Bandukwala edges Viger in memorable Magis Miles finish

Winds do not hold off personal bests in this annual Chicago meet

Photo – Aden Bandukwala and Camyn Viger together in the Boys 1 Mile Run (Griffin Forberg Photo)

By Michael Newman

Chicago – It was trying to repeat the feeling of last week’s state meet for Hinsdale Central’s Aden Bandukwala as he readied himself for the final Boys High School Championship 1 Mile Run Saturday at St. Ignatius College Prep on Chicago’s near west side.

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“My season ended for me at the state meet. It’s now being around my teammates, having fun,” Bandukwala said. “I was trying to get myself nervous for this race. I got out my headphones to try to lock in. It was more of having fun tonight. I seem to race better when I am having fun.”

Northerly winds that hit the runners’ faces on the back stretch of the track throughout the races in this meet played a huge part of the strategy in this race. There was no one runner that wanted to push the pace at the start instead picking up the pace as soon as they got out of the wind. Ryan Eddington of Downers Grove North reluctantly took the pace through an opening 66 second lap. Camyn Viger of Plainfield South stayed a stride back as the field was within two seconds of each other.

The second lap of the race seemed to slow down with everyone still together, but it actually did not clocking 64 seconds on the second lap. Viger moved on the outside to take the lead passing the start/finish line in 2:10. Normally you would think that we might be looking at a 4:16/4:18 type of finish. The finishing speed of the runners in this race would dictate differently.

Bandukwala was not going to put himself in the position he was the week before in Charleston where he was in last place entering the final lap. The Hinsdale junior had put himself in a good position on the outside of the middle of the pack to counter moves. When Viger made the move to take the lead, Bandukwala countered having the lead with 600-meters left in the race.

The pace was picking up. The race was on.

Bandukwala made a surge coming out of the curve to establish his lead. He passed in 3:12 running a 62 second third lap. Viger and Eddington this time countered the move staying within a second and in reach of the lead. This race was not over yet.

Eddington started to fall off the lead pace on the backstretch as Bandukwala and Viger battled each other and the wind for the lead. This time coming off the curve with 200-meters left in the race, it was Viger that made a powerful surge to take the lead.

Viger came off the curve into the final 100-meters with momentum moving into the second lane. Bandukwala was on the outside together right on Viger’s shoulder.

Viger leaned at the finish with Bandukwala running through the line. The human eye could not detect any air between the two. The finish photo detected a hundredth second difference between the two juniors.

Bandukwala won the race in 4:10.74 to Viger’s 4:10.75. It was the closest finish in Magis Miles meet history.

“I was scared he (Bandukwala) would come back on me. I passed him. I wasn’t even scared. I knew he would come back,” Viger said. “I knew we would be finishing side-by-side. I was just hoping I could hold him off.”

A camera was set at 1600-meters to record the runners’ times at that distance. Viger had the advantage (4:09.34 – 4:09.42) by eight hundredths of a second. Bandukwala made up nine hundredth of a second in the final nine meters of the race.

“That kick was one of the hardest kicks of my life,” Bandukwala explained. “We were side-by-side for the final 150-meters. We were really pushing. It was just an all sprint in the end. I thought Camyn got me at the line.”

Bandukwala closed with a 58.2 final lap. Viger’s split in that last lap was 57.8 seconds.

Downers Grove North juniors Ryan Eddington (4:14.18) and Caden Weber (4:16.00) finished third and fourth. Alex Das of Oswego East ran 4:16.62 to finish fifth.

It was a Hinsdale Central kind of night with Zack Lowe earlier in the meet winning a section of the High School Open 1 Mile Run. It was also a night where runners were looking for one final race to end their season or high school career.

Sarah Fischer of Hinsdale Central was among the favorites in the Girls High School Championship Mile. Fischer ran a different strategy at the Girls State Meet two weeks ago in her section taking the lead at the beginning but fading at the end. It was different on this night as she stayed in the middle of the pack letting Natalie Quinn of Oak Park-River Forest and Julie Piot of Naperville North push the lead.

It was negative split time for Fischer as she took the lead from Quinn entering the final two laps. The future University of Pennsylvania student/athlete continued to lengthen the lead all the way to the finish. Fischer’s time of 5:04.44 was seven seconds ahead of Quinn (5:11.61) and another second ahead of Sofia Arcuri of Maine South (5:12.59).

“I was smiling before the finish of the race,” Fischer said. “I did not like how the state race ended. I wanted to go out with a positive race to end the season. I am happy the way it worked out.”

Fischer’s teammate Catie McCabe stayed comfortably in second-place throughout the Women’s Elite race trailing University of Wisconsin’s Mya Bunke and Vivian Hacker through the first two laps of the race. McCabe moved past Hacker and St. Ignatius freshman Annika Swan on the third lap of the race.

McCabe was never able to get past Bunke on the final lap as the collegiate runner would not let McCabe by. Bunke went on to run 4:52.33 for the race win. It was not the race that the future Indiana University student/athlete wanted. She still ran a personal 1600-meters season’s best of 4:52.66 on her way to running 4:54.51 to finish second.

“I was hoping to put myself at the front of the pack and to hang on to the girls,” McCabe said. “My hamstrings started to hurt at the end of the race. Each lap into the wind felt worse and worse.”

Swan held on to run 4:56.58 to finish third ahead of Hacker (4:57.94) and Bria Bennis of York (5:01.01).

Daniel Winkelman of Harvest Christian Academy left O’Brien Field last Saturday after the state meet exhausted. He was all-state in three events including anchoring his team to the win in the Class 1A State 4x800m Relay.

He felt fresher in his final high school race before he heads to Tennessee to attend Lipscomb University this fall. His race was in the first section of the Boys High School 1 Mile Run. Winkelman took the lead in the final lap. He ran 62.5 on the final lap to win with a 4:17.60 time. He finished ninth overall in the two sections. His 1600-meter enroute time was a personal best of 4:15.97.

“I was tired after state. More mentally than in my legs. State is such a grind. Seven hours of staying focused. It is tough to bring that into the post season,” Winkelman said after his win. “I was warming up and I was just tired. I just decided tonight to have fun. I threw times out the window and hung out in the back until the end. It was a thankful feeling. It is coming the homestretch and with that crowd. It is the experience that you want.”

Matt Aho of Illinois State University pulled away from the field in the final lap to run 4:16.45 to win the Men’s Elite Mile.

Tommy Nitz of Huntley held of Mohammed Abdullahi of Mather in the final 30-meters to run 4:21.79 to win the Boys High School Open 1 Mile Run Championship. Abdullahi ran 4:22.07 to finish second. Abigail Arseneau of DePaul College Prep led from the start to run 5:39.21 to win the Girls High School Open 1 Mile Run Championship ahead of Scarlett Moriarty of York (5:41.33).

Declan Slavin of Payton Prep moved on the final lap to win the Boys Freshman Mile (4:37.10) with Michael Wilson of St. Charles East (4:40.75) and Nathan Gehrmann of West Aurora (4:37.10) finishing second and third.

Less than a half a second separated the first three finishers in the Boys Middle 1 Mile Run. Karanveer Patil of Palatine Pack ran 4:41.47 to claim the win just ahead of Palatine Pack’s Jack Jennings (4:41.62) and Adam Foley of Lincolnshire (4:41.87). Berrit Shure of Chicago ran 5:19.58 to win the Girls Middle School 1 Mile Run ahead of Klarke Goranson of Manteno (5:21.63).