Kilrea, Theis pull away at Foot Locker Midwest 

By Michael Newman for DyeStat

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Kenosha, Wis. – Olivia Theis and Danny Kilrea let patience be their guides in winning the Foot Locker Midwest Regional titles Saturday morning on the Wisconsin-Parkside National course.

Both athletes let others take the lead up the course’s first hill 400 meters into the race and into a strong northwest headwind. When they changed direction, and headed back down hill with the wind at their backs, the time to take the lead was theirs.

Theis, the senior from Lansing Catholic MI, was a little apprehensive going into the race according to her coach Tim Simpson.

“She has not raced since the state meet at the beginning of the month,” he said. “We have done a little track work but most of the work has been done on the roads.”

Theis stayed in a pack of 10 runners as the group went through the first mile in 5:44. She started picking up the pace coming down the hill with only Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West IL and Emily Covert of Minneapolis Washburn MN deciding to stick with Theis.

The trio went through 2 miles in 11:11. Theis decided to go. It was like her state meet race when she ran the final mile in 5:11. This time, it was enough to get her the win as she crossed the line in 17:13.1. Hart edged Covert at the line to get second place by three-tenths (17:17.1 – 17:17.4).

“It was weird coming into this race. I hadn’t raced for a while, but I had some good workouts coming in,” Theis said. “My coach told me to get out easy and not kill myself at the beginning. I felt good for the first half of the race. When I started to pick up the pace, I wasn’t feeling that good. I decided to go with it anyway.”

This is the second trip to San Diego for the University of Michigan signee. She finished 14th to earn All-American honors last year. Sarah Schmitt of Naperville North IL finished fourth and Tierney Wolfgram of Math Science Academy MN finished ninth, joining Hart and Covert as the only runners in the girls race to qualify for both national races. Michigan had five individual qualifiers with Theis, Ericka VanderLende (fifth), Cecilia Stalzer (seventh), Adelyn Ackley (eighth), and Rylee Robinson (10th).

Kilrea has final move in winning the Boys Championship

Danny Kilrea of Lyons Township IL had no plan coming into this race. All he wanted to do was finish in the top 10.

Kilrea led an Illinois-Ohio sweep in the first six places of the boys seeded race. Kilrea responded to a move by Zach Kreft of Buckeye Valley OH just after two miles. Kilrea responded, pulling away in the final 600 meters to win by 12 seconds ahead of Kreft (14:53.3 – 15:05.4).

“This race was a tune-up for me for next week at NXN,” Kilrea said. “The pace did not go out really fast that first mile (4:53). I started to push the second mile because I felt so good. The changing paces today emulated what could happen next week.”

Two other Illinois runners will join Kilrea in running both national races. Clayton Mendez of Whitney Young IL finished third, leading the next eight runners in finishing within three seconds of each other. Dylan Jacobs of Sandburg IL, who won this race last year, finished fifth overall. Wisconsin Division 1 state champion Drew Bosley finished 10th and will also run in both national races. 

Matt Scrape of Pickerington and Chad Johnson of Colonel Crawford were the other two Ohio runners to finish in the top six as they finished fourth and sixth, respectively.