Cross country/Fox Valley roundup
Burlington Central senior Clint Kliem finished in fifth place Saturday at the Class 2A Peoria Woodruff boys cross country invitational.
Kliem ran the 3-mile course in 15:12 and led the Rockets to an eighth-place finish overall as a team.
Jacobs finished 18th in the Class 3A meet as senior William Hennessy ran a 15:10 to finish 16th individually.
In the girls’ Class 3A meet, Lauren Vanvlierbergen ran an 18:23 to finish 21st individually and lead Jacobs to an 11th place team finish.
Girls at Lake Park: Junior Nicole Watkins (18:30) finished 25th for Bartlett at the Lake Park Invite.
Junior Kaylee Flanagan and Lake Park opened the season by winning the Fenton Invitational last Saturday.
Flanagan and the Lancers kept rolling on Saturday at their own 37th annual Harvey Braus Invitational.
Flanagan cruised through the first mile in 5:20 and then made major separation in the second mile before cruising to the finish in a meet-record 16:41.
The junior helped pace a Lake Park attack that featured four girls in the top 19 en route to a convincing victory with 83 points at Lake Park’s East Campus in Roselle.
Glenbard West took second with 120 points followed by Hoffman Estates (128), St. Charles East (136) and St. Charles North (163).
Glenbard West sophomore Madeline Perez (17:13) took second individually, with Hoffman senior Haley Goers (17:18), Maine South sophomore Emily Leonard (17:21) and Prospect junior Brooke Wolfe (17:22) rounding out the top five.
Girls at Wauconda: There were a lot of strong girls cross country teams and individuals Saturday morning at the 25-team Wauconda Invitational.
The high temperatures made conditions somewhat difficult to navigate the 3.05-mile Lakewood Forest Preserve course, but Crystal Lake Central proved to be the class of the big field as the Tigers easily outdistanced runner-up Kaneland by a 64-103 margin.
Third-place squad Glenbard East (130 points) was led by individual champion Lindsey Rakosnik, who dominated the rest of the runners with a winning time of 17:40.
Cary-Grove took home fourth place with 168 points while Huntley nipped Lakes 196-197 for fifth place. Warren (208 points) placed seventh to topple North Suburban Conference rival Mundelein (223 points) in eighth.
“I think the girls are starting to run with a lot of confidence and our 5-6-7 runners really stepped it up today,” said Cary-Grove coach Mark Anderson. “Sarah Englund had her best race of the season today in 15th place and everybody else fell in line behind her.”
Huntley was led by Kelly Meehleib in seventh place while Kathie Wollney added a 22nd-place run for Cary-Grove. Huntley’s pack was bolstered by Amy Kahl (27th), Beth Parks (32nd), and Delaney Loprieno (34th).
Boys at Wauconda: There was no rest for weary boys cross country runners Saturday morning at the Wauconda Invitational.
Boys at Wauconda: Setting a torrid pace from the outset of the 3.05-mile race at Lakewood Forest Preserve, Wheaton-Warrenville South displayed an impressive pack in rolling to the championship of the 27-team meet by a comfortable 62-100 margin over Lane Tech.
Led by individual champ Alex Baker (15:33) and runner-up teammate Chris Alvarez (15:39) performing under pretty warm running conditions, Crystal Lake Central captured third place with 127 points.
Oak Par-River Forest (140 points) was not too far behind the Tigers in fourth place followed by McHenry (147) in fifth, Stevenson (167) in sixth, and Warren (207) in seventh.
Dustin Thrown led Cary-Grove’s effort in 15th place.
“I thought they ran really well today and Dustin Throw worked his way through the race to finish 15th,” said Cary-Grove coach Lane Holter. “Our No. 2 runner (Dan Sikora) really competed hard and he passed a lot of people in the last half of the race.”