As the regular season comes to a close for boys cross country, the DuPage Valley Conference meet has arrived at Northern Illinois University. The five Naperville area schools, including the DVC defending champs Neuqua Valley, enter the competition for a conference title on the grassy field of DeKalb. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
The runners sprint off the line with the sun shining. Neuqua Valley gets its runners off to a good start with Grayson Meek and Jesse Gudauskas leading the way. Ranbir Marwaha and Ismail Anwar from Metea look to get the Mustangs going along with Mika Lam, Achyuth Randeep, Kavish Shanmugasundaram, Will Stevenson, and Ryan Heap from Waubonsie Valley.
Cats and Hawks hit the ground running
With the cart driving downhill in mile one, Guduaskas and Meek lead the way. Their teammate Reyaansh Bhagat is just behind them with Huskie Shrey Meyer. The Redhawk crew near the front consists of Manny Najera, Chase Gewin, Derek Williamson, Jack Anderson, Eli Dickerson, and Moiz Hameed. Two more Redhawks trailing downhill are Henry Golbach and Nicholas Norberg. Leading the rest of the runners is Redhawk Gustavo Bacellar, along with Kaya Kuscu and Tyler Rozycki from Neuqua Valley; Redhawk Toby Slider, and DeKalb’s Andy Duran. Metea’s Ranbir Marwaha is near the top 25 as well.
Gudauskas and Meek set the pace for Neuqua
Mile two is more of the same with Gudauskas and Meek out in front. Rounding out the top 10 are Redhawks Gewin, Najera, Williamson, Dickerson, Anderson, and Hameed. This group also includes Shrey Meyer of Naperville North and Reyaansh Bhagat of Neuqua Valley. Leading the next pack are Redhawk Henry Gollbach, along with Kuscu and Rozycki from Neuqua, Redhawk Nicholas Norberg, Andy Duran of DeKalb, and Redhawk runners Baceller, Slider, Connor Baganz, and Liam Allen Wagner. Ranbir Marwaha rounds out the top 19. More Wildcats on the run are Aidan Pour, Sam Parker, Kenneth Kamara, and Nolan Creaves. Huskie runner Charlie Minott and Wildcat Elliot Rubio are rounding out the top 25. Edison Lin from Naperville North is also keeping pace.
Naperville Central swarms its way to the DVC title
Down the final stretch, it’s Jesse Gudauskas, winning the first-place spot with a time of 15:03.05. Grayson Meek follows in with a time of 15:13.1 as the runner-up. Taking third place is Huskie Shrey Meyer. The top 6 runners include Redhawks Derek Williamson, Chase Gewin with a personal best of 15:21, and Manny Najera. Reyaansh Bhagat finishes in 7th for Neuqua Valley, with four more Redhawks finishing in the top 11: Anderson, Dickerson, Hameed, and Norberg. Redhawk Gustavo Bacellar finished the event in the top 15 with a personal best of 16:00 for good measure.
The balanced effort helps Naperville Central take the DVC team championship, just ahead of Neuqua Valley with Naperville North in third. The regional meet comes your way next Saturday morning.
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