Bizarre year behind him, state is now Farbiak's goal

Huntley senior cross country runner Todd Farbiak is due for some good luck to head his way.

At last year's Class AA St. Charles North sectional, Farbiak was injured going around one of the turns when he slammed into a post on the course.

"We were going down this skinny path and there were three guys in front of me and by the time I tried to cut out, I had no time to react and I slammed into the post," said Farbiak. "I went from eighth to 40th in about two seconds. I think I finished 17th and missed state by one place. That was disappointing."

Fast forward to this past spring's Class AA state track 800 finals in Charleston. Farbiak had run the second-fastest qualifying time in preliminaries and had his eye on a state medal.

Bad luck alert.

"I had a terrible start and was in last, but I got into second place right before the last 200 meters of the last turn," said Farbiak. "I guy had stumbled into a metal rail and kicked back out in front of me. I went down and my knee smashed into the rail and he had actually kicked me in the face with his spikes (the offender was disqualified). It didn't feel too good at all. I got back up, but I was in last place. I had a bruised knee and some pretty good-sized burns."

But instead of breaking out his violin and playing sympathy music down the halls of Huntley's Harmony Road campus, Farbiak decided to take a different path in terms of dealing with the bizarre situations.

"Both of those things have pushed me even more," he said. "I don't want stuff like that to happen to me anymore. This year I'm going to try and get out with the lead pack and stay out there in an open area so I don't get tripped or bump into anything.

"I want to get to the state meet extremely bad. I have wanted to go since I started cross country. I've been there twice for track already. Cross country is my biggest goal. I've made it to sectionals two years in a row and missed by one place last year. It pushes me even harder to make that one place up. Those weren't the best things to have happen, but it's good they did happen. They've strengthened me to push even harder more than anything."

Huntley coach Bob Walsh admires Farbiak for his roll up the sleeves attitude.

"Todd has a lot of talent. He has speed and endurance and he combines that to be a good runner," said Walsh. "But he is also a very hard worker and is very dedicated to the sport. If he didn't put in the time to work hard, he wouldn't be where he is today."

Case in point is Farbiak's off-season regimen. After the track mishap at state, Farbiak entered into the Midwest Distance Gala at York High School in Elmhurst and also competed in the Foot Locker race in Kenosha, Wis.

"I put in a lot of extra miles," said Farbiak. "My biggest improvement is that I'm staying focused. I'm practicing as hard as I can and I'm not giving up. I'm putting in more miles and coach has been a big help. He pushes me hard and gives us some hard workouts. We push through them and that makes us stronger as runners."

Farbiak used the Midwest Distance Gala to get his track experience out of his mind.

"That's part of the reason I did the Midwest Distance Gala," said Farbiak. "I wanted to do better. I didn't feel like I ended my season like I wanted to at state."

At the same time, Farbiak was able to get his name out in the running community by participating in those high-profile events.

"Those races are pretty good to get your name around if you do good," said Farbiak, who played football his freshman year at Huntley. "I didn't do too good at Foot Locker and at the Midwest Distance Gala that was a couple of weeks after track. I took two weeks off and came in there untrained. But it was good to be in those races."

Running isn't the only thing Farbiak excels in however. He maintains a 3.5 grade-point average at Huntley and would like to study law enforcement in college. He said he has talked to Western Illinois University about potential running prospects.

Farbiak, who works at a car dealership in Woodstock in his spare time, would like to take a different route as a policeman.

"I would like to even be in the K-9 unit," said Farbiak, whose family has a 3-year-old Jack Russell Terrier named Harley. "I love dogs. I would love to train dogs to do that kind of police work.

Farbiak also enjoys a variety of different outdoor activities. He was once a skateboarder but had to make a choice between his board and running when he was younger.

"I hurt myself pretty bad skateboarding once. I rolled my ankle and couldn't run for two weeks," said Farbiak, who is excited about Huntley's team prospects this year. "I had to choose one or the other. I said to myself if I get hurt skateboarding again I could put myself out of running. I chose running. I love to run."

And nothing would make Farbiak happier to be able to run in Peoria in November.

"Last year was disappointing, but I got over it," said Farbiak. "I've been practicing hard. I know what I can do."

As a team, Huntley will compete in a Fox Valley Conference that is loaded with talent. Defending champion Cary-Grove and Prairie Ridge both endured big graduation losses, while Crystal Lake South returns a large chunk of runners from its sectional qualifying team. Dundee-Crown is young, but features veteran Connor Kustief at the top. Jacobs graduated state champion Evan Jager (now running at Wisconsin).

"We're pretty excited," said South coach Rich Eschman, who has 6 of his top 7 guys back. "Cary-Grove is real deep and will be tough and McHenry will be there. I think anyone of us three can win it and you can never rule out (Crystal Lake) Central."

Elgin coach John Devine is excited about his group, which features senior Eric DeNeui.

"For the first time in a long time we're seeing four to five guys running in a pack," said Devine, whose team was sixth in the tough Upstate Eight last year. "And Eric's senior leadership will be significant for this team as well."

Burlington Central finished second in the Big Northern Conference last year and has five key runners from last year's team returning, headlined by senior Ryan Phebus, who was a sectional qualifier as a junior.

Hampshire and Westminster Christian both qualified for Class A sectionals last year. St. Edward returns two sectional qualifiers in Jim Ziesk and Nick Phillips.