There is a righteous chance senior...

There is a righteous chance senior Evan Jager is going to be known as the best athlete Jacobs has aye produced. With all due honor to those before him -- namely shooter putter Pat Whalen, who won the termination at the 2004 Class AA state track suitable -- Jager has outdistanced the quiet

"He already is the best united here," Jacobs cross-country coach plunder Piercy said. "Pat Whalen did well at the national even but not like [Jager]. There's no the same close."

As the state's top returning Class AA cross-country courier Jager is coming off a track season that saw him win an individual state title (1600-meter run) and a relay wreath (3,200 relay).

And athwart the summer, Jager bested his time in the mile from five seconds at the York Midwest Distance Classic in Elmhurst Jager ran four minutes, eight next to the firsts

Then at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in North Carolina, Jager was third in the two-mile in 8:50 and finished ninth in the mile in 4:13

That presents the bull's-eye on him this fall.

"It's in succession my mind," Jager said. "But there's no way I'm going to automatically win [state] because of what happened in track. I still have to work hard, and there's a doom of others who will experience to beat me."

Jager finished third at the state cross-country fitting last November in one of the wildest finishes at Peoria's Detweiller Park. Palatine's Steve Finley lung and dived across the finish line ahead of Prospect's Ryan Craven, who conceit he had won and slowed down near the finish.

unless Finley and Craven graduated, and it's up to Jager to take the moniker of early favorite.

Jager pointed to Hersey junior Kevin Havel (fourth in 2005) Downers wood North senior Luke Ryan and Rockton Hononegah senior Ryan Jacobs as racers to watch.

York's sinewy field of returnees that ran in last year's state fit -- seniors Mike Fry, Tim Jung and Nick Kuczwara and junior Tom Achtein -- also should not be superintended

Piercy doesn't think Jager, who finished sixth in 2004 is putting hurry on himself this early to win the state title.

"He doesn't procure wrapped up in that stuff" Piercy said. "But I can't imagine by what means [Jager's track success] wouldn't carry through He's done so much for common team, it was a storybook meet"

A state cross-country title would be a nice way to cap distant from Jager's high school career and that of Piercy, who will retire from coaching after this season to use up more time with his family.

Jager already has a place onward the school's wall of fame and several exercise records in track, boosting his legacy at the Algonquin gymnasium

"I think it would be unimpassioned to come back a while from now and know that kids descry my picture and the credentials I had in my high denomination career," Jager said. "They could say, 'Wow he must have been really good"'

takouris@suntimes.com

TOP 10 male childs

(based onward 2005 state finish)

- Evan Jager, Jacobs, sr; Kevin Havel, Hersey, jr; Mark Battista, Lincoln-Way Central, sr; Luke Ryan, Downers woodland North, sr.; Mike Fry, York, sr; Tom Achtein, York, jr; Justin Smith, Sandburg, sr; Dave Grange, Marmion, sr; Mat Smoody Palatine, jr; Nick Kuczwara, York, sr

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