Stagg’s Jack Krusinski was seconds away from breaking a school record for a 3-mile race in cross country.
Since Dan Glaz set the record in 2000 with a 14:26, no one had been able to come within 30 seconds of it. But Krusinski gave it a good shot on Sept. 20 when he ran a 14:28.3 at the Richard Spring Invitational at Detweiler Park in Peoria, home of the state finals.
A week before, he dipped under the 15-minute mark at the First to the Finish Invitational on the same course, running 14:46.
His best personal time was 15:13.8 heading into this season and still has a few more shots at the record.
“This might be a surprise to some other people, but I kind of knew that this was going to happen,” Krusinski said of his big season. “I had a huge summer, and I was very consistent with workouts and mileage.
“I came into this season ready to go.”
Stagg coach Dan Zielinski said his senior athlete is also ranked No. 1 in his class academically.
Krusinski would like to run and take business and finance classes at a big college, and he is going to see where running can take him. Former Chargers runner Luke Barham is at Illinois State, has put in a good word for Krusinski and “that sparked a conversation” with the school, he said.
Krusinski said he has loved running since he started in grade school.
“If you put in work, you get results,” he said. “It’s a sport where there is not a referee or anything like that where you have an excuse for not doing well. It’s just who is the fastest and who is the better athlete.”
Onto sectionals
In boys golf, Brother Rice won the Class 3A Homewood-Flossmoor Regional Oct. 1 at Ravisloe with a 314. Crusader sophomore James Killen had a 74 to win individual medalist honors.
St. Rita won its own Class 2A regional with a 302 at Glenwoodie as senior Nicholas Quaid was the medalist with a 73.
On the girls side, Sandburg won its own Class 2A regional Sept. 30 at Silver Lake with a 337. Senior Brooke Adams was the tournament medalist with a 75.
Mother McAuley won the Shepard Regional at Lincoln-Oaks with a 340. Delia Sullivan, Annmarie O’Malley and Lauren Barron all recorded 83s to lead the Mighty Macs.
Sectional play opened Monday and state meets for various levels and classes start Friday.
Three straight for SXU
Andrew graduate Dominic D’Ambrosio threw for a career-high 334 yards and St. Xavier won its third football game in a row, 42-17 over host Defiance Oct. 4 in a Mid-States Football Association crossover.
The Cougars (3-2) host Siena Heights (2-2) at noon Oct. 11.
Sports bits
Morton College women’s volleyball team won its first Skyway Conference championship in 44 years.
- St. Xavier’s women’s soccer team tied Olivet Nazarene 0-0 on Oct. 4 with Lyons grad Natalie Dybas recording the shutout. It was the Cougars’ program-record sixth straight shutout.
- Mother McAuley finished second in its own ASICS volleyball tournament and junior setter Peyton Heatherly was named all-tournament and passed the 2,000 assist mark for her career.