The race Saturday could top one of the most exciting IHSA races of all time 40 years ago

By Michael Newman

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On a cloudy and cool autumn day on November 12, 1977, two of the Illinois all-time greats Tom Graves of Sandburg HS and Jim Spivey of Fenton HS went to the line not only to win a state championship but also to try to break Craig Virgin’s then five-year old course record of 13:50.6. Now in 2017, history could repeat itself as another Sandburg runner Dylan Jacobs and Danny Kilrea of Lyons Township attempt to go lower than the fabled mark.

The similarities of the two seasons are hauntingly close. In the 1977 season, there was only one pre-state race contested on the Detweiller Park course with the Peoria Central Invitational run on the first Saturday of October. Neither Graves nor Spivey ran at the meet or on the course before the state meet. Both runners were breaking course records in every meet they ran in. By the time the two runners got to the state meet, both were undefeated with the mystique around them that one of them could go after the record. It was a perfect storm having two warriors push each other to a fast time.

The same holds true this season as Jacobs and Kilrea have the talent to run after the time. What is different is the two have run against each other twice. On Sept. 2 at the Mike Kuharic Invitational at Lyons Township’s South Campus Course, it was Kilrea that had his way running 14:10 for 3 miles and winning by 24 seconds ahead of Jacobs. In last Saturday’s Hinsdale Central Sectional, Jacobs took off at the gun building up a lead on Kilrea at the first turn. Jacobs went on to set a course record of 14:39 on the hilly Katherine Legge Memorial course. Kilrea was close behind eight seconds back.

In between the two races, both athletes had some fun on the Detweiller Park Course.

A week after his win on his home course, Kilrea went to Detweiller Park looking to make a statement. He pulled away from the pack just after the mile to cruise across the line in 14:02. His pace was even near a 4:40 average for the 3 miles.

It was Jacobs’ turn at Detweiller two weeks later at the Richard Spring Invitational. He was only three seconds off Kilrea’s pace at two miles. The temperatures that were in the mid 80s at race time zapped Jacobs’ strength in the final mile as he crossed in 14:23. It was not the way he wanted to finish. He did have another try at the Det two weeks later.

Conditions seemed to be perfect for the race in Peoria on Sept. 30. The temperatures were 20 degrees cooler than the two weeks before that. The course was still hard and fast like running on a track. Jacobs took advantage of that passing the mile by himself in 4:30, 2 miles in 9:11, and finishing running the fifth fastest time ever on the Detweiller Park course.

Now we get to a Saturday when the two will meet again to push each other to something special. Just like Graves and Spivey did 40 years before. 

The race in 1977

There was the same hype for the race on Saturday that there was 40 years ago. The exception was there was no social media in 1977 like there is now. The underground talk would spread at every practice and every meet: “Did you see what Spivey ran last week?” or “Can you believe the time that Graves ran?” They were the things that you would hear after you had run your race from runners on other teams. Instead of clicking on your computer after you got home to see the latest results, you would run to the store on Sunday morning to get the newspaper to see what these two had run. It was that kind of hype that drew fans to Detweiller Park to see those two athletes run.

The race was one of the most exciting of all time.

Spivey decided to push the pace early taking the lead at 880 yards and leading at the mile in 4:37 with a pack with Graves a part of it 10 yards back. That is when the action began. Graves went into an all-out sprint to grab the lead and try to keep the lead for good as they entered the triangle in the back of the course. The runners in the race knew it was now or never. Stay with Graves or just hope for the best.

Graves had a sizeable lead as he exited the triangle. The Sandburg senior passed the two-mile point in a fast 9:07, ahead of Virgin’s pace. Spivey had dropped back from Graves by 20 yards, staying within contact.

The lead continued to grow and you could see in Graves' eyes that he wanted that record. As he made the turn around the starting line for one more loop of the course, it seemed like the lead kept getting bigger for Graves.

In the final half mile of the race, that trend flipped around. Graves was feeling the fast middle mile in his legs as the lead started to shrink. Spivey was getting closer to Graves but ultimately ran out of real estate. Graves came up the incline toward the finish with every step showing the strain on his face. Graves crossed the line in 13:56.6. That is now the fourth- fastest time ever on the course. Spivey crossed in 14:00 to finish second. There was a gap of 20 seconds before the next runners entered the finish chute.

When asked afterwards if he knew he had the race won, Graves answered “I never broke him. He was always there.”

Close calls to the record

There is a question that is asked at the beginning of every season: Is there anyone that could get close to Virgin’s record?

There have been three runners that have come close in recent years to the record. The most recent came in the 1A race in 2015. Fithian Oakwood’s Jon Davis knew he would have to do all the work himself. The pace started to slow down for him between 2 and 2.5 miles where he lost the chance for the record. Davis did run the last 800 meters in 2:05 to cross the line in 13:59.

The closest to Virgin’s time came in the 2007 state meet when Chris Derrick of Neuqua Valley ran 13:51.8 to just miss the record by 1.2 seconds. There are some people who believe that time to be superior to Virgin’s considering the course had been altered in 2003.

The expectations of that race 10 years ago are similar to this weekend. Derrick and Hersey’s Kevin Havel went into the meet undefeated.

“I never told Chris what to do in regard to a specific race plan all year. I had full trust he would run smart and do his best, so why interfere?” Neuqua Valley coach Paul Vandersteen said. “He never gave me a reason to intervene. He trusted in himself, his teammates, his coaches, and our training system. When that is evident, I can only do harm by getting involved with his race plan. Chris also did not like to talk about 'what was going to happen'.”

The two runners were side-by-side for the first half of the race. Coming out of the triangle, Derrick started to make his move.

“After the race, Chris told me he wanted to make a surge at the 1.8-mile mark to see if Kevin could hold on,” Vandersteen added. “As we know now, that is where Chris was able to get some distance between the two and focus on running as fast as he could from there.”

Lukas Verzbicas, also from Sandburg, came close to the record running 13:54 in the 2010 3A State Meet. York’s Jack Driggs was supposed to push Verzbicas but a move at the triangle left Driggs to finish second. According to Sandburg coach John O’Malley, who coached Verzbicas, his runner went through the first 800 in 2:09. It was a little faster than they had wanted.

“Lukas went through 800 in 2:09, which I felt at the time given his training was a little too fast. He executed the race perfectly through 2.5 miles,” O’Malley said. “He needed to run a 2:22 to close it out and simply ran out of gas and hit a little head wind up the incline finish.”

After the race, Verzbicas described the finish as a “divine puff of wind hit my face slowing me down. He congratulated every runner after he finished, but kind of did not know what hit him.

“One of the things I learned from Lukas came in our conversation after the race. In the finish area Lukas looked at me and kept saying, "I can't believe it." He had an authentic disbelief. It was such a significant moment,” O’Malley added. “I saw clearly that Lukas had the mind of the champion: he was convinced -- 100 percent -- that he was going to achieve his goal. He knew it before the race that he would achieve his goal. The fact that he fell short came as a surprise to him. It reminded me: champions are ready to win. So many people are ready to lose or fall short. They aren't certain. That sounds like an easy, even obvious idea, but it is so difficult to find that frame of mind when you are on the line.”

One of the things about that race that was notable: Verzbicas chased after the record as Virgin was riding in the lead truck.

Virgin’s view of the state record

Craig Virgin has told people numbers of times how he went about getting the record and how he ran the race. Remember, Virgin won the state title in 1972 by 30 seconds.

In a recent talk on a Facebook live session, Virgin said:

“My theory was you go out hard. Everybody was running scared going down the hill before it leveled off at 400 meters. My goal was to have the lead at that point. Everybody would slow down around the curve. That is when I took off. My senior year I went by the half in 2:06. I hit the mile mark in 4:25. I hit the two-mile mark in 9:15.”

“My goal was to run the first mile hard using the adrenaline that I had at the start. I figured for three full miles I had to run two miles hard with one mile recovery. The most logical thing to do was run the first mile hard. The second mile was 4:50 recovering. I put my head down the final mile and just drove towards the finish. I ran that final mile around 4:35 to come up with my time of 13:50.6.”

And of Saturday’s race…

The two runners that could be after the record could be push back by the weather forecast. Temperatures should be nice near 60 degrees. The condition of the course could hold them back. Rain has hit the Peoria area all during the week and more is forecast on Saturday.

When both runners ran their times in September, the course was rock hard but fast. Add in the fact that even with the wet grounds, the course could be torn up with five races run on the course before the 3A race is run.

Then again, you have two runners that just go out hard and run fast. When Kilrea and Jacobs ran their times in September, neither was pushed by other athletes. Kilrea won by 45 seconds, Jacobs by 34 seconds. Both had to do their own pacing. They weren’t races. They were time trials.

There will be no strategy between the two future teammates at the University of Notre Dame. Both will push each other to fast times.

Forget about the weather, forget about the wet grounds. When you least expect something to happen, then in most cases it just might. Danny Kilrea and Dylan Jacobs will ignore everything around them and just go out and run.

That is how records are set.