CLC brothers share ‘awesome’ run

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Crystal Lake Central’s Chris Alvarez is following in his brother Ryan’s footsteps … in more ways than one.

Ryan was a lifelong soccer player before opting for cross country last season. The choice proved beneficial for Alvarez, who is being recruited by NCAA Division I schools to run cross country and track.

This fall, Chris Alvarez gave up soccer, a sport he dearly loves, to run cross country with his brother. The season has been a blast for the Alvarezes, with Ryan running near the top of packs in big races and Chris not far behind.

Ryan won the IHSA Class 2A Aurora Central Catholic Regional on Saturday at Oakhurst Community Park, and Chris was eighth. Central competes in the Belvidere Sectional at 10 a.m. Saturday, and the Alvarezes will be leading the Tigers’ quest for a third consecutive team state berth.

“I quit soccer so I could play a sport with Ryan for once,” Chris said. “We were on the track team last spring, but I ran mostly junior varsity, so it wasn’t the same.”

Ryan burst onto the local cross country scene a year ago, after an extensive soccer career. The end of the season was frustrating, however, when he was hit by mononucleosis. Ryan helped the Tigers advance to state as a team and took 30th, but likely would have finished much higher had he not gotten sick.

The Alvarezes both have legitimate shots at cracking the top 25, which would make them All-State runners.

Ryan could be a top runner in Class 2A.

“It’s awesome [having Chris on the team],” Ryan said. “We’ve always been tight, but we were never teammates in soccer or anything. He decided the day of tryouts to do cross country. It’s really cool to have him. This is a really special year.”

Ryan decided the day of tryouts the previous year to run cross country too. As much as Chris loves soccer, he might have a difficult time returning next year. Ryan saw that his running opened doors with D-I schools that might not have opened in soccer.

“It may depend on how sectionals and state go,” Chris said. “I’m really sad not playing soccer. I was OK at soccer, but I couldn’t get that far [with D-I schools]. I may be able to go far in running.”

Beattie blogging: Woodstock senior Elise Beattie, one of the state’s top Class 2A girls runners, is writing a blog about her final cross country season in high school for dyestat.com, a Web site that covers Illinois high school cross country and track.

Beattie enters stories about her season and her team. You can find her blog at il.dyestat.com. On the home page, there is a list of seven runners.

Ferlito an opponent now: Former Cary-Grove football player John Ferlito normally would be rooting for his alma mater in the football playoffs, but not this weekend.

Ferlito, a 2001 C-G grad who played safety and running back for the Trojans, is an assistant coach at St. Viator, which visits C-G at 1 p.m. Saturday in a Class 6A playoff game at Al Bohrer Field. St. Viator (5-4) is a No. 16 seed and C-G (9-0) is the No. 1 seed in the northern half of Class 6A.

• Joe Stevenson covers high school sports for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached at 815-526-4513 or by e-mail at jstevenson @nwherald.com.