By Dave Surico
The Mather Invitational is a varsity meet in name only for Northside Prep runners.
While other schools competed with their top squads, Mustang coach Jon Gordon ran his lower-level groups to season them against tougher competition.
The boys’ eighth-place finish in the 15-team field was impressive given the circumstances. Sophomore Patrick Duffy led Northside with a 27th-place finish in 11:52.63 over the two-mile course at Legion Park, located across the street from Northside.
“The first mile was fairly easy. I kept in the back of the pack. Then the second mile I just kept saying: ‘you’re mine; you’re mine.’ Then zoomed at the end,” said Duffy, who estimated he passed more than 30 runners.
The race was especially satisfying because the run was virtually pain free.
“I expected my shins to hurt a little bit because I’ve been out with shin splints,” said Duffy, who was part of the 4 X 800-meter relay team that set a school record in track last spring. It hurt really bad for two weeks. I was really happy that it didn’t act up that much.”
Duffy's effort was met with approval from Gordon.
“It was an awesome race for him,” Gordon said. “He dropped 11 seconds off his best time today.”
An added bonus of the meet is that the top 10 finishers in each age and gender group get individual medals.
Northside freshman Brendan Kelly was the second runner in the chute for the team with a 44th-place finish accomplished in 12:44.54. For his effort he took home a medal as the fifth fastest freshman boy.
“The first mile I got really tired, but I just kicked it and I’m proud of what I did,” said Kelly, who was ran in the back half of the field early in the race. “I was pretty far behind. I was probably fifth or sixth on my team, and then I started passing people. I felt I could have pushed it a little harder at the end. A couple guys passed me, but next time I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen."
Freshman Calvin Gang (47th, 12:51.26) took home a seventh-place medal for the Mustangs.
Other Northwide finishers included: freshman Nick Parker (55th, 12:56.33); senior Peter Wilk (57th, 12:57.72); soph. Pedro Juarez (66th, 13:09.80); freshman Choi Jae (80th, 13:38.36); freshman Brian Glatter (81st, 13:40.86); soph Luis Mesa (84th, 13:47.59; senior Andrew Czyszczon (86th, 13:54.35); freshman Nick Hill (87th, 13:54.64); sophomore Christophe Ceisel (88th, 13:54.96); senior Sam Olver (93rd, 14:06.63); soph Matthew Sugai (96th, 14:18.77); frosh Alex Kritikos (107th, 15:13.37); junior Miguel Ramirez (117th, 15:42.73); junior Alfredo Almaraz (124th, 16:34.10); soph Edgar Ortega (127th, 16:53.95); and freshman Ben Mauk O'Connor (138th, 21:53).
Mather sophomore Abdurahim Haji won the race in 10:16.22; Kenwood’s Joseph Lasseter finished second in 10:34.77.
Mather took the team title with 22 points. Kenwood (82) finished second and Curie third (98).