A different kind of homecoming
Molenda describes first race on Brother Rice’s campus since 1988 as ‘pretty neat’
On Oct. 1, Don Molenda was on hand to watch Brother Rice’s first varsity cross country meet at the school in 32 years.
Molenda, who was the coach at the time, alsowas there for the Crusaders’ previous meet held on the campus in 1988.
“This is pretty neat,” he said afterward.
The quadrangularwas dubbed theMolenda andMurphy Invitational, also named after Terry Murphy, the former Brother Rice mentor and legendary St. Laurence coach.
The 2020 version of the Crusaders did not disappoint, winning the meet with 24 points. Stagg was second with 32, followed by St. Laurence with 86 and St. Rita with 102.
Brother Rice’s Mikey Corcoran sure liked the course. Hewon his first varsity race with a time of 16 minutes, 19.4 seconds and edged out teammate Eddie Burke, who ran a 16:20.7.
There were three races on the day, with the frosh-soph kicking things off. An open race closed the showwithout precipitation.
The varsity race was in the middle, and in the middle of the race, the weather gods provided a huge downpour.
The rain was coming down hard but there was no lightning, so the runners splashed and plodded on.
“I had a thought in the back of my mind, ‘What if they pull me off the track while Iwas having a
good race?’” Corcoran said.
Brother Rice coach Tom Wazio was having a good time during the downpour.
“I was yelling at the kids, ‘Is this fun or what?’” he said. “How often do you get to run in conditions like that? I wanted them to take advantage of it.
“It was our best run all season, and it came at a great time. It’s nice to get the guys at home. I think they enjoyed it.”
Stagg freshman Luke Barham pushed Corcoran and Burke the whole race and finished in 16:24.7.
Stagg’s John Farley and Nick Skwereswere fourth and fifth, followed by Brother Rice’s Charlie Walsh, Sean McNally and Sean Deane.
Stagg’s Luisse Iringan took ninth, and Brother Rice’s Connor Melean rounded out the top 10.
St. Rita was led by Saul Garcia, who placed 13th. Allan Potter led St. Laurence with a 15th-place showing.
History lesson: Brother Rice did not use a home course after 1988 because the Chicago Catholic League eliminated dual meets.
Duals returned this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We were seeing St. Laurence six out of eight weeks on Saturdays,” Molenda said. “And then the league was saying, ‘Now you have to have a dual meet with St. Laurence.’ What purpose? As a league, we voted to get rid of it.”
Trevian travails: Ranked fifth in the state in Class 3A by MileSplit, Sandburg received a third shot at No. 1 New Trier last Friday and finished second to the Trevians in the Flight Night at Loyola in Wilmette.
Sandburg scored 57 points, which was 25 behindNewTrier.
Ismail Tineh, a senior, led the Eagles with a seventh-place finish in a time of 15:39.61. Brock Rice, Griffin Lehnhardt and Declan Tunney finished 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively.
On Sept. 11, New Trier won 33-46 in a six-team meet that Sandburg hosted. The Trevians took a 23-32 victory in a Sept. 26 dual meet inWinnetka.
The Illinois High School Association is limiting the state series this fall to regional and sectional competitions. The only way the two teams could face a fourth time would be if both are invited and accept an invitation to the ShaZam Racing event inNovember.