Oak Lawn’s Gavin Hampton was passing out race packets to runners the night before the Orland Park Veterans Liberty Run.
The 21-year-old wanted to do more than that the next day. He called an audible and entered the race at the last minute.
“I was thinking, ‘We’re going to do it — we’re going to hop in the race and see what happens,'” he said. “I was seeing everyone else come in for the packet.
“I said, ‘You know what? Gavin’s got to put on a show.’’’
Did he ever.
Hampton burned the two-mile Centennial Park course in 10 minutes, 50.29 seconds to win the July 3 race. Orland Park’s Dylan Straka (11:28.83) was second and defending men’s champion Owen Ford of Eagan, Minnesota (11:59.18) finished third.
Orland Park’s Krysta Stanko, 19, won her fourth straight Liberty Run women’s championship with a 12:26.29 while Orland Park’s Isabella Van Alst was second with 13:04.22 and 13-year-old Sienna Siebert of Orland Park was third with a 13:35.99.
Meanwhile, Hampton dominated the field even though he didn’t know much about the field.
“I did not know how it was going to go,” he said. “I woke up with only four hours of sleep and I thought this one was going to be spicy. It was hot outside.
“Once the gun goes off, everything just shuts off and you just race.”
Hampton, a Burbank native, went to Reavis his freshman year before moving to Oak Lawn. Though he never made it to state in high school, he went to the NJCAA Nationals twice with his teammates at Moraine Valley.
He said his mother, Chantal, got him involved in running when he was 10.
“If I didn’t get into running, I would be playing Pokemon right now,” he said. “Running gets me out there and makes me feel alive.”
Hampton works for the Human Race Sports store in Orland Park. He hopes to start running marathons soon.
“I’m too young to stop running,” Hilton said. “It’s a drug I can’t give up.”
Stanko, an Andrew graduate, will be a junior at Governors State. She was an NAIA national qualifier in cross country her freshman year and a 1,500-meter qualifier in track her sophomore season.
“My goal for this season is to make the nationals in cross country and in a couple of events in track,” she said.
Stanko said her parents are runners and got her involved. Her father, Dave, ran cross country at Oak Lawn and is the only all-stater in program history, finishing 18th in Class AA in 1986.
She fell in love with the sports and is enjoying success.
“I feel accomplished when I go out and get my PRs,” she said of her personal records. “It just feels nice to go out and run.”
She is making it look easy in the Liberty Run with her four titles.
“I’m hoping to win it for as long as I possibly can,” she said.