The infamous Pat Savage Cross Country meet was the 51st annual meet hosted by West on Saturday, Oct. 1. The meet has a total of six races, with each race having approximately 300 runners, so in total almost 2000 runners competing Saturday. The annual meet honors Pat Savage, an old cross country coach.

“It’s fun because Pat Savage returns to the meet…he has a lot of history with this meet,” boys coach Vachee Loughran said. Loughran has been coaching the boys’ cross country team for many years and the Wolves have continued to do well under his guidance. “There’s a strong connection to the Pat Savage coaching legacy here.”

Loughran appreciates being a coach at West knowing Savage also coached here as well, he is happily continuing the legacy. Loughran is not the only person in the cross country who feels that way. “Pat Savage is a special meet because Pat Savage recently spoke to us and it inspired me because he was a really good coach and I want to help further that legacy of his legendary coaching,” senior Sam Lee said. As it was Lee’s last Pat Savage invitational, it was bittersweet for him. The meet is beloved by all of Niles West’s cross-country athletes because of its large and iconic nature. 

“Pat Savage is a very exciting meet for the boys and girls cross country teams…I love the energy at Pat Savage, there’s always hype around the meet, even before the season starts…This is definitely a meet that I will miss after the season ends,” senior Adriana Calalang said. As captain of the girl’s cross country team, Calalang sees the significance of a large meet like Pat Savage. Calalang has been running cross country with Niles West since her freshman year and has seen huge improvements in her times throughout her years. 

“When you’re running, there’s a lot of people and they can challenge you during the race. If you’re slower and you want to pace with someone else who is in front of you from a different school, that’s usually a good fit,” senior Sarah Schiop said. Schiop recalls her favorite memory from a Pat Savage meet, a runner losing their shoe in the prairie behind the school because of mud. Just like that one memory, cross-country runners have many fond memories of the Pat Savage invites over the years. 

The invite was a success overall for all teams. Niles West girls varsity took 20th place out of 37 teams and boys varsity took 24th place overall out of 35 teams. Girls’ junior varsity took 12th place and sophomore boys took 4th place out of 16 teams.

The meet ended with a lot of fun, in the field house where all of the teams settled and waited for the meet, there was a DJ playing music. After the last race was done, all the teams forgot about their rivalries and had a dance battle in the field house, a good way to end the Pat Savage invitational, a meet to remember.

The cross-country teams’ last race is on Saturday, October 15th at Glenbrook North.