meet where some of the competitions have been cancelled due to high heat. The runners in all three races were loving the temperatures. The five runners were feeling the first mile where the group passed in 4:58. The rest of the field were falling back while the front pack was feeling each other out.
The pace stayed the same for most of the next mile. At approximately 1.75 miles, Alex Das looked around at the four other runners sensing their feel of the race. 100 meters later, Das broke away from the field if just momentarily. Mines saw his competitor’s move and reacted to it and stayed on Das’ shoulder.
The two runners went past 2-miles in 10:00. The pack was a couple seconds behind not letting that move get away from them. About 10 seconds after passing the time point, Mines dropped the hammer and the pace picked up dramatically. You could tell by the reactions from the junior. He was as cool as the other side of the pillow as he continued to break away from the field.
It was effortless. No strain on his face or overstriding. He remembered his state final race in the 1600 Meter Run where a hamstring pull slowed him down. You could tell he had done his homework this summer with the training he had done. His first race showed that.
“All the expectations that I had was to start where I left off last year when I ran…
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