State 800 champ, 1,600 runner-up ready to keep Reagan Run tradition going

A pair of runners who have made quite the name for themselves running for Dixon High School will have one more chance to run in Dixon before heading off to college.

Brock Drengenberg, just two weeks removed from winning the title at the Class 2A state track and field meet in Charleston in the 800, will be on the streets of Dixon this weekend for the Reagan Run.

Drengenberg’s first Reagan Run was in 2007, the first run through Dixon in what would become an annual tradition for him.

“It’s always been a tradition in our running group,” Drengenberg said. “Every year our Dixon Distance Running Club, everyone would do it. It’s always just a really fun race to do.”

For Drengenberg, it can also serve as one last chance before college to run alongside the Dukes teammate who has been running neck-and-neck with him for years, Cadyn Grafton.

”It’s really surreal for both of us to be able to do it again, just because we’ve been literally running together since second or third grade,” Grafton said. “We used to run on the bike path together before soccer practice before we were able to do cross country.”

Grafton first ran the race in 2012, and has been in every Reagan Run since.

”It’s something that I look forward to every single year,” Grafton said. “I’d definitely say that the Dixon Distance community and club really pushes it and always tried to get all the little kids as well as all the high schoolers to compete. It’s the one summer race that we have.”

A typical cross country or track season would see the two side-by-side in practice. Since track season ended, they have run together a half-dozen times in the past two weeks.

“In years past, Cadyn has run more in the summer than I have, so in that scenario, he’ll race and I’ll just do a tempo run,” Drengenberg said. “I think this year we’re in about the same shape, so we’ll probably be running it mostly together.”

Drengenberg and Grafton running together is something which happened a lot when they were in Dukes uniforms, either in track or cross country. In track at last month’s Rochelle Sectional, the two finished first and second in the 1,600, with just two seconds between them. During cross country season in the fall, the two ran side-by-side during the Big Northern Conference meet, separated at the finish line by two-tenths of a second.

In 2019, both were part of the Dukes’ state championship 4x800 relay alongside then-seniors Collin Grady and Andrew Lohse. Drengenberg added another state title last month, winning the 800. Grafton was the runner-up in the 1,600.

“I would say it’s made both of us more successful than we would have been, having that other person right there to push us,” Grafton said. “I think our potential definitely reached its limit because we had each other. I definitely wouldn’t be the runner I am without him.”

That 2021 state meet was held weeks later than normal. In a normal spring, state track would be in late May, leaving anyone gearing up for the Reagan Run five weeks to rest and then prepare. This year’s altered high school schedule leaves runners who were in Charleston, like Drengenberg and Grafton, just over two weeks.

Grafton said he doesn’t have the base mileage down that he normally would have, but because he was in peak shape for the track season, he feels he should still be looking good for the run.

“I took a week off after track,” Drengenberg said. “So I definitely haven’t been training as much as I usually would be leading up to the Reagan Run, so that might change how the race turns out. That definitely makes a considerable difference.”

Between the lack of time to prepare and the changes to the course, Drengenberg said he doesn’t have a time he’s targeting. The course, instead of starting in front of Ronald Reagan’s boyhood home, will start this year in Lowell Park.

“It’s on the bike path, so I’ve run that many times,” Drengenberg said. “I haven’t looked at the start or finish line yet, but I know the general outline of it.

“It’s basically completely flat and a little downhill, so it should be a lot faster than the old course. Also it should be mostly in the shade, which should help in the heat of the middle of summer.”

He will be off in the fall to run cross country and track at the Colorado School of Mines. Grafton will head to Illinois, hoping to walk on with the Illini cross country team, but planning to run with the club team if he doesn’t make the roster.

Both plan to keep the tradition of running in Dixon alive. Part of that annual tradition of the Reagan Run is seeing some of the runners of the past coming back to town. Drengenberg and Grafton plan to be part of that group runners returning to Dixon in 2022 and beyond.