From the Daily-

Fenton's Mendoza breaks free of a deep field
By John Lemon Daily Herald Sports Writer
Posted on September 30, 2001

In an unusual format, Fenton's Carlos Mendoza produced a familiar result.

Mendoza broke away in the final mile to win the championship flight of the 33rd annual Pow-Wow Invitational at Crete-Monee, the largest invite in Illinois.

Mendoza, a senior, ran the 2.94-mile course in 14 minutes 54 seconds to beat Lockport's Jake Stout by three seconds.

"I was expecting Jake to make a good run," Mendoza said. "I knew it would come down to the last half mile. The last 200 meters my legs were burning."

Mendoza broke free from what was a large pack of 10 to 12 frontrunners for much of the championship race.

Several other local runners made a push for the title, including Downers Grove North senior Ed Borjon (fourth, 15:15), Naperville Central junior Sean Hardy (sixth, 15:25), Glenbard South senior Kevin Kuhlman (eighth, 15:29), Glenbard West junior Anthony Becknek (ninth, 15:31) and WW South sophomore Michael Popejoy (15:33).

The Pow-Wow is scored differently than most invitationals, with each team breaking its seven runners into flights. That gave an advantage to deep teams with strong sixth and seventh runners.

Nobody was deeper than Crystal Lake Central. The Tigers, who finished second to Wheeling at last year's Pow-Wow, won with only 14 points. They won the fourth, fifth and sixth flights, and finished second at the second, third and seventh flights.

Naperville Central also showed its depth. The Redhawks took second with 26 points, winning two flights and taking second in two others.

Wheaton Warrenville South was third out of the 56 schools with 49 points, Waubonsie Valley scored 59 points for sixth, Naperville North finished seventh with 60 and Fenton came in eighth with 61.

"Everyone finished in the top 10 or better," said WW South coach Greta Havey, whose team made a big jump from the 120 points they scored a year ago. "I'm real proud of everyone. Their work has paid off. This should give us confidence to carry us the rest of the way."

Junior Eric Lentzkow got the Redhawks off to a great start by winning the seventh flight in 16:34. Senior Alan Bernardi kept it going in the sixth flight, running second in 16:20, just ahead of third-place Andre Light (16:24) from Naperville North and fourth-place Kevin Chow (16:31) from Waubonsie Valley.

Naperville Central senior Andy Gush looked like he would give the Redhawks a second win in the fifth flight. He led Crystal Lake Central's Joe Schaumann before Schaumann shoved his way in front as the two collided into the chute.

Schaumann ran a 15:59.6 to Gush's 15:59.9.

"We both kicked as hard as we could," Gush said. "I stayed with the leaders most of the race and tried to pull away at the end."

Waubonsie Valley junior Michael Huhtala finished second to Crystal Lake Central's Nick Fuhs in the fourth flight. Fuhs won with a 15:46, with Huhtala running a 15:55.

"I didn't want to go out too fast," Huhtala said. "I finished strong. It probably could have gone a little better. I was kind of tired today."

Jack Susin won the third flight for Naperville Central with a 15:43 time, just over a second ahead of Crystal Lake Central's Drake Ballew in another tight battle.

"I felt very tired before I made the decision for my kick," Susin said, "and then a new juice of energy came into me."

Fenton's Andy Sbertoli won the second flight in 15:21, with Glenbard South's Eric MacTaggart fourth in 15:35 and WW South's Gary Pfennig fifth in 15:35.

The Bison won the first and second flights, but didn't fare as well in the lower races.

"This (format) is tough on our team," said Sbertoli, who took the lead in his flight at the two-mile mark. "I knew I had a tougher kick. (I told myself) I was not letting those guys pass me."