26 club

[rt20]

I always thinks its interestig to look at the runners who came up one place short of all-state. I don't have time now there are some impressive names on that list. Off the top of my head - 1980 mile champ Kevin O'Grady, from Beecher was.
And wasn't Frankey from Eureka the year before he won the individual CC title.

[acccoachk]

I believe so, and O'Grady was pretty tough! He later went on and competed collegiately at DePaul!

[tc]

Andy Tremble from Oregon got 27th his Junior year. He got 4th in xc his senior year but got 1st his senior year in the 3200. As people might remember that was the race between Tremble and Brian Kelley where it came down to the last 100 meters.

[rt20]

This years 26th place finisher in boys class A was Seth Schultz from Elmwood. He had a huge pr from the Patriot Inv. to state. He still got a well deserved medal.

[bacon]

tc said:

Andy Tremble from Oregon got 27th his Junior year. He got 4th in xc his senior year but got 1st his senior year in the 3200. As people might remember that was the race between Tremble and Brian Kelley where it came down to the last 100 meters.

Didn't one of the Harveys get 26th twice? his soph and junior years i think.

[tc]

It wasn't Jared Harvey. It was Chad Harvey his older brother. The results on the ihsa website only go back to 96 and he graduated in 95. I'm pretty sure he did though. I don't know if it was exactly 26 both times but either way he was almost right on. I think they were 34th and 26th.

[rt20]

For the second year in a row the 26th finisher in Class A boys has a 1st place team medal hanging around his neck to compensate for just missing out on all-state. This years 26th place finisher was my son Drew Johnson from Winnebago. How strange that I started this thread last year and my son gets 26th. Drew joins a long line of 26th place finishers from Winnebago.

Drew we are so proud of your hard work and accomplishments!

[redemption]

We couldn't have got the gold without him!

[tc]

That is pretty ironic that you started the thread and it was Drew that ended up getting 26th. It's okay, he still got a nice shiny gold medal.

[pacemaker]

i would definately take the 1st before i would take that #25 spot however i know a little of how it feels finishing 31st and 29th

[badkarma96]

Ty Scherler from Elmwood got 26th as a soph in 1991 then came back the next year, ran 5 seconds faster and finished 5 places worse. His senior year he placed third in 15:15.

[usedtorunalot]

badkarma96 said:

Ty Scherler from Elmwood got 26th as a soph in 1991 then came back the next year, ran 5 seconds faster and finished 5 places worse. His senior year he placed third in 15:15.

He would have finished better than that in 91 if he hadn't run in his skivvies at sectionals the week before in 20 degree weather and been sick. Weird weather that year.

[usedtorunalot]

rt20 said:

For the second year in a row the 26th finisher in Class A boys has a 1st place team medal hanging around his neck to compensate for just missing out on all-state. This years 26th place finisher was my son Drew Johnson from Winnebago. How strange that I started this thread last year and my son gets 26th. Drew joins a long line of 26th place finishers from Winnebago.

Drew we are so proud of your hard work and accomplishments!

Juice?

[badkarma96]

usedtorunalot said:

badkarma96 said:

Ty Scherler from Elmwood got 26th as a soph in 1991 then came back the next year, ran 5 seconds faster and finished 5 places worse. His senior year he placed third in 15:15.

He would have finished better than that in 91 if he hadn't run in his skivvies at sectionals the week before in 20 degree weather and been sick. Weird weather that year.

That sounds like Ty. I was a freshman when he was a junior and we ran in shorts at sectionals that year('92) when it was in the mid to low thirties.

I'm pretty sure he wore tights at sectionals his senior year.

[wornflats]

usedtorunalot said:

badkarma96 said:

Ty Scherler from Elmwood got 26th as a soph in 1991 then came back the next year, ran 5 seconds faster and finished 5 places worse. His senior year he placed third in 15:15.

He would have finished better than that in 91 if he hadn't run in his skivvies at sectionals the week before in 20 degree weather and been sick. Weird weather that year.

That must have been the Kewanee sectional in 1991. It had the coldest conditions that I have seen at a sectional in the past 35 years. Besides 20 degree temperatures, there were driving winds around 30 mile an hour.

A a spectator, I was wearing a snowmobile suite and still thought I would freeze to death. I don't know how anyone could run their normal race. A lot of the girls finished in tears. If I remember correctly, conditions at the state meet the following week were very good.

[benmanion]

Does anyone remember the 88 State Meet. It was 17 degrees and sleeting much of the race. I can still remember not being able to open my mouth after the race, because my jaws were basically frozen shut. That was stinkin' cold!

[wornflats]

As far as other very good runners finishing just out of the money. Elmwood won the team championship in 1984. Their 4th and 5th runners were Brian Opper and Curt Smith, who ran 15:37 and 15:38. The times were only good enough for 27th and 28th that year. Smith had run 24th as a junior with a time of 15:27. Opper had been Elmwood's number one runner in the early part of the season

[badkarma96]

wornflats said:

As far as other very good runners finishing just out of the money. Elmwood won the team championship in 1984. Their 4th and 5th runners were Brian Opper and Curt Smith, who ran 15:37 and 15:38. The times were only good enough for 27th and 28th that year. Smith had run 24th as a junior with a time of 15:27. Opper had been Elmwood's number one runner in the early part of the season

Worn Flats,

You sond like someone in the know, who was Elmwood's 5th runner in 1983? I'm pretty sure he finished right out of the medals too and ran about 15:30 or so.

[wornflats]

badkarma96 said:

wornflats said:

As far as other very good runners finishing just out of the money. Elmwood won the team championship in 1984. Their 4th and 5th runners were Brian Opper and Curt Smith, who ran 15:37 and 15:38. The times were only good enough for 27th and 28th that year. Smith had run 24th as a junior with a time of 15:27. Opper had been Elmwood's number one runner in the early part of the season

Worn Flats,

You sond like someone in the know, who was Elmwood's 5th runner in 1983? I'm pretty sure he finished right out of the medals too and ran about 15:30 or so.

Elmwood's 1983 team might have been its best ever. It won the state championship over runnerup Erie by a score of 62 to 147. The actual finishes of the seven Elmwood runners were as follows:

05. 15:09 - Mitch Inskeep
14. 15:16 - Joe Harkness
20. 15:22 - Stan Johnson
24. 15:27 - Curt Smith
37. 15:44 - Jeff Kalteux
43. 15:47 - Brian Miller
45. 15:50 - Brian Opper

I think Opper may still have the fastest time ever for a team's 7th man.

[rt20]

Who was the eighth man on that team? Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[wornflats]

rt20 said:

Who was the eighth man on that team? Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That is an interesting story in itself. Stan Johnson was Elmwood's 8th runner for the majority of the season. He barely managed to win a runoff for the privilege of being the 7th man in the state series. Then he shocked everyone by running 15:22 in the state finals for 20th place overall!!

It is hard to believe that Elmwood had 8 runners who were capable of breaking 16:00 minutes in 1983, but one of them had to watch from the sidelines.

[benmanion]

I always find it interesting the debate between the runner of today and the runnner of yesteryear. It is interesting looking at the data (results, etc) from the 70s, 80s and this last decade. There have been some really fast years in this era (like last year). However, 20-30 years ago it seems that the all-state cutoff line was a lot faster on average in Class A and AA. Also, there has only been 1 guy under 14 in the last 30 yrs and there were 4 in the 70s (certainly you can debate those times with the "course lengthing" issue). However, I think it is safe to say that the quality of the runner from 1-25 in Illinois has not improved "signifcantly" in the last 30 years. What are some of your guys thoughts out there?

[dacse]

wornflats said:

usedtorunalot said:

He would have finished better than that in 91 if he hadn't run in his skivvies at sectionals the week before in 20 degree weather and been sick. Weird weather that year.

That must have been the Kewanee sectional in 1991. It had the coldest conditions that I have seen at a sectional in the past 35 years. Besides 20 degree temperatures, there were driving winds around 30 mile an hour.

A a spectator, I was wearing a snowmobile suite and still thought I would freeze to death. I don't know how anyone could run their normal race. A lot of the girls finished in tears. If I remember correctly, conditions at the state meet the following week were very good

[/u][/u][/b].[/quote]

I remember the state meet in 91 being bad with ice/snow on the ground. I could be wrong.

[wornflats]

dacse said:

wornflats said:

That must have been the Kewanee sectional in 1991. It had the coldest conditions that I have seen at a sectional in the past 35 years. Besides 20 degree temperatures, there were driving winds around 30 mile an hour.

A a spectator, I was wearing a snowmobile suite and still thought I would freeze to death. I don't know how anyone could run their normal race. A lot of the girls finished in tears. If I remember correctly, conditions at the state meet the following week were very good

[/u][/u][/b].[/quote]

I remember the state meet in 91 being bad with ice/snow on the ground. I could be wrong.

[/quote]

In checking the weather history web site, it looks like you are probably right. The low for the day in 11/09/91 (yes, it was the 2nd weekend of November that year) was only 9 degrees. The high was 32, and the mean was 20. It did not say anything about snow and ice, but the temperature alone would have made it pretty tough on everyone involved.

[usedtorunalot]

wornflats said:

usedtorunalot said:

He would have finished better than that in 91 if he hadn't run in his skivvies at sectionals the week before in 20 degree weather and been sick. Weird weather that year.

That must have been the Kewanee sectional in 1991. It had the coldest conditions that I have seen at a sectional in the past 35 years. Besides 20 degree temperatures, there were driving winds around 30 mile an hour.

A a spectator, I was wearing a snowmobile suite and still thought I would freeze to death. I don't know how anyone could run their normal race. A lot of the girls finished in tears. If I remember correctly, conditions at the state meet the following week were very good.

Actually, it was Oregon and it was 20 degrees with about a 0 windchill. The next week was not as cold but it was the first time in about 15 years there was snow at the state meet if I remember correctly.