Byrne Festival offers runners change of pace

Woodstock’s Phil Meyer strides through the woods Saturday as he nears the final stretch of the Woodstock-Ryan Byrne Cross Country Festival at Emricson Park. Meyer finished fifth in the Flight 1 varsity boys race. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com)

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WOODSTOCK – Sometimes, forcing athletes out of their comfort zones can be productive.

The Woodstock-Ryan Byrne Festival serves as a prime example.

Under the format used at the meet, with races run in flights, every runner from the No. 1 runners through No. 7 in the lineup count the same. Many runners who normally would not receive first-place medals earned some Saturday at Emricson Park.

“I like [the format], but I like running with my teammates better so they can push me,” said Huntley junior Delanie Dineen, who won the Flight 3 girls race. “There’s no one there for you to run with on your team. I tried to find someone around my speed to stay with.”

Dineen won her flight in 20:30 to help the Red Raiders to second place with 20 points. West Aurora won the girls varsity meet with 16 points and Woodstock was third with 21.

Woodstock’s Elise Beattie won the Flight 2 girls race in 18:19, breaking her sister Kayla’s course record. Kayla Beattie won the Flight 1 race.

In 1999, Woodstock coach Marty Sobczak renamed the race in honor of late Northwest Herald sports staffer Ryan Byrne, who had died that year at age 23 of cancer. Byrne covered cross country for several years and was a beloved figure by local coaches and athletes.

The Prairie Ridge boys won the varsity meet with five first-place finishes and 11 points. The Wolves also won the combined overall title with 70 points. That title is decided by the scores from all four teams – varsity boys and girls, and junior varsity boys and girls.

Prairie Ridge got firsts from Marc DiVerde (Flight 3), Alex Wagner (4), Tommy MacMeekin (5), Matt Tunnicliffe (6) and Matt Hearne (7).

Those runners experience a different feeling when they are leading the pack among runners of similar ability.

“It’s nice because we usually run in a pack and we have to run individually here,” Wagner said. “I just tried to find my pace where I usually run. I feel nervous sometimes [out in front] and was looking over my shoulder.”

Prairie Ridge boys coach Judd Shutt likes the change for the runners.

“For a pack running team like us, it’s great to rely on one another,” Shutt said. “Here, you have to have that racing mentality. It’s tough to run a 3-mile race without any teammate’s shoulder to lean on. I hope when we run at Palatine next week we’re a stronger team because we raced individually here.”

The overall title was the 10th for Prairie Ridge in its 13-year school history. Woodstock was second in the boys varsity race with 16 points and McHenry was third with 24.

The Flight 1 varsity boys race matched some of the area’s best Class 2A runners – Richmond-Burton’s Ian Sanchez, Woodstock’s Phil Meyer and Prairie Ridge’s Matt Neubauer – along with McHenry’s Jeff Sabatka, who will run in Class 3A.

Sanchez and Sabatka battled most of the race before Sanchez pulled away slightly at the end and won in 16:08. Sabatka finished in 16:14 and Neubauer was third in 16:20.

“My strategy was to go out easy in the first mile, then I wanted to make it a kickers’ race in the last mile,” Sanchez said. “I realized as we got into the race that Jeff is a kicker. We kept switching the lead the last 11⁄2 miles, but I really committed in the last 400 meters.”