Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / Amboy’s Henry Nichols wins boys race, Princeton’s Ruby Acker takes 4th in girls at Gary Coates Invite

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Amboy’s Henry Nichols wins boys race, Princeton’s Ruby Acker takes 4th in girls at Gary Coates Invite · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Amboy Henry Nichols wins boys race, Princeton's Ruby Acker takes fourth in
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  girls at Gary
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  Coates invite. Written by Kevin Schlum. This article is being read
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  by an automated voice, brought to you by Everlett. Amboy Co-op Sr.
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  Henry Nichols likes Hills on cross-country courses. I sound crazy when I
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  say that, but I like hilly courses, Nichols said.
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  The course at Saturday's Gary Coates Invitational in Princeton doesn't have hills,
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  but it does have a lot of turns which Nichols used to
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  his advantage. Our coach trained us on turns really hard coming here,
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  so I know to surge and use the course to the best
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  of my ability, Nichols said. As a result, Nichols ran to victory
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  for the second year in a row, finishing the three-mile course in
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  1635.26 to beat Low Point Washburn's Caleb Scherer 1641.25
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  and La Salle Perou's Gianni Verrucci, 170315. It feels good, Nichols
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  said. It's my second year in a row. It's just nice winning
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  here in Princeton. I just wanted to have a strong, solid race
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  Through
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  the entire thing. Dixon won the team title with 25 points, followed
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  by the Clippers, 57. LaSalle Peru, 88, placed fourth, Fieldcrest, 123
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  was fifth, and Hall, 198, was 9th. Amboy had two other top
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  fifteen runners in Anthony Linder, Ninth seventeen oh three fifteen, and Tylermar
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  fourteenth eighteen, ten point two seven. I'm really proud of my team,
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  Nichols said. Finishing top three I'm really happy. Through the early part
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  of the race, Nichols was running slightly ahead of Varuki before pulling
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  away later. I decided to start s surging around the turn to
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  finally gain a gap and finish strong because you really need that
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  gap if you're going to finish, Nichol said. Verrucki moved up in
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  place and time over last year at the Gary Coates when he
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  finished fourth in 17, 12.9. I didn't feel the greatest today, Verucki
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  said. I really felt some fatigue because I've been hitting some major
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  workouts, but those will pay off later in the season. I'm gonna
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  feel really good later in the season. Fatigue today will pay off
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  way more in the long run and I can't wait to see
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  those results come in. Verrucki said it was nice to face strong
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  competition like Nichols and Shearer. It's exciting, Veruki said. For the first
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  bit, we all were in a big pack together. It was really
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  competitive. It was really fun. It's always nice to run with a
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  tight group of people that are all in
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  the same speed range. It really ups the stakes and makes it
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  feel a lot more competitive and fun. Along with Gani Verrucci, the
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  Cavaliers had Luca Verrucci, 1803-49, place 11th and Bryce Keckler, 1806-85
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  finished thirteenth. Mendota's Berra Imeri, eighteen forty four point one six was
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  eighteenth. Fieldcrest Gavin Dykman, eighteen fifty-five point eight two, was twentieth, Amboy's
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  Channing Bellows, nineteen oh three forty seven, was twenty-first, and teammate Otto
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  Horner, nineteen then point two one was twenty-third, and Dupe's Edward Rodriguez,
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  nineteen oh four seventy-six was twenty-second. In the girls race. Princeton's Ruby
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  Acker led area runners as she finished fourth and twenty. Twenty point
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  zero nine. I was trying for third, but I didn't have a
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  lot left in the tank I think because it's so hot, said
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  Acker, who finished fifth in twenty one twelve in last year's Gary
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  Coates invite. But I was happy with it. My goal was top
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  five, so I’m happy with my race. Acker's time was about a
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  minute better than she ran in last week's Oregon Open. I tried
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  to hold back a little bit the first mile because I feel
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  like I tend to burn out and then pick it up the
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  second mile and just stay consistent on the third. Acker said about
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  her strategy going into Saturday's race. I think I did end up
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  going too fast the first mile, but I think I placed my
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  last two pretty well, so I was happy with it. The Tigresses
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  finished third with 54 points, behind Mercer County, 27, and Morris fifty.
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  LP was fourth with 108. I'm really proud of the team, Acker
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  said. So I know a couple girls said they had to really
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  push to get the medal, so I'm really proud of them for
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  that. My sister, Leela, doesn't run at practice because she also plays
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  volleyball, so I'm super proud of her for pushing through and getting
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  the medal. Princeton's Alexandra Waka also placed in the top ten, finishing
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  eighth and twenty-one, forty point four four. It's definitely a lot better
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  than what I've been doing. Just getting back in the groove of
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  running and figuring out my pace again, Waka s said about her
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  time. My strategy was just to go out hard and leave nothing
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  left to give. Mendota's London Jones, 2252.6 and Lumen
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  Setchell, 2302 25 placed fourteenth and 15th respectively, while Amboy's Katie
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  Phelps, 23 25.15 was 18th and LP's Mina McFadden, 23 52.25
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  was 22nd.