Aden Bandukwala uses different strategy in repeat of 3A Boys title

Downers Grove North’s pack “reappears” in dominant team title

By Michael Newman

Hinsdale Central Coach Jim Westphal was standing on the side of the awards area waiting for the awards ceremony to begin for the 3A Meets. “That was not me,” Westphal reluctantly said about his star runner Aden Bandukwala. “I did not teach him what he just did today.”

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Bandukwala has the history of waiting until the final moments to win a race. Saturday’s race on a perfect condition course at Detweiller Park allowed the defending state champion to show some different moves to allow him to repeat as the 3A state champion.

It was not an overly fast pace as the top 60 runners at the mile were all within seven seconds of each other. Zac Close of Neuqua Valley was one of the leaders of the pack along with Bandukwala, Ben Crane of New Trier and Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South. Two race favorites Dylan Maloney and Camyn Viger of Plainfield South looked comfortable hanging back within four seconds of the lead.

“The race strategy was completely different from what I expected,” Bandukwala said. “I was just expecting to stay in the front as long as I could. I kept looking around and was thinking where is Camyn (Viger) and where is Dylan (Maloney). They are fit and will be up here soon. Let’s make a move before they can get up here.”

Bandukwala went into the triangle with 50 other runners. He came out with a clear lead. The senior went through the second mile in 9:27 with Close, Narayanan, Crane, and Viger leading a pack 5-7 seconds behind. Viger as he made the turn behind the finish line made a surge to catch up to Bandukwala.

Viger was really closing in on Bandukwala and threatening the lead. “There was one runner that I did not want to get into a 100-meter kick with and that was Camyn,” Bandukwala said. “He had me a 600-meters left and tried to pass me. I reacted and passed him right back.”

The lead went back to two four seconds entering the final 300-meters of the race. It was a lead that Viger could not over take. His winning time of 14:13.56 was more than four seconds ahead of the excellent race that Viger had shown on this day (14:17.93). Crane was next in 14:20.16. Dylan Ybarra of O’Fallon (14:22.16) and Thomas Czerwinski of Plainfield North (14:22.40) finished fourth and fifth ahead of Close (14:25.63) to finish sixth.

The word before the meet was that the key to stay close to top ranked Downers Groove North was to follow the “purple pack”. “We knew that people would be following the purple pack in the race,” Coach John Sipple said.” We decided to change that up a little.”

They did a good job trying not to be seen in the first mile of the race with no purple bibs in the front. Downers Grove North was clad in all black outfit with no indication of their school logo or colors on their top. The Trojans had a slight lead after the first mile just ahead of Plainfield North and Lyons Township. Downers Grove North surged the final two miles dropping down to 91 points at the end of the second mile and then 79 points to capture the 3A team title.

Phillip Cupial is just a sophomore but has made some huge strides throughout this season. He was the team’s #1 runner in his first state meet running 14:30.56 to finish seventh. Two of his teammates were within eight seconds of him. Grant Schroder finished 10th followed by Ryan Eddington (13th). Zach Bender was the team’s fourth runner (26th) followed by Will Surratt (30th). North only had a 22 second split on their top five runners.

It was a Plainfield sweep for the next two places. Plainfield North scored 125 points to finish second after finishing fourth last season. Czerwinski’s top five finish led the way with Quinn Davis in 22nd (14:42.66) and Owen Stahl in 25th (14:43.83) earning all-state honors. Aidan Connors (40th) and James Maso (62nd) were also a part of their top five. Their overall split on that group was 46 seconds.

Plainfield South was sixth after the first mile of the race. The Cougars made a big move in the second half of the race finishing third with 134 points. Viger’s second-place finish led the way followed by Dylan Maloney running 14:32.89 to finish eighth. Joaquin DeAlba and Riley Fink finished together placing 51st and 52nd timed both at 15:05. Freshman Alex Batsala was just a second behind as the team’s fifth runner finishing 55th. Their overall split on their top five was 49 seconds.

Lyons Township finished fourth (207 points) led by all-state finishes from Cillian Herring (15th) and Nicholas Strayer (18th). O’Fallon finished their season placing fifth (211 points) led by Ybarra’s finish and Zach Thoman placing 16th. Oak Park-River Forest was the third WSC-Silver team to place finishing sixth with Liam O’Connor all-state placing 17th.