Waubonsie Valley packs it up for opening win at Aurora City

Surtz, Rosary roll to Girls win

By Michael Newman

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Aurora – Tight pack running by Waubonsie Valley’s Boys team in recent years has been one of  the reasons to the program’s success. The 2021 edition of the team started out this season with an easy win at the Aurora City Meet on their home course.

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The 3A #13 Warriors scored 18 points to easily win this meet in less-than-optimal conditions. Temperatures climbed to 80 degrees just before the start of the Girls Varsity race with humidity levels at 95%. The conditions worsened during the Boys Frosh/Soph race with runners collapsing at the finish. Trainers at the school had to advise meet directors to cancel the Girls Frosh/Soph race.

West Aurora scored 52 points in finishing second. Metea Valley (96 points) and 2A #9 Marmion Academy (97 points) finished third and fourth.

Matthew Torres of Illinois Math & Science Academy and Benjamin Lamsma of Metea Valley pushed the pace early in the Boys race. The plan for Waubonsie Valley was to work together and move up in the race. They did so with Ethan Marshall, Angel Solis, Jacob Tukker, Aidan Oster, and Andres Perez staying within a second of each other through the race. West Aurora’s Sean Heetland stayed close to that pack throughout the race. It paid off in the end.

“We ran the exact race that we talked about beforehand,” said Waubonsie Valley Coach Kevin Rafferty. “We picked it up hammering the last mile running 5:13.”

The Waubonsie pack swallowed up Lamsma and Torres before the halfway point of the race. Torres made an effort to try to stay with the pack entering the final mile at 10:54. Waubonsie’s pack moved together as a cohesive pack with only Perez dropping off the pace in the final mile.

The finish was tight with only two seconds separating the first five runners. Solis and Marshall finished together at 16:07 with Solis getting the win. Heetland was just on their heels running 16:08. Oster and Tukker were at 16:09. Torres ran 16:20 to finish sixth. Perez ran 16:27 to finish seventh.

There was only a two second split on the top four for Waubonsie Valley. Their top five split was only 21 seconds. The times did not matter on this day. The effort that was put out was.

The Girls Varsity race started. In the first 100-meters of the race, it was assured that Lianna Surtz of Rosary would claim the individual win. Her coach Vic Mead said that there was no strategy for her on this steamy Saturday morning. She was just supposed to go out and have fun.

She did not have to run all-out in this race. She passed 2-miles in 12:40 with close to a 40 second lead on the rest of the race pack. Surtz went on to run 18:49 for her second win of the season. That win helped the #5 Royals to win the team title with only 24 points placing their first five runners in the top 10. West Aurora (55 points) edged Metea Valley (60 points) for third.

Keely Behr of Metea Valley was the lead runner behind Surtz throughout most of the race. In the final mile, Rosary freshman Chiara Surtz passed Behr and went on to finish second (19:39). Behr ran 19:56 to finish third.

Olivia Kunio (4th), Natalie Goettsch (7th), and Katie Ubertino (10th) followed the Surtz sisters in the Rosary pack. Their top five split was 137 seconds. Their split from Chiara Surtz to Ubertino was 87 seconds. The split on their final three scorers was 57 seconds.

Devon Tomas led West Aurora with a fifth-place finish with three Blackhawk runners placing in the top nine runners.