Strong showing for Jacobs at county meet

With two freshmen and two sophomores among his top runners, Jacobs boys cross country coach Kevin Christian knows his patience will be tested this season.

It was a mixed bag for the Jacobs coach at Saturday’s non-team scoring McHenry County meet at Huntley High School.

The Golden Eagles placed 5 runners in the Top 25 and 8 competitors in the Top 45.

William Hennessy led Jacobs with an 11th-place finish, followed by Ryan Ross (15th), Patrick Nerja (20th), Trevor Tschosik (24th), Zachary Johnson (25th), Matthew Johnson (30th), Sebastian Baran (39th) and Jon Godinez (45th).

“I was happy with some of our performances,” said Christian. “We are so young I have no clue how good we will be. We will have some growing pains.”

Prairie Ridge’s Mitch Wilkins claimed individual honors with a 3-mile time of 15:24.4

“It was a little warmer than I would have liked, but overall I ran well,” said Wilkins. “I got the lead and got up front early and felt comfortable.”

Crystal Lake South coach Rich Eschmann knows to win big meets you need a runner consistently in the Top 10.

Eschmann may have found that talent in junior Duncan Henderson, who placed seventh with a time of 16:12.9.

“Last year we had a pack of runners in the 30s, but nobody who scored high,” said Eschmann. “Duncan might be the guy who can finish high in all the big meets and give us a chance to have a low team score at the big meets.”

Ian Meador was the next Gator to cross the finish line with a 17th place finish. Ryan Wolf was 21st, followed by Brian Roesslein (37th) and Nick Kopp was 47th.

Dustin Throw was the only Cary-Grove runner to finish in the Top 50 placing 16th.

Huntley was led by Trevor Obecny with a 19th place finish. Sam Marcuccelli placed 23rd and Ricky Lopez was 36th for the Red Raiders.