Something a little different early in the season to help get runners in shape and excited for the season ahead is what Ottawa cross country coach Dan Heaver had in mind when putting together the Ottawa Nautical Mile Relays.

Mission definitely accomplished.

The Princeton girls duo of Payton Frueh and Ruby Acker and the Somonauk/Leland boys two-man team of Landin Stillwell and Cade Hamer captured their respective championships at the tag-team style, four-nautical-mile (equal to roughly four-and-a-half land miles) Ottawa Nautical Mile Relays run Tuesday evening at Catlin Park. Racers teamed with a partner and took turns running four laps on the course just outside of Ottawa, with some enjoying the unique format and others not quite as keen.

“This is our second year coming to this meet, and I’m not a big fan of it,” said Frueh, who along with partner Acker ran the four nautical miles in 29 minutes, 45.41 seconds. “You run and then you stop. You run and then you stop. You sprint all out in the first [leg], and then you have to try to save some energy for your second [leg] too.”

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 18

Boys cross country teams leave the starting line during the Ottawa Nautical Mile Relay on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025 at Catlin Park in Ottawa. (Scott Anderson)

Acker agreed.

“Same thoughts, not a big fan,” Acker said. “Since it’s early in the season, you don’t really have your pacing down all the way, so you go out way too fast, and then halfway through the first mile you go, ‘Shoot, I’m out of gas.’ Then you have to go out and do it all again, and you don’t get that much rest for the second mile. ...

“But I can see why [this format is beneficial for early-season training], helping you ease into it.”

“Yeah, once it’s over, it’s fine,” Frueh added with a laugh.

Stillwell ran the first and third nautical miles, while Hamer ran the even-numbered ones, crossing the finish line 25 minutes, 2.25 seconds after Stillwell first left the starting line.

“I love this format,” Hamer said. “This is my first year doing cross [country]. I was just doing track, the mile is my main race other than the 4x800, so this is a lot like that.”

The race isn’t exactly the top choice of Stillwell, the ace of the Bobcats team. Still, he enjoys the novelty of the Ottawa Nautical Mile Relays.

“It’s not my favorite,” he said. “I like the three-mile more, but I do think this is pretty cool to do once a year, just to do a different thing, a relay. I always enjoy coming here. We did pretty well.”

Ottawa’s Grant Smithmeyer and Connor Medina finished as runners-up in the boys event with a 25:32.06.

“It’s hard,” Smithmeyer said, “because you get to run, but you have a weird, awkward stopping point where you don’t really have enough time to relax, but it’s too much time to stay energized and be ready to run. But it’s fun. It’s unique and enjoyable and something different.”

“The course was difficult,” Medina said, “but at the same time, I kind of liked it. I think that’s what cross country is, and it’s good having a challenge. The break was really rough, but I think it’s something that pushes you, and that’s what makes it fun.”

From there in the boys race, it was Mendota’s Carlos Toribio and Berat Imeri placing third, Ottawa’s Kaleb Nimke and Atlas Brown fourth, Seneca’s Brady Fort and Callum Wright fifth, La Salle-Peru’s Carter Lester and Gianni Verucchi sixth, Princeton’s Augustus Swanson and Allister Swanson seventh, and Seneca’s Liam Baima and James Zydron finishing eighth.

Coming in just under a minute behind girls champions Frueh and Acker were Seneca’s Talia Jenkins and Lily Mueller with a two-person run of 30:38.97.

“I liked it,” Mueller said, “but honestly, it was a lot harder than I was expecting. The course had a lot of ups and downs, but I still liked the relay format.”

The Fighting Irish went two-three in the girls event, with Seneca’s Lila Coleman and Julie Mueller placing third. After them were fourth-place finishers Leah Ferrantino and Georgia Kirkpatrick of Ottawa, fifth-placers Dealni Duggan and Kiely Domyancich of L-P, sixth-place Riley Thrush and Haley Solan of Ottawa, seventh-placers Alexandra Waca and Natalie Meyer of Princeton, and eighth-place Jemma Finley and Yesenia Avila of St. Bede.

Streator’s top finish on the day was the 10th-place girls tandem of Luca Trammel and Giselle Guadarrama.

Hall’s Caracheo and Payan finished the boys race in 13th place, the Red Devils’ top finish.