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As 209 warriors gathered their last thoughts, it became very clear that this race would become a showdown. Not just the battle up front, but for All-State, Team trophies, and pride. The State meet is where it's all or nothing. The Starter fired his gun and the flood of Runners washed over the course. The sight was impressive as the teams and individuals became one in a mass of cluttered strides. By the half-mile mark, Paul Jellema and Jason Bill made their way up front and forced the pace. By the mile, the two had broken away by about ten seconds. The group behind them was Shawn Lucas, Nick Hird, Pat Quinn, Mike Kelley, Jon Houseworth, Dan Martin, Mike Uskali, Zach Barr, and Steve McQueen. They were all pushing to be up front. As Jellema and Bill entered the back triangle, Bill put on a surge and opened a small five meter lead on Jellema. However, as the two came out of the triangle and headed towards the turn, Jellema quickened the pace, opened about another five meters on Bill and that was pretty much it. He simply held on from there. Meanwhile, Hird, Lucas, Quinn, and Kelley had pulled away and formed their own small battle between themselves. The four ran together through the next 3/4 mile. Coming to the final turn toward the finish, Jellema still had Bill about 10-20 meters behind him. As they rounded the turn heading up to the chute, Jellema put on a devestating kick and pulled away from Bill by 15 seconds. Bill was simply beaten, he died. However, he went out and ran with Jellema, challenged him, pulled away from him. It was clear that Bill was not settling for a mere top five, top three, or even second place finish. He ran to win. He risked top five, knowing that the others would smell his blood if he couldn't hold on, to win. Lucas unleashed his powerful kick and pulled away from Hird, Quinn, and Kelley. Behind them came the third group, led by Barr, Houseworth Chris Herren, Tim Blake, Martin, Uskali, Jim Kestler, McQueen, Trevor Saunders, Richard Krafft, Mike Prince, David Garner, Dane Zeiler, Brad Graham, Chris George, Ben Melin, Dustin Marquis, T.J. Tebbe, and Jeremy Kunz. These Warriors created the Top 25 All-Staters. Eureka created history capturing their fourth straight State Title. Bureau Valley took second, having three runners grab All-State titles. Normal University edged out last years Runners-up team Winnebago and Breese Mater Dei took home top five honors. Congratulations to all participatents! |
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