Schaumburg boys, girls run to Bartlett victory

Schaumburg didn’t boast the top runner in either the girls or boys race Saturday morning at Sunrise Park.

But strong packs from both the girls’ team and the boys’ team helped the Saxons win both races at the Bartlett Invitational.

Schaumburg’s girls team finished first out of 14 teams despite St. Charles North getting the top two spots.

Sydney Stuenkel won the race going away, finishing the course in 18:04 while teammate Ashley England finished 15 seconds behind for second place. The Saxons finished with 64 points, beating out the North Stars by just 7 points.

Hannah Coombs led a strong Saxons pack, taking fifth place. Not far behind was Kelsey Steenstrup in 10th place, Sam Nordli in 12th, Caroline Kurdej in 14th and Debra Sodimu in 23rd.

“Something that we’ve really been trying to emphasize is running in groups,” said Schaumburg coach Jason Beer. “Slowly the girls are starting to believe in it and trust each other.”

Schaumburg’s runners stayed together the majority of the race, relying on one another to keep pace.

“It’s really cool when you’re actually running next to each other,” Steenstrup said. “We kind of switched who was leading and pulled each other along.”

While the Saxons won state last year, the team lost their top 3 runners to graduation. Needless to say, the rest of the team is stepping up.

“There wasn’t a lot of pressure on the rest of the team to step up to the plate last year, but everyone has done a great job this year,” Coombs said.

Rachel Spalding (fourth), Lexi Slome (ninth) and Alicia Grant (11th) sparked Batavia to a third-place finish.

Jacobs freshman Lauren VanVlierbergen took third, coming in at 18:24. South Elgin’s Jordan Tuin took sixth, narrowly edging Huntley freshman Kelly Meehleib. Nicole Watkins represented the hosts in eighth place.

In the boys’ race, Jacobs’ William Hennessy won in a frantic finish as the senior held off a Schaumburg pack that included Evan Prizy, Tyler Anderson and Juan Barajas.

“I felt great so I put on the afterburners and kicked in the best I could,” Hennessy said. “I felt like I had a lot left at the end.”

Hennessy, who won the Kaneland Invite last weekend, led most of the race, closely trailed by Prizy. The Schaumburg junior, however, was content to stay with his teammates.

“We wanted to keep the pack together and encourage each other,” Prizy said. “We have been trying to run a pack race, get our splits down and work together.”

Staying together paid off nicely for the Saxons as their team won the invitational in a rout, totaling just 22 points. Bartlett finished second with 95 points, followed by Jacobs, Crystal Lake South and Lincoln-Way Central with West Chicago taking sixth.

Prizy took second, Anderson third and Barajas fourth while seniors Pat Swiech and Brian Flight finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

“We knew that we could do well at this race and we wanted to work together and see what we could do as a team,” Prizy said.

Lincoln-Way Central’s Dru Rozewicki broke up the Schaumburg pack in fifth place and South Elgin’s Francisco Gonzalez came in eighth place.

Connor Rachford and Joey Salatino were a big reason Bartlett was able to finish second as the duo took 10th and 11th, respectively.