Smith, Zea, Clevenger at Arcadia Invite

Downers Grove North senior Tony Zea should be making his first appearance at the Class 3A boys track state meet in May, but he got a taste of big-time competition on a national level Saturday, April 12.

Zea joined senior Zack Smith and junior Ryan Clevenger as the first Trojans to compete in California at the 47th annual Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High School, about 17 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Applicants had to achieve qualifying standards during races in 2014 or 2013.

”Honestly, it was originally just supposed to be Zack and Clev to go out there and I convinced (cross country head coach and assistant track coach John Sipple) to let me go out there,” Zea said. “I might as well. It’s California so I guess there’s no point in leaving me. I’m coming, too.”

Smith earned a spot in the seeded 3,200-meter run and set an outdoor school record in finishing ninth in 9:08.44 fully automatic time.

In the 1-mile run, Zea (4:16.95) and Clevenger (4:18.63) were third and sixth in the third and final section and third and ninth among all 32 finishers in their group.  Both times were personal bests.

”It was really cool being out there with such great runners, two great teammates as well. They made it a lot of fun for me,” Smith said. “We had great weather out there and it was just really a neat experience to get out there and really test your training against the best guys in the country, just to kind of get a sense of where you’re at.”

“It’s great competition, that’s pretty much it,” Clevenger said. “When you’re out there, it feels like almost a national meet. There are so many good competitors. Pretty much every person in your race is more or less a stud back at their old team.”

Smith broke the 3,200 record of 9:10.76 that graduate Ben Eaton achieved en route to finishing an all-state ninth at the 2013 state meet. Smith, who later that day was an all-state third in the 1,600, set the indoor 3,200 school record of 9:19.66 his junior year.

”Taking down Ben’s record is pretty incredible, just considering how good of a runner he was for us last year and everything. And he’s killing it at Purdue right now (in college track),” Smith said. “It’s always pretty humbling to be able to say that you had a time faster than a guy like him because he’s definitely a role model for me and a really good runner.”

Based on submitted times, accepted entries competed in invitational (top) and seeded groups Saturday night and open groups in the afternoon.

Former Trojans, such as Eaton, certainly had times good enough to compete at Arcadia in the past, but several factors fell into the Trojans’ favor this season. They had three elite runners and were coming off taking a program-best second at the state cross country meet Nov. 9, in which Smith (3rd) and Clevenger (7th) earned individual all-state honors.

Smith, also an all-state eighth in cross county as a junior, then qualified as an individual for the Nike Cross Nationals Dec. 6 in Portland, Ore., where he finished 30th (15:32 for 5,000 meters). Sipple met the Arcadia coach to discuss the invite and Smith was able to talk to runners who already had participated there.

“Ultimately, the parents are awesome. They’re the ones that are fronting all of the money for it. All I did on my end is get these guys registered.

”You go out there to run fast so you want to be impressive and those guys did just that. It’s really a cool opportunity so we just wanted to take advantage of it. We just kind of thought, ‘Hey, these guys have run fast enough. It would be great to get them in. We’re super fit, ready to roll.’ ”

Smith’s 3,200 seemed more like a cross country race to him. While Smith was an impressive top-10 among 33 finishers, he also was just .62 from sixth and 1.35 seconds from the top five.

Arcadia senior Estevan De La Rosa dominated the race in 8:56.55 with Laramie (Wy.) senior Jonah Henry second in 9:03.26. Fourth through 11th place, however, were separated by only 2.25 seconds (9:06.71 to 9:08.96).

”It was pretty loaded. I was in the second heat and it was still just a crazy amount of competition. There were just guys around me the whole time,” Smith said. “It was a kick to finish and, unfortunately, a bunch of them outkicked me.

“It’s definitely different than running the normal meets you would run up here. It was really pretty fun and definitely made it interesting. Definitely it was a similar feeling to the Nike National Meet with the same whole atmosphere leading up to it and just all of the great runners out there.”

The Trojans arrived in California Thursday night and were met almost immediately by a surprise. Zea and Clevenger already were in the same event, but they actually were placed in the same heat – the only high school in the mile to have teammates in the same section. Earlier Saturday, there were 12 finishers in a seeded mile and 10 in an invitational mile.

In their section, Zea was 1.85 seconds behind the event winner, Mountain Vista (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) senior Andrew Walton (4:15.10), but only .44 from second place McQueen (Reno, Nev.) junior Kai Benedict (4:16.51). Zea earned a medal for a top-five finish.

”It was a huge PR for me. It was nice coming home with a medal, too,” Zea said.

"(Clevenger and I) realized we were in the same heat so we were really excited because no one else had teammates to run with. We took advantage of that. Clev and I both took it out hard. We led our race for like the first lap and a half. I think it helped us run as fast as we did.”

Zea and Clevenger both have come on strong since the 2013 track season. Zea’s primary event in the 800 but his mile time was roughly 11 seconds faster than the converted 1,600-meter time he ran as a junior at the Glenbard South Invitational, the event the Trojans attended as a team Saturday.

Clevenger beat his previous best of 4:22 converted from earlier this season. Clevenger won the 1,600 at the indoor West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet March 21 at York in 4:24.29 FAT.

”Really, to get the time that (Zea and I) wanted, we had to go after it. All of the other heats didn’t really push it on the first lap so we decided it was a good choice and it worked out great,” Clevenger said.

”I would be lying if I said that I didn’t feel disappointed a little after, but when I look back at it, I really shouldn’t be disappointed with that time. Still, I think I was 4:17 for 1,600 (converted) so I was very pleased with it. I wanted to go a little bit faster but really nothing to disappoint.”  

The Trojans were among several Illinois athletes who made the trip and excelled. Plainfield South senior Dan Lathrop was fourth (9:06.71) as the only other Illinois competitor in Smith’s group. In the mile pairing with Zea and Clevenger, Dixon senior Simon Thorpe competed in section two and was seventh (4:24.60) and 21st overall.

Next season, Lathrop will join Smith and Zea as competitors for the University of Illinois.

”We were definitely working together the whole time (in that mile race),” Smith said. “He’d be in front of me and I’d surge back up with him and inch in front and then all of a sudden he’d be back up next to me. I was like, ‘OK, hang on to him,’ and he said he was thinking the same thing. I know we’re going to be able to do a ton more of that next year.”

While in California, the Trojans were able to hang out and have dinner with Thorpe, Lathrop and McHenry junior Jesse Reiser, who was an Illinois-best ninth in the 3,200 invitational flight (8:54.31). Reiser was second at last year’s state cross country meet by one second to O’Fallon senior Patrick Perrier, who was 20th in the 3,200 invitational flight (9:00.45). Conant junior Zach Dale, 13th in the 3,200 invitational flight (8:56.35), was fourth at state, 10 seconds behind Perrier.

”That was pretty nice, just to have people that you know out there, a good group of guys to run with,” Clevenger said.

When they weren’t running, Zea’s father got a nice deal renting a convertible and they drove around the mountains. They even had the chance to visit the Rose Bowl in neighboring Pasadena.

”The Rose Bowl was definitely neat, just because you’re so used to seeing that on TV so to say you were there (was great),” Smith said.

”It was definitely a great experience. When you come to Chicago, it’s all flat and then you have California and you have the mountains. It was breathtaking,” Zea added.

”Friday night and all of Saturday was race day mentality. We came all the way out there for something. We didn’t come out all of those miles not to PR.”

-- by Bill Stone