By Mike Clark
Samuel Assefa used to be a soccer player.
Lane coaches talked him into coming out for track, and then for cross country last fall. He’s been a quick study.
On Oct. 18, Assefa ran the second fastest time in Public League Championships history in leading Lane to a dominant city title at Washington Park.
Assefa finished in 14 minutes, 47.5 seconds to finish almost a half minute ahead of the runner-up, Young’s Amilo Rajandram (15:19.9).
The muggy conditions didn’t bother Assefa, whose time was bettered only by Young’s Clayton Mendez with a 14:42 in 2015.
“My goal is no matter what conditions, what environment, to fight to win,” Assefa said. “Amilo, (the) second guy, I was pretty nervous with him. But I was able to break him as soon as, honestly, the mile and a half. I just took the race after that and gave it my all.”
Assefa has been trending upward, according to Lane coach Kris Roof.
“It’s all about the confidence he discovered,” Roof said. “The last three races, starting at the Richard Spring (Invitational on Sept. 20), he’s taken it to a whole other level.”
Assefa passed the mile mark in 4:45, impressive for a flat course that nonetheless runs slower when the grass hasn’t been cut lately — as was the case for the city meet.
“I knew I was gonna hurt,” Assefa said. “Went out really quickly, but that was my whole mentality. … If I want to win, I’ve got to break every person who went with me. That’s what I did and it was just (my mindset) to battle and hang on, even if I didn’t run that last mile as quick as I wanted.”
Lane, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A by Milesplit Heartland, was missing usual No. 3 runner Gary Angelo to injury but still put five in the top 10 to win with 28 points. No. 18 Young edged No. 20 Mather 68-69 for second, followed by defending champ Payton (88) and Jones (125).
Also scoring for the Champions were Quinn Anderson (third, 15:20.3), Alexander Fitzpatrick (sixth, 15:40.6), Hugo Ayala (eighth, 15:50.8) and Tristan Wong (10th, 15:53.2).
Now Lane turns its attention to the state series.
“We want a state trophy,” Roof said. “We’ve been kind of wanting that all season.”
Winning the Richard Spring Invite on the state course at Detweiller Park in Peoria was a step in the right direction.
Lane has won five state trophies, the last a third in 1964 — a year after the Champions won their only state title.
“If we’re at full health, we definitely have a shot at it,” Roof said.
Milo Flores (ninth, 15:52.3) joined Rajandram in the top 10 for Young.
Defending champ Tra’Monti Williams of Payton finished fourth in 15:34.6, while Mather’s Abdullah Hussein was fifth in 15:37.0 and Lake View’s Luis Coss took seventh at 15:45.9.
IHSA Regional Update: Lane hosted its own regional meet and took home a regional title, accumulating 28 points. Assefa (14:43.8), Anderson (14:52) and Fitzpatrick (15:14.10) led the way with first-, second- and fourth-place finishes. Payton finished third as a team and was led by Williams (15:06.10) and Slavin (15:22.90), who finished third and fifth, respectively.
Young finished fourth in the Lyons Regional, with Rajandram and Flores finishing fourth and 10th, respectively.
Photos by Keyshawn Aytch/OSA
