Lincoln-WayWest coach faces a familiar foe at meet
Lincoln-Way West coach Matt Bowden was cheering on his runners as usual.
He also was keeping a close eye on a runner from the other team, however, during a South West Suburban Red dual meet on Oct. 6 against crosstown rival Lincoln-Way Central.
His daughter, Nadia, is a fresh manfor the Knights.
“The girls onmy team — I’m their coach but I’m her dad,” Bowden said. “I wish nothing but success for my team, but I’m also Nadia’s dad and it’s fun to get to cheer formy team and her.”
Nadia finished 11th in the dual. While she did not crack Lincoln-Way Central’s top 5 runners to factor into the team scoring, she did place ahead of West’s fifth runner, thus helping the Knights pull off a 27-30 win. Nadia enjoyed the unique moment of crossing the finish line with both her coach and the opponent’s coach cheering her on.
“I don’t really feel like it’s a rivalry competing against my dad and his team,” she said. “It’s just a lot of fun.”
Nadia made a late decision to join cross country instead of swimming this fall. It’s her first time on a cross country team.
She cracked Lincoln-Way Central’s talented varsity lineup, though, and has had some strong performances, including a seventh-place finish at the preseason SouthWest Suburban Red Meet.
“I was going to do swimming, but in the summer with coronavirus, the swimming camp wasn’t open yet and the cross country camp was starting,” Nadia said. “I was planning on doing track, so I had already
been running to get ready for that. I figured I’d try cross country.”
It was a decision that delighted her father.
“HermomandIboth ran in high school and college,” Matt said. “She’s been big into swimming for a while, so we assumed that’s what shewas going todo. Itwas a pleasant surprise when she decided to do cross country.
“It’s a lot of fun. Family gatherings at cross country meets. What could be better?”
Nadia is now being coached by one of her dad’s former pupils. Knights coachRyan Stapinski ran on a freshman- sophomore team coached byMatt Bowden at Central.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Stapinski said. “I’ve taken a lot of things that I learned from him to pass on to my runners, and now getting to do that with his daughter and see her take off and thrive with that. It’s really cool to see howit all trickles down.
“Nadia is fearless. She will go in there and mix in with our top varsity runners. A lot of the time, freshmen are a little timid, but that’s certainly not the case withNadia.”
Freshmen phenoms: Several freshmen have contributed significantly to a successful season for LincolnWay East, whichwent 4-1 in dual meets and finished second behind Lockport in the preseason SouthWest Suburban BlueMeet.
Freshmen Elyse DeFrank, Makayla Kelly, Riley Drzewiecki and Ava Conway all have cracked the
Griffins’ top 5 at times this season.
Junior Kate Guderjan, East’s lead runner, has been impressed.
“It’s been really fun this year having the freshmen come in and add to our team,” Guderjan said. “They’ve helped push the older girls.”
A super streak: Homewood-Flossmoor sophomore Caroline Schoen has won six straight races and figures to be one of the top contenders at Saturday’s SouthWest Suburban Blue Meet.
Schoen’s fastest time last season was 19 minutes, 23.3 seconds. She’s gone under 19 minutes five times this season, including a personal record of 18 minutes flat in a huge Sept. 15 win against Lockport.