From the Daily Herald

NC runs past NN for first place win
By John Lemon Daily Herald Sports Writer
Posted on September 23, 2001

Naperville Central isn't yet where coach George Cyr wants to be, but after Saturday the Redhawks can make their claim as the best in DuPage County.

Led by Sean Hardy's third-place finish, Naperville Central scored 53 points to win the annual DuPage County Meet on the 2.9-mile Village Greens course in Glen Ellyn.

With Glenbard South not fielding a full lineup and Fenton and York not running, Cyr knew the Redhawks didn't see the complete best DuPage County has to offer.

Nonetheless, Cyr saw several encouraging signs, starting with Hardy pushing the frontrunners all the way to the end. The junior improved on his eighth place finish last year at this meet.

"I'm sure they (Glenbard South) would have won if they would have had their (number) one (runner) and (number) five (runner)," Cyr said.

"I'm pretty happy but we still have a ways to go. We're a team that usually gets better and better. This is the last meet we'll run when we're really tired."

Glenbard South held out top runner Micah VanDenend, who was sidelined nearly all of 2000. The senior made his debut last week at Peoria and won the race in 14:29, but Raiders coach Andy Preuss is playing it safe by not hurrying VanDenend back each week.

"We could be greedy and try to run him each week, but we're going to be patient," Preuss said. "He's not hurt, it's just part of the plan. We'll try to keep him on wide-open courses without sharp turns. People will think he's hurt again, but he's not."

With Glenbard South shorthanded, that left the door open for Naperville Central and Naperville North to battle it out for first. The Redhawks finished third, ninth, 10th, 15th and 16th to Naperville North's fifth, eighth, 17th, 23rd and 24th, beating the Huskies by 24 points.

Dan Rickert (16:12) and Jack Susin (16:13) followed Hardy across the finish line for Naperville Central in ninth and 10th place, respectively.

Individually, Downers Grove North senior Ed Borjon looked closer to the form that netted him a sixth-place finish at last year's state meet. He won Saturday in 15:42, a second ahead of Glenbard South sophomore Eric MacTaggart and three seconds in front of Hardy in a hotly contested race.

"I knew there'd be a lot of great runners here," Borjon said. "I didn't think I'd be able to get a lead and extend it, so I waited for my kick."

Borjon's kick coming out of the woods for the last half mile was just enough.

Preuss said VanDenend will run either Sept. 29 or Oct. 5, and take the other week off before gearing up for the conference and state series.

Even without their star, and fifth runner John Mulrow (out with poison ivy), the Raiders finished fourth behind Naperville Central, Naperville North and Wheaton Warrenville South. MacTaggart and senior Kevin Kuhlman led the charge with a second- and fourth-place finish, respectively.

"Obviously he (Eric) is a very talented kid," Preuss said. "He moved at the end, too. I'm pretty happy to have two in the top four."

Dan Curran (fifth, 15:57) and Adam Kendrick (eighth, 16:04) placed in the top 10 for Naperville North.

Glenbard West's Anthony Becknek ran close the leaders much of the race and finished sixth (16:01). WW South's Michael Popejoy also ran a 16:01 and was seventh.