Tolono Unity runs best 1A team race ever in winning championship

By Michael Newman

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Peoria, Ill --- On a crisp Saturday autumn morning on the banks of the Illinois River, Oakwood High School senior looked to do something that some thought unthinkable. After winning both the 1600 and 3200 at the IHSA 1A State track meet last May, Davis said that he wanted to do something special during his final cross country campaign. He wanted to go after Craig Virgin’s Detweiller Park record. Many have tried, but none have gone faster than Virgin who ran 13:50.6 in the fall of 1972.

When in interviews, he would always correct the person doing the interview when they asked are you trying to go under 13:51.8. That was run by Neuqua Valley’s Chris Derrick in 2007. It was set on a new course setup at historic Detweiller Park. Virgin’s time was set on a course that was in use from 1971 to 2002. In reality, that record cannot be broken because of running on a different course. That did not matter to Davis. He wanted the distinction of being the faster ever on the state meet course.

Davis’ time fell short of his goal on this day. I do not how you can call running 13:59.3 running short. He becomes the six runner ever to run under 14 minutes joining some elite runners including Virgin, Derrick, and Lukas Verzbicas. The IHSA rounds up all times to the next closest second. Many at the finish line stopped their watches that fell just under 14 minutes. In my book, that is where he will stand.

It was clear at the start that Davis would be on his own. He passed the 400 in 65 seconds with only Tanner Chada (Aurora Christian HS) by his side. The rest of the pack had already came to the reality that they would be racing for second. By the time Davis passed the 800 in 2:13, he had opened up a three second lead. He passed the finish line and the gap had grown bigger. He knew had to pass the finish line one more time before he would be allowed to go in.

He passed by the mile in 4:31. It was a little faster that he wanted to go out in. he had set out a pace to go past in 4:36 for that point. He still had the race in his control. A pack led by Tolono Unity’s Andrew Warnes was 17 seconds back going through in 4:48.

“I went through the mile in 4:31. I felt pretty good. I had some flow in that first mile,” Davis said. “I started feeling fatigued but I was running on adrenaline.”

There was a breeze coming from the northwest that had picked up a little that effected Davis also. But the pace dropped in the second mile as he passed in 9:20. He was only a few seconds off of the pace he wanted to run. The momentum of that second mile was playing a negative effect as he swung around the start finish area and headed towards the stretch going down Route 29 into the win one last time.

He went by 2 ½ miles in 11:53. Virgin’s record was out of reach by this point but a chance to run under 14 minutes was still in his grasp. Almost a month earlier, he had run a workout on this course. 3 x 1 mile with a 3 minute rest. He averaged 4:32 for the miles. He then finished it up with an all-out 800. He ran 2:07 in that workout. That under 14:00 time was still in reach. He finished his 2014 win with a 2:08 final half mile.

Davis found another gear. It picked it up so quickly that he almost passed the pace vehicle in front of him. With 400 to go, he shifted into another gear almost passing that truck again. There are runners that have trouble running up the final 4 degree incline on this Detweiller Park for the third time. He owned that final 200 just like he owned this race.

The clock was quickly approaching 14 minutes. So was Davis. The strain showed in his face as he crossed the line.

13:59.3!

He ran the last 800 in an astounding 2:06.

“When I went through the 2 mile in 9:20, I had to run that last mile in 4:30 exactly. I think I slowed down after that,” Davis explained. “It is tough to do that by yourself. I was hoping that the pace truck was going 13 ½ mph. I tried to do what I could but I could not accomplish that. We expected with the training that I had done so far to run under 14 and possibly sub 13:50. I think I did what I was fully capable of doing today.”

It seemed like a lifetime before the next runners came in. Most of the fans in the park had been concentrating on Davis. As soon as he passed by the mile, many of them started running across the field trying to get a good vantage point of the final stretch. There was another race going on involving the team championship. That was a race to behold as well.

Tolono Unity was ranked #1 for a good portion of the 2014 season. They were disappointed finishing fourth at last year’s state meet leaving the park empty handed. That chip stayed on their shoulder all season even though they were easily winning every race they competed in. The chip was on their shoulders as they started that race. The burden was released during the 15 minutes that they ran Saturday morning.

Andrew Warnes ran 14:45 to cross the line second and was the team’s #1 runner. Rock Falls Brayden Hamblen ran a lifetime best of 14:52 as finished third just four seconds ahead of Shelbyville’s Marcus Skinner. Nine runners in total finished under 15 minutes. That is the most ever for a 1A state final.

Unity’s #2 runner Getch Eisenmenger came across in eighth running 14:59. Alex Morris was 10^th in 15:02. Dawson Dodds was the team’s fourth man in 15:06. Austin Woodard completed the scoring for the Rockets in 14^th (15:09). The race was over at that point in regards to the 1A team title and the runners from Tolono knew that. I would guess that they did before they fired the gun. They had placed 5 runners in the first 10 in the team scoring.

Their team time is one of the 50 fastest ever run on the Detweiller Park course for 3 miles. They are the fastest 1A team ever. It will take a huge effort to come close to that by any other team. Their 5 runner split was only 24 seconds. Their split from their 2 (Eisenmenger) through 5 (Woodard) was only 10 seconds. That was their best split of the year. What a time to do that.

“Crossing the line at the end, there was just a sigh of relief. This was the last cross country race of my career. I was very anxious during the week to try to get this over with,” Andrew Warnes said. “We prepared very well for this race. Coach Stirrett has been a big inspiration for me and my teammates. We wanted to do this for him.”

There was not much celebration in the team area after the race. It was not a sigh of relief that was among the runners but an abundance of satisfaction that was among them. All that Unity’s Boys Coach Dike Stinnett could do was soak in the moment.

“This is just a dream. It is just one of those things as a coach in the state of Illinois you want to get. This is the biggest prize there is. It took a while to get it,” Tolono Unity Coach Dike Stirrett said. “I am so happy for the kids. I think they have had this in mind for a year. They learned something about that. They learned something about themselves. It was a year of preparation and perseverance. They had it in their mind and stuck to it.”

Shelbyville was 94 points behind in second place. Marcus Skinner was the team’s only all state runner. They did still have a good performance putting 4 runners in the first 40.

“I thought we ran just about as well as we possibly could,” said Shelbyville Coach Kevin Kramer. “Marcus looked great and ran his goal of under 15 which we thought he could.  Our next three of Pasley, Skowronski, and Sieger packed up real nice and were picking off the teams we needed to beat throughout the race.  We wanted a 1:15 split but Preston Henze was having some troubles.  Luke Foltz picked up the slack and ran under 16:30 for first time but more importantly beat SJO and Elmwood’s #5 men which was his goal. All in all a great day. Nothing wrong with finishing second to arguably greatest 1A team ever in Unity.   I am so happy for my good friend Dike Stirrett.”

St. Joseph-Ogden ran their best race of the year to capture third (145 points). The Spartans had two all-state runners as Brennan Guido finished 19^th and Justin Phillips finished 24^th. It might have the best performance ever by a group of teams from a sectional. 5 of the top 6 teams in this race came from the Decatur St. Teresa Sectional. The sectional also claimed 13 of the all-state honors in the individual race.