PEORIA - As a math teacher, Mike Lambdin is a whiz with numbers. But Saturday, Lambdin got his figures crossed, creating several minutes of anxiety following the completion of the IHSA Class AA Boys State Cross Country Meet. Lambdin, the head coach for Sycamore High School, had analyzed the teams in the field, figuring the Spartans' main competition would come from one of the top-ranked schools, which included Lansing Illiana Christian. With Sycamore ranked No. 1 by Illinoispreptoptimes.com, Lambdin tried tracking some of the competition to compute the Class AA winner. Lambdin had a momentary lapse in counting Illiana Christian's runners at the finish line. “I had seen a runner from one of the top schools (Illiana Christian) finish near our fifth runner, Nick Fagan," Lambdin said. “That made me fearful that was their fifth runner. I didn't know there were two more (Illiana Christian) runners behind him." Lambdin's miscalculation led to a tenuous waiting period for Sycamore's coaches, players and supporters. “That would be because of my paranoid thoughts," Lambdin said. Nearly 30 minutes later after the race, Lambdin received word that Sycamore had captured the Class AA state title by a whopping 116 points. Sycamore finished with 73 points to cruise to the school's second-ever state championship. The Sycamore girls bowling team won a state title in 2003. Chatham Glenwood placed second with 189 points and Belvidere North notched third (193 points). For a change, Lambdin didn't mind coming up with the wrong formula. “This is everything I thought it would be," Lambdin said. “It's been a long time and a lot of hard work by the boys. Today was the culmination of that effort." The state championship proved to the ideal icebreaker for the normally stoic Lambdin. Completing his 11th season, Lambdin showcased a radiant smile for countless trophy pictures. “This has brought a lot of excitement for our program," Lambdin said. “I heard whispers from the younger boys on the team to continue this. Each boy had their individual goals and they were trying to get them. We had a really good team race." The Spartans had three runners earn all-state honors, with Derek Campbell (7th/15:00), Peter Grimson (11th/15:14) and Stefan Hueber (23rd/15:26) all taking the main stage to be acknowledged by the throng of fans. Junior Matthew Gilmer fell one second shy of becoming the fourth Spartan to make all-state, finishing in 26th place with a time of 15:29. “I don't think I ran my best race," Gilmer said. “As a team, I thought we did outstanding. I just went out too fast and that made me look tired the whole race." Campbell entered the meet with a strong chance to win the individual race. Bartonville Limestone's Nick Holmes set the pace with a strong start, sailing to an easy victory in a time of 14:21. “He's a very strong runner and I have all the respect in the world for him," Campbell said of Holmes. “I just didn't have my best race. It had a lot to do with the atmosphere at the state meet. I definitely felt I could've had a better race. My second mile could've been a lot better. I really pushed my third mile but so did everybody else." Grimson missed getting a top 10 finish by four seconds, but enjoyed taking the state title as a consolation prize. “I wish I could've gotten under 15 minutes, but I'm satisfied," Grimson said. “It's great to win the state title. I thought everybody pulled together to run a great race. We looked pretty good. We had some good times. We knew this was the year to get some hardware." Fagan, a co-captain with Campbell, ran a time of 15:52 to place 49th, two spots behind Illiana Christian's Caleb Schmal, who placed 47th with a 15:51. Keaton Leach claimed 65th place with a time of 16:02 and Tim Roloff clocked a 16:28 for 96th place. As the last person to leave the interview and picture area, Fagan clutched the state title trophy with pride. Last year, the Spartans finished in 19th place in their first venture to state. As one of Sycamore's five seniors along with Campbell, Grimson, Hueber and Roloff, Fagan savored winning a state title in his final season. “This feels so good," he said. “It's indescribable. This is the best feeling I've had. We had some great guys accomplish an amazing thing. I ran my fastest time ever. We had six other guys do the best they could." Bobby Narang can be reached at bnarang@daily-chronicle.com.