The Edwardsville cross country program is adjusting to life without Garrett Sweatt.
One of the best cross country and distance runners in the state for the past four years, Sweatt is now a freshman at Stanford University. And while the Tigers don't have anyone as dominant on this year's squad, they are still competitive.
"The goal at the start of the year is always to get both teams to state," Edwardsville coach George Patrylak said. "On the boys side, I think we're a little more on the right track, but the girls still have a chance."
Junior Allie Sweatt, Garrett's sister, is the No. 1 runner on the girls team for the second year in a row.
"She's run some pretty impressive races for us this year," Patrylak said. "Her best time is 18:12 at the Peoria Invitational (Sept. 29 at Detweiller Park, site of the state meet) and that beat her PR (personal record) by 14 seconds. Her ultimate goal is to be under 18 minutes this year and the way she's responding to the workouts, I think she can do that."
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Allie Sweatt is still getting used to her brother's absence.
"I miss him tons and I know he's doing great at Stanford, but it's weird not having him at home and it's weird not having him at practice," Sweatt said. "I look up to him and he's a leader and now I have to take over.
"It's been a great season for me so far and I see myself improving at every meet. Last year I improved, but then I got sick and I don't I think I showed people what I was made of. I ran so much over the summer and I put so much into this - I know it's my time."
Sweatt qualified for state as an individual last season, but due to illness, she didn't compete at 100 percent.
"I'm not too happy with how I ran there, but my whole goal last year was just to make it," Sweatt said. "This year I want to get as high a place as I can. I want to leave high school knowing that I got the girls team to state, but I'd like to do it this year."
Senior Sarah Smith is the clear-cut No. 2 runner for the girls.
"This is Sarah's second year running for us and she's usually 26 to 40 seconds behind Allie," Patrylak said. "She broke 19 minutes for the first time (at Peoria), so we're looking for her and Allie to lead us."
Senior Sarah Smith is the clear-cut No. 2 runner for the girls.
"This is Sarah's second year running for us and she's usually 26 to 40 seconds behind Allie," Patrylak said. "She broke 19 minutes for the first time (at Peoria), so we're looking for her and Allie to lead us."
The boys team, meanwhile, has used only two seniors, Chad Maxwell and Ryker Frohock, in recent meets.
"Chad is usually our No. 2 or No. 3 guy and started off a little behind because of a hip injury at the beginning of the year," Patrylak said. "His hip is better now and he's slowly gaining more confidence. He went 15:19 at Peoria and his PR is 15:08, so we're just looking for a little more progress.
"Ryker is our No. 4 runner and he's running around 15:15, but I think he's ready for a big drop too. He and Chad have been great leaders for our team."
Frohock is enjoying his veteran status.
"Once we got the leadership turned over to us, there was a lot more responsibility, but the rewards benefit us," Frohock said. "We're looking great this year as a team and we have a tight pack.
"Going from my freshman year and being over 18 (minutes) and dropping to the time I have this year, I feel good about myself."
Sophomore Brydon Groves-Scott is the Tigers' No. 1 runner.
"Brydon had a good freshman year and next to Garrett Sweatt, he's probably the hardest worker I've had," Patrylak said. "He had an injury during track season and his season got cut short. He had PRs of 4:48 (in the 1,600-meter run) and 10:16 (in the 3,200) last spring, but this broken both of those marks this season. In the last meet he ran (at Peoria) he was 4:42 at the mile mark and sub-10 at the two-mile mark."
Groves-Scott is happy to be healthy again.
"The whole summer was basically trying to recover from the IT band (knee) injury," Groves-Scott said. "There was a lot of going to therapy and aqua jogging and different styles of cross training, just trying to get back into shape.
"I'm 100 percent now and I'm pretty happy with the way things have gone this season. I'd like to break 15 before the season is over."
Freshman Ethan Townzen is coming off a solid performance at the Madison County Meet, Oct. 2 at Belk Park in Wood River. The Edwardsville boys won the team title.
"We went 1-2-4-5-6 and the only person that broke up our pack was Granite City's No. 1 runner (Greg Rogers)," Patrylak said. "Ethan ran 15:33 on what I thought was a really slow course. Ethan wound up winning it and Brydon was second in 15:49."
Townzen has made a successful transition to high school cross country.
"I think I'm doing pretty good so far and (teammates) have helped me train very well," Townzen said. "It's a big deal for me to be able to come in and contribute as a freshman.
"There's much better competition at this level and the kids are bigger and stronger than me, so I just have to tough it out.I have pretty good endurance and that helps a lot."
"Zain ran cross country last year but had an injury in the second half of the season, but he's also a baseball player," Patrylak said. "I'm amazed with running only half a season that he's doing as well as he is this year.
"Les is working on closing that gap between him and Zan. He ran 16:07 at Peoria and I think he'll be under 16 by the end of the season."
The Southwestern Conference Meet is Friday at Frank Holten State Park in East St. Louis. The Class 3A regional is Oct. 20 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
"For the next couple weeks we want to be in the top two and we want to see how close we can get to O'Fallon," Patrylak said. "For the boys, we've seen a lot of improvement in the second half of the season and we want to see where we measure up with them. O'Fallon has a dominant girls team, so it will be tough to match up to them.
"For the sectional (Oct. 27 at Maxwell Park in Normal), the ultimate goal for the boys is a top-two finish, but we want to be in the top three at least. On the girls side, I would love to say top three, but we want to finish in the top five and make it to state as a team for the first time in five or six years."
