No Pain, No Gain! Jack Becker Wins Crystal Lake South Invitational

Courtesy of the Northwest Herald: Jack Becker

It was a lucky day for Crystal Lake South senior Jack Becker, who ran competitively at the Veteran Acres cross country meet. It was the first time Becker ran competitively again since last October, when he had the unfortunate event of collapsing on the last few minutes of finishing and leading the race at the Fox Valley Conference. After that terrible event, Becker had goals of returning this season with hopes of not only improving his time, but also attempting to unseat the throne of Kaneland’s Matt Richtman from the ranking IHSA class of 2A. Richtman is a top returning runner, giving many runners a literal run for their money and an exciting challenge.

Perhaps the famous saying from The Tortoise and The Hare, “slow and steady wins the race,” isn’t an option for these two in challenging meets. The top two runners gave it their all early on in the race, leading many of their teammates and opponents in far distance. But as the final three-quarters of mile were left, it wasn’t long that Becker went out hard to win 1st place with an impressive lead time of 16:06.4 to Richtman’s 16:19.9, giving him 2nd place. While it was a huge upset for Richtman, it was a victory of a lifetime for Becker completing his goal of the year. Due to his outstanding performance, Becker has moved from 3A to 2A this year, striving for 1A and better time performance.

“I knew Richtman is going to be one of the top guys I have to go against this year in 2A,” said Becker. “I wanted to have him set pace because he doesn’t know the course as well. I could hang back and see how the hills hurt him in the second mile and make my move in the last three-quarters. Going up the hills, I’ve gotten used to the ending of the race. It’s really good to come out here against a really good guy like Matt Richtman and get a win here.” Becker says it’s not time for celebration, but rather realizing that the real game has only just began.