Huntley showing great chemistry

The Huntley boys' cross-country team has made significant progress through the first half of the season.

The Red Raiders recently took second at Lake Park and third at the Woodstock Flights invitational.

At Lake Park, Seth Conroy finished first, while Keagan Smith was third and Mike Grocholski was 10th. Grocholski was the Flight 3 winner at Woodstock.

"Our team is doing a great job of focusing on each meet," said Huntley coach Matt Kaplan. "The boys are going one meet at a time and we are finding success through the entire team. The team chemistry continues to be a strength for this group. They all support each other and as a coach I couldn't be happier with our team attitude."

Kaplan has seen successes throughout the lineup. "Recently our Top 5 runners have stepped up," he said. "Keagan continues to get stronger each week. He is starting to get into form. Seth Conroy also stepped up huge for us at Lake Park. He set the tone for the team that day. I have to mention Mike Grocholski as well. He finished 10th at Lake Park against a good field of runners and then won the third flight at Woodstock. He is one of our leaders."

The Red Raiders have their eyes squarely focused on a number of goals. "Our team goals at the beginning of the season were to contend for a conference championship and try for a regional championship," said Kaplan. "Come sectionals, the team has a goal of qualifying for state for the first time in school history."

South Elgin update: The Storm made it a clean sweep at the recent Forest City invitational, winning all three levels (varsity, frosh-soph and unofficially the open race).

Varsity racers included seniors Max Keough, Brandon Van Bogaert and Chris Jo, juniors Bryan Ticanzani and Michael Mikhail, sophomore Brad Kmiece and freshman Brady Tolva.

Frosh-soph team members included sophomores Jake Harris, Trinity Maynard, Brett Johnson and Joe Hall, along with freshmen Hector Rodriguez, Andrew Richardson and Jake Reinhofer.

Open medalists included Seniors Nikhil Patel, Christian Lainez and Johnny Gottschalk, juniors Max Arnold and Erik Benson, sophomore Jack Mainellis and freshman Peter Fossa.

"For the most part, we are remaining injury-free," said South Elgin coach Kari Turcan. "The guys also are pushing themselves in practice. The seniors are definitely leading the way with a no-settling-type attitude."

Turcan noted Kmiec and Tolva performed well when they were moved up to the varsity team in Rockford. "They did not disappoint," she said. "We have some highly motivated freshman that push and push each day. It's great to see and is very promising for our future."

Bartlett update: The youthful Hawks continue to make progress with a group of runners that features a mixture of seniors and underclassmen.

We are improving a little bit at a time," said Bartlett coach Jeremy Ruston. "We have a very young and inexperienced team, but they are getting better and more comfortable out there."

Justin Isla has led the way for the Hawks. He's reduced his time from 17:00 last year down to the low 16s this season. "Justin already has improved quite a bit and we're only through the first half of the season," said Ruston.

Isla's brother, Lucas, who missed last year due to injury, also has contributed along with Top 5 lineup runners Brandon Kim (freshman) and Sammy Peters (sophomore). Sophomore Anthony Nicolini and freshman Kevin Kelley also have been in the Top 7.

"Our 1 through 5 split has been about 45 to 50 seconds, which is good," said Ruston. "We just need to work on moving to the front of the pack in races."

Bartlett will host the 13th annual Flyin' Hawk Invitational at Sunrise Park on Saturday.

Larkin update: The Royals have enjoyed numerous individual successes so far this season, led by the likes of Evan Powers and Manuel Fuentes.

"We have been improving individually and as a squad, so my take on things is positive," said Larkin coach Eric Hill. "My runners are doing the workouts I put in front of them and are growing, having fun and learning about the sport and ourselves - mental toughness."

Crystal Lake South update: South has fared well of late in invitational action, finished second at its own event, second at Wauconda and third at Warren. The team sported a 3-1 Fox Valley Conference mark through midweek.

"Our Top 5 guys have been running very well and we hope to keep that going," said South coach Rich Eschman. "We know we can improve because we have not seen all five guys run really well at the same time."

South has 2 freshmen, a sophomore, 4 juniors and a senior in its Top 8. Eschman noted freshman Jack Becker has been running extremely well, while senior Justin Miller (the only 12th grader in the Top 8) has been running 60 seconds faster than last year on all courses.

"Justin is the glue to our team. The other guys see how much he has improved and it gives them all that same hope," said Eschman.

South's longtime coach is looking forward to his team running in the bigger upcoming meets.

"If we can get our gap for our Top 5 down to 45 seconds we will have a good chance at winning some meets," he said. "We think we have as good a shot as anyone at winning the conference meet. We need to have our Top 5 guys all run well on the same day."

Hampshire update: The Whip-Purs recently placed third at Rockford East by a single point thanks to late surges from Max Oury, Jack Brown and Bailey Irps.

Oury ran the program's second-fastest time ever at the Eddington invitational at Kaneland.

"We are finishing races with strong efforts," said Hampshire coach Dennis Wozniak.

Sophomore Will Matushek and freshman Kyle Blake also have ran well and were cited for strong work ethics.

"We have to continue to get faster," said Wozniak. "We have some great competitive meets to help us do that."

St. Edward update: Coach Katie Beckett lauded the recent running of Trevor Odegaard. "Trevor has made some great improvement in racing," she said. "He's getting his race time down to sub-19s. The team is doing well and battling through some injuries. They do a good job keeping each other motivated and I'm seeing a lot of support from all members of the team."

Beckett said the team has its sights set on the Metro Suburban Conference meet. "It is my hop to have all our runners healthy and racing at conference," she said.

Burlington Central update: Central finished 19th at the First to the Finish invitational in Peoria where Clay Musial took 16th with a time of 15:31. The Rockets also have received contributions from Mitchel Roedel. "Mitchel continues to improve as one of our scoring athletes," said Central coach Vince Neil.

Neil said pack racing will be a key for his squad as the season heads into the home stretch. "We have to continue to improve on pack racing," he said. "At the moment, our scoring is way too spread out and we need to cut down those gaps in order to run a competitive team race."

Harvest Christian update: Senior Jake Adams, a first-year runner, recently took eighth at the Chuck Wallin Classic and has finished in the Top 10 for the Lions in most meets.

"The boys are running well as a team," said coach Steven Bland. "Our Top 7 all are within striking distance of one another which enables them to run as a pack. Because of this, some of our younger runners are contributing more than we anticipated."

Junior Caleb Vislisel and sophomore Michael Sisko also are contributing. "Michael has picked up right where he left off last year," said Bland. "This year there has been no slump. He has been the hub of our pack running philosophy this year. Caleb worked hard over the summer and has made considerable improvement over last year. He is focused at practice, works hard and is an example to our younger runners of what can be accomplished when one sets their mind to it."