Palatine's Peter Tomkiewicz (far left) and Anthony Gregorio (2072) with leaders Jereme Atchison of Buffalo Grove (1900), Garrett Sweatt of Edwardsville (1934), eventual winner Leland Later of New Trier and Erik Peterson of Barrington (1894)
Photos by Joshua Sutton
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I was standing by an IHSA tent near the cross country course at Detweiller Park Saturday and talking with Gary Childs. He was in charge of handing out results sheets to the press and we were waiting to find out which team won the boys 3A state title.
Suddenly, a cheer and a roar interrupted our conversation. We weren’t sure where it came from – was it the awards area? But Gary thought it might have come from Palatine’s camp, which wasn’t that far from the tent.. So I walked in that direction and witnessed the Pirates in the midst of a celebration.
They were emotional, cheering and, yes, in tears. Palatine had won the state championship. It is the first time the school’s boys cross country team had done that since … well, they never had transported the IHSA state championship trophy in the previous 65 years of Illinois high school cross country finals.
“I really can’t explain this,” said senior Peter Tomkiewicz, who barely could get the words out. I’ve seen state champions celebrate before – in golf, basketball, soccer, track and,
Palatine coach Chris Quick
yes, cross country. But I’ve never seen anything like this. It was as if a two-ton weight had been lifted off the Pirates cross country program.
You see, it’s so odd. The Palatine girls had made a regular habit of winning state titles – seven of them since the first IHSA state girls meet in 1979. The girls won in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996 and just two years ago in 2009. The boys? Well, they have five second-place trophies.
But no state championship until the recent sunny Saturday afternoon in Peoria. And it wasn’t easy. Their cheer was after an agonizing wait for the results. Palatine wound up with 114 points and a close victory over surprising O’Fallon. The downstate team, led by junior Alex Riba’s second-place finish, had 120.
Mark Derrick and Taylor Soltys finished ninth and 10th, respectively, for Neuqua Valley to give the Wildcats a third-place trophy.
“Four years of hard work,” Tomkiewicz said. “It’s about dedication, all the hard work we’ve been putting in for four years. Just the whole team bonding over the summer.”
Those words were coming from a runner who led Palatine’s state championship with an 11th-place finish in the 3A boys final. He improved upon last season’s finish by – well, improved upon it infinitely. That’s because he wasn’t in the Pirates’ lineup in 2010. He couldn’t crack the top seven.
“I just came alive,” said Tomkiewicz, who had apparently joined his teammates in trimming their hair. “This team meant so much to me. I didn’t want to let anyone down this week.”
His time over Detweiller Park’s three-mile layout was 14 minutes 43 seconds. Not up there with the Laters, Ribas or (Malachy) Schrobilgens. But he beat some outstanding runners like Willowbrook’s Pat Niyork and Metea Valley’s Joe Stewart. Quite a turnaround from 2010.
“Peter’s probably the difference,” said Palatine coach Chris Quick, who added “We had a bunch of guys who ran state last year, but here’s a guy who wasn’t even on our varsity. He decided he was going to work hard.”
Before the season started I stopped by a Palatine practice and took a photo that included Anthony Gregorio and Tess Wasowicz (she took 26th in the girls final). Gregorio did his job at state with an 18th-place finish in 14:56. Tim Johnson (28th, 15:05), Marcus Garcia (29th, 15:05) and Tim Meincke (66th, 15:22) rounded out the Pirates’ top five.
“We’re more than thrilled to represent all the kids who have run all these years at Palatine,” Quick said.
“Thrilled” doesn’t even begin to describe his team’s feeling.
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