Above photo: New Trier Township’s Girls teams after they easily won the Lake Park Sectional race on Saturday (Mike Newman Photo)

 

Rainy day Saturday creates many unexpected results in this classification

 

By Michael Newman

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The weather won in a way at Saturday’s five 3A sectional sites. It was one of the worst weather days that I have seen in Illinois cross country meets as heavy rains and temperatures in the mid 40’s had its control on the runners and fans at these meets.

 

The weather did play a part in some of the surprises that took place in this meet. Mid Suburban League Champion Prospect failed to qualify out of the Schaumburg Sectional finishing sixth overall. At the Lake Park Sectional in the afternoon, one of the top 3A runners in the state, Oak Park-River Forest’s Irwin Loud, succumbed to dehydration and exhaustion collapsing in the final 300 meters of the race. His team finished sixth overall.

 

There were other teams that overcame the elements to put in some great performances. Naperville North showed why they are the top ranked Girls team in 3A easily winning the West Aurora Sectional and setting themselves up as the clear favorite at next week’s state meet. There are a number of teams behind them that could be in the hunt for a trophy including a surprising New Trier squad that dominated in winning the Lake Park Sectional.

 

Sandburg overcame a severely swollen Legge Creek at the Hinsdale Central Sectional. The top ranked team in 3A won ahead of top 5 ranked Lyons Township and Hinsdale Central. Waiting for them next week will be York who placed 4 runners in the top 10 behind Charlie Kern Jr.’s individual win to take the team championship at Lake Park. Neuqua Valley will also be there easily winning at West Aurora placing 5 runners in the top 10 in the process.

 

Here is a look at each of the 3A sectional meets that took place on Saturday.

 

 

West Aurora Sectional

 

When it is raining sideways like it was at this sectional, it made both Girls and Boys races unpredictable. Don’t tell that to Naperville North and Neuqua Valley. The two top ranked teams in this sectional did what they needed to do in winning this sectional championship. Despite the horrid conditions that every runner had to go through, these two schools made it look easy.

 

3A top ranked Naperville North controlled the race from the halfway point all the way to the finish. The Huskies placed 3 runners in the top 7 and 6 runners in the top 17 to win the sectional championships with 40 points.

 

“We did what we needed to do today and qualified,” Coach Dan Iverson said. “We had fun running in the rain. It showed in our performances today. We still have work to do for next week.”

 

3A Individual race favorite Judy Pendergast led Naperville North with the individual win. It was a bumpy ride for her especially during the first mile. Just after the 880 on the first turn of the course, Pendergast stumbled to the ground. She got up immediately and shot right back to the front. It was not one move that she made to separate herself from the pack. It was just a gradual acceleration that build up a 20 second gap on McKenzie Altmayer (Geneva HS) just after the 1.5 mile point. Pendergast crossed the line in a course record 16:50. Altmayer was second 28 seconds behind (17:18). There was a gap of almost 20 seconds before Naperville North’s Sarah Schmitt crossed in third.

 

The first three places were pretty much determined in the team standings. Batavia scored 80 points to place second ahead of Upstate Eight Conference Rival Geneva was third with 120 points. 4 teams had to wait for over 90 minutes until a video review was done after the Boys race. Neuqua Valley finished fourth with 144 points. The Wildcats were without their #1 runner Caitlin Horn who broke her arm during a training run on Thursday. Neuqua Valley responded with their top three led by 18^th place Sofia Medina running within 12 seconds of each other.

 

Oswego and Metea Valley were both one point behind Neuqua Valley tied for fifth. Both teams will head to Peoria next weekend. Isabelle Christiansen led the Panthers with a 6^th place finish. It was their 2-5 split of only 27 seconds that pushed them to the state meet. Metea Valley received a top ten finish by Nicki Cast to boost them into the fifth place tie. Plainfield North was the odd team out placing seventh with 153 points and only 8 behind the final qualifying spots. The Tigers will have 3 individual qualifiers advancing to Peoria with Rachael Lau (9^th), Juliana Stogsdill (10^th), and Megan Patton (22^nd).

 

Neuqua Valley dominated the Boys race heading to Peoria with great momentum after their race on Saturday. The Wildcats placed their 5 scorers in the top 10 for a convincing win of only 26 points. Aidan Livingston, Scott Anderson, and Jake McEneaney took 2^nd through 4^th with only 4 seconds separating the trio. The big news for Coach Paul Vandersteen was the return of Scott Anderson. The junior ran his first race since early September and came out with a strong run.

 

“Scott reminds me of one of our former assistant coaches Jim Dickerson (now coach at Hinsdale South) who was a star runner at North Central College. It did not take Jim long to get back into shape after an injury,” Vandersteen said afterwards. Scott worked to get back into shape both in the pool and on the bike. Having him back is a big plus.”

 

By the time the Boys ran their race, the course was waterlogged with almost an inch of rain absorbed on the course with nowhere to go. Keagan Smith (Huntley HS) with a slight lead on the Neuqua Valley trio as they went through two quick turns at the 1.5 mile point. All of a sudden, Smith lost his balance and fell. He got up and did not panic trying to catch up right away. He was with the front pack at 2 miles. He slowly moved away in the final 400 for the win (15:29) 2 seconds ahead of Livingston.

 

The harsh reality of the IHSA sectional races is that you have no room for slipups and there is always room for surprises for the teams waiting for this moment. That was something that showed in this sectional. Plainfield North has come on strong with the return of their #1 runner Jack Sebok at their conference meet. Led by Sebok’s 6^th place finish, the Tigers took the second place spot with 89 points with a 32 second split on their top five runners. For St. Charles East, it was just a matter of making it through this race. The Saints did with a 35 second split on their top seven led by the 13^th place finish by Mark Sciurba. The team scored 125 points to place third. Marmion Academy finished fourth with 132 points led by the 9, 11, and 12 place finish of Andrew Burroughs, Charlie Zimmer, and Michael Ronzone. The final qualifying spot had the same drama as the Girls race did. Naperville Central relied on a 29 second split led by the 18^th place finish of John Manos. Their 169 point total was good for fifth just one point ahead of Huntley. The Red Raiders qualified 3 individuals with Smith, Seth Conroy (5^th), and Mike Grochoolski (16^th).

 

 

Lake Park Sectional

 

There are times when you are watching a race and you say “Oh no”. That was a perfect description for what happened during the Boys race at this sectional. Oak Park-River Forest’s Irwin Loud was determined not to let what happened to him the week ago at regionals not happen in this race. He was not going to run tactical but to push the pace from the gun. The junior did just that pushing through the first mile in 4:45. The only runners that were close to him were the York pair of Charlie Kern Jr. and Max Denning.

 

Loud continued to push the pace on the soggy grounds of the Lake Park East campus. Kern was about 8 seconds back just biding his time. Loud’s move did break Denning as he fell back into the chase pack. Loud went through the second mile in 9:45 with Kern still behind. Just with ¾ of a mile to go, Kern made his move making up the ground with a seamlessly effortless stride. On the back stretch closes to the school, Kern passed Loud a built up a lead of 50 meters. It was a pace that Loud could not hold onto. Kern entered the stadium with a huge lead. Fans that were tolerating the cold and the rain were watching the rest of the runners approaching the stadium outside of the fence. Runners were passing Loud as his stride was getting smaller and smaller. Every step was an effort as he made his turn onto the track with 300 meters to go. He took 4 steps and collapsed to the ground completely sapped with energy. Medical personnel attended to him as the rest of the race passed him by.

 

“It was dehydration and exhaustion.  He was pushing himself so hard and it caught up to him around the 2 mile mark.  He was fighting it but by the time he made it to the track it was too much,” said his coach Chris Baldwin. “He's going to be ok, it was just a bad day to have something like this pop up.”

 

What made it worse was that Oak Park-River Forest finished 6^th in the team competition failing to qualify for state as a team. Two of the Huskies qualified (Kimathi Johnson and Henry Harper). Loud did not. It ends his regular season not getting the chance to race just one more week. It is just the “oh-no” moment that you hate to see especially with such a humble kid.

 

Kern crossed the line in 14:57. He was 21 seconds ahead of Josh Derrick (New Trier HS, Winnetka). Kern led the Dukes placing 4 runners in the top 10 scoring a sectional winning 45 points. The split on 5 for York was 49 seconds with a 23 second split on their 2 to 5 runners. Whitney Young made a dream come true qualifying for the first time for the Boys program in placing second. There was a little mishap entering the track as teammates Sam Wischnewsky clipped Clayton Mendez’s leg. Wischnewsky finished 3^rd overall with Mendez and a 7^th place finish. Mendez left the track on his way to the hospital as he required stitches for the gash on his leg.

 

New Trier finished 3^rd paced by top 5 finishes by Derrick and Warren Blood (5^th). Maine South finished 4^th running a 36 second split off of Ralph Patejunas’ 18^th place finish. Then it was Wheaton North who took the final spot with 167 points.

 

It was New Trier’s pack that ruled the Girls race that took place before the Boys race. The Trevians placed 6 runners in the first 15 to score 50 points ahead of higher ranked Wheaton-Warrenville South and Glenbard West. It was a close race through the first 2 miles as New Trier had a slight edge on both Glenbard West and Wheaton-Warrenville South. New Trier Coach John Burnside stated afterwards that the plan for the race was to make a surge with 800 to go. They did that clinching the race. Grace Fagan finished 6^th to lead 3 New Trier runners in the first 10 followed by Caroline Fix (9^th) and Caroline Truckenbrod (10^th).

 

Wheaton-Warrenville South ran a better race than their regional race the week before led by top 5 finishes by Sara Atkins (2^nd) and Allison McGrath (5^th). The Tigers ran a 63 second on their top five to score 75 points. They could be in contention for a trophy next Saturday. Lindsey Payne led Glenbard West winning the individual race. Payne had the lead after the first 800 meters and never looked back. The sophomore crossed the line in 16:58 finishing 42 seconds ahead of Atkins. Glenbard also received a 7^th place finish by Grace Rogers.

 

Just as New Trier moved in the final mile of the race, so did Maine South. The Hawks did not have a runner in the top 10 but did run an 11 second split on their top 5 led by Madeline Dingle’s 17^th place finish. Maine South scored 115 points to place 4^th. York finished 5^th with 200 points edging Loyola Academy for the final qualifying spot by 8 points. York was led by the 3^rd place finish by Elizabeth Hagstrom.

 

Schaumburg Sectional

 

Surprises were abound in this sectional meet more so in the Girls race. 3 North Suburban Conference teams made statements qualifying for the state meet. Lake Forest had its pack in action once again placing their top 4 in the first 20. It was enough to win the sectional championship with 70 points. Sophomore Brett Chody stepped up as the #1 runner for the team finishing 5^th overall. Teammate Lauren Garriques was one second and one place behind Chody.

 

“It has to start with Brett Chody.  In a repeat of the 2014 State Meet where she had the race of the season when we needed it most, Brett pulled it off again.  Emma (Milburn) was still dealing with some illness and Brett jumped up into the top ten early on and just kept pecking away throughout the race.  Her best performance of the season by far,” said Lake Forest Coach Steve Clegg. “Along with Brett was a furious finish by Lauren Garriques.  Lauren was in the high teens for much of the race, and stormed up to 6th in the last ½ mile. All of the girls got out to good spots early in the race and held their position (or moved up) in the last mile.  I am super proud of them and we are really looking forward to next week - I think we still have room for improvement that we can make as a team.”

 

One of the bigger surprises in this race was the second place finish of Grant Community. Led by the 7-8 finish by Madison Romig and Danielle Osmon, Grant scored 100 points to secure the position by one point ahead of Barrington. The Fillies once again got a great race from Sophomore Jocelyn Long who finished third overall. Sophie Hoeltgren, who finished 14^th overall, led the Barrington 2-5 pack that ran within 50 seconds of each other.

 

NSC team Stevenson was the other surprise in the field placing fourth with 113 points. Even though that Isabelle Sparreo had an off race, she still led the team by finishing 9^th overall. Teammate Jessica Phillip was next to follow placing 13^th. The Patriots had an overall split of 76 seconds. Palatine was the final team in (115 points) finishing 2 points behind Stevenson. The team was still without top 5 runner Sabina Yosif. The Lady Pirates responded with a strong pack up front. Sam Lechowicz and Kelly O’Brien came in 10^th and 11^th overall just ahead of teammate Anna Buckstaff’s 19^th place finish.

 

Brooke Wilson (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) let Caitlin Shepard (Lake Zurich HS) do most of the work leading the race the first 2 miles. Wilson started pushing the final mile only to have Shepard right by her side. Wilson pulled away in the final 400 meters to win (17:49) by 7 seconds.

 

Mid Suburban League champion Prospect failed to advance to the state meet finishing 6^th overall despite the win by Wilson. Schaumburg, who was also ranked and finished 3 points behind Prospect at last week’s regional meet, had to settle for 7^th with Madison Marasco qualifying individually in 4^th place.

 

The course was treacherous by the time the Boys ran. It showed with a few spills early in the race including that of Buffalo Grove’s #2 runner Tom Cleary. With the rain coming down, this race was not going to be a fast one. Matt Pereira (Lake Zurich HS) waited until the final 400 of the race to make his move pulling away from Kevin Salvano (Buffalo Grove HS) to win by 3 seconds. Pereira crossed the line in 15:40. Salvano crossed in 15:43 along with Warren Township’s Dustin Macuiba who finished third.

 

Lake Zurich made their presence known up front taking three of the first five places to edge Prospect 82-85. The Bears ran a similar split to what they have the last couple of weeks with 69 seconds separating their top 5. It was redemption for Prospect in their second place finish. The Knights left with their heads down last year finishing 14^th place finish. Prospect did what they have done all season running a 21 second split led by the 9^th place finish by Karson LeComte. It was a split that none of the other teams (besides Lake Zurich) had an answer to,

 

Buffalo Grove advanced to the state meet placing third (127 points) despite the fact that Cleary was the team’s 4^th runner. Mitchell Guittar stepped up for the Bison as the team’s 2^nd runner behind Salvano with a 13^th place finish. Hoffman Estates stuck to their pack running and it paid off in this race. The Hawks, led by the 16^th place finish by Shiv Patel, scored 167 points to place 4^th. The split for Hoffman Estates in this meet was only 26 seconds. McHenry was the final team in scoring 198 points paced by the 7^th place finish of Michael Hahndorf and the 11^th place finish of Tyler Lay.

 

Hinsdale Central Sectional

 

The rain hit this course perhaps the hardest in all of the 3A meets as runners had to navigate a swollen Legge Creek. It was just an adventure to make it through. It did not seem to bother host Hinsdale Central in the Girls race. The Red Devils took 3 of the first 4 places and 4 in the first 12 to win the sectional title with 65 points. Hinsdale has seen a resurgence to power in the last two weeks with the addition of one of their top runners Annie Zaher to their lineup after missing most of the season with an injury. The senior stayed with teammate Reilly Revord for most of the race. Revord pulled away to win in 18:01. Zaher finished 2^nd overall 7 seconds back. Sarah Barcelona (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange) broke up the Hinsdale pack running 18:12 to finish third. Grace McCabe was next for Hinsdale Central 6 seconds back in 4^th. The 4 runner split for Hinsdale was 39 seconds in this race. Their overall split on their top 5 was 107 seconds.

 

Lockport and Lyons Township both scored 84 points but Lockport was awarded second on the sixth runner tie-breaker. Lockport ran a 46 second split on their top 5 led by the 6^th place finish by Karlee Stortz. Lyons Township was paced by Barcelona’s third place finish along with the top ten finish by Vanessa Flaherty (7^th).

 

Downers Grove South finished 4^th with 131 points paced by the 8^th place finish by Katie Stapleton. It was the pack behind Stapleton that was the key as there was only a 19 second split between their 2 through 5 runners. Benet Academy took the final qualifying spot without question scoring 142 points behind the 5^th place finish of Clare McCabe and the 9^th place finish of Mae Tully. The next closest team behind Benet Academy was 47 points back as Downers Grove North scored 189 points to finish 6^th.

 

Top ranked Sandburg took the pace out hard with six of their seven runners in the front pack for the first half of the race. Sandburg’s Sean Torpy forced the issue pulling away from Lyons Township’s Danny Kilrea in the final mile to cross the line in a good time of 14:57 considering the dreadful conditions of the course. The Eagles had the pack behind Sean Torpy as they had 3 other runners in the first 12 led by Sean’s brother Chris. Sandburg took home the sectional championship with 45 points despite running a 60 second split in their top 5.

 

Hinsdale Central finished second (65 points) despite the fact that their #1 runner Blake Evertsen fell during the first mile trying to cross over the swollen Legge Creek. He rebounded to finish 3^rd overall. The Red Devils did what they needed to do and advanced to next week’s state meet. There was only a 20 second split between Evertsen and 11^th place Chris Brenk who started the Hinsdale pack. The split on the 2 to 5 group was only 24 seconds with a 44 overall split.

 

Lyons Township was also effected by the creek but still finished third overall with 74 points. The Lions had 3 runners in the top 10 led by Kilrea, Matt Begeman (7^th), and Vince Zona (10^th). Conner Madell was the team’s 4^th runner (17^th overall) as they ran a 78 second split on their top five.

 

There was a gap of almost 60 points before cross town rivals Downers Grove South and North finished. The Mustangs scored 133 points led by the 9^th place finish by Jack Lalonde. Downers Grove North was 1 point behind in fifth paced by the 4^th place finish by Alec Danner. The key for the Trojans making it to Peoria was the 17 second 2 to 5 split they had. Plainfield South missed qualifying as a team finishing sixth. They did have three individuals qualify for next weekend with Austin Brown (21^st), Hunter Dyer (28^th), and Andy Bhatia (30^th).

 

Normal Community Sectional

 

Minooka swept both team titles at this sectionals but did it in completely different ways. The Girls team proved that they will contend for a trophy next week in Peoria taking the first 3 places and putting 5 runners in the top 8 to score only 20 points. Ashley Tutt led the way with the individual win as she crossed the line in 17:20. Teammate Emily Shelton was 8 seconds back (17:28) followed by Mackenzie Callahan in third. Their split was 80 seconds. It was the best of the year so far for this team.

 

It was close for the second through fifth team places as only 12 points separated the next 4 teams. Lincoln-Way Central, paced by the 10^th place finish by Jenna Diers, placed second with 113 points. The Knights were only 3 points ahead of O’Fallon (3^rd) and Lincoln-Way East (4^th) who both had 116 points. Edwardsville was the final team in as they scored 125 points to finish fifth.

 

It was closer for the Minooka Boys team. Paced by the individual win by Soren Knudsen and top ten finish by Miguel Lomeli (7^th), the Indians scored 93 points to win the team sectional championship. Knudsen ran 15:17 to win the race by 11 seconds ahead of Illiana Christian’s Colin DeYoung.

 

A young O’Fallon team was only 8 points back in second. The Panthers ran a 20 second split on their top 5 without a runner in the top ten individually. Joey Black led with a 14^th place finish followed consecutively by freshmen Kyle Dismukes (15^th) and Will VanAlstine (16^th). Illiana Christian advanced to state in their first year in 3A. The Vikings put 2 other runners in the top 6 to finish with 107 points in third. Nick Wondaal (3^rd) and Austin Ohm (6^th) finished behind teammate DeYoung. Lincoln-Way North advanced to state for the final time before their school closes this spring. The Phoenix finished 4^th behind the 5^th place finish of Noah Healy and a 48 second split on their top five. It was heartbreak for East Moline United as they finished 1 point out of qualifying for state. Joliet Central finished 5^th (128 points) behind Raul Rosendo’s 9^th place finish. United Township did qualify 2 individuals as Kyle Riege finished 5^th and Dalton Moore finished 8^th.