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BG claims MSL East; Hoffman grabs West title

Buffalo Grove's Kevin Salvano cruised to the title in 15:39 at the Wheeling triangular on Thursday, leading the Bison to their second Mid-Suburban East boys cross country title at MacArthur Middle School.

Buffalo Grove defeated host Wheeling 24-32, and ran past Prospect 23-32.

"It feels good," said BG coach Zach Crandall, whose team finished with a 6-0 dual meet record. "This was our first goal, and now we want to keep moving forward."

Salvano led the charge and was aided by a fourth-place finish from junior Tom Cleary (15:55). Senior Jake Wenzel (15:57) added a sixth-place finish, followed by senior Montana Nimerfroh (16:09) and senior Tripp Wallner (16:10).

Buffalo Grove, ranked No. 9 in the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Poll, was running behind Prospect after the opening mile, but the Bison were able to finish strong to secure their first title since 2011.

Nimerfroh and Wallner did a nice job moving forward in the final 2 miles to secure the victory.

Senior Michael Anderson (15:55) powered Prospect with a third place finish helping the Knights to a 24-32 victory over Wheeling.

Junior Justin Loquercio (15:33) took second for host Wheeling.

At Schaumburg: Hoffman Estates lost all-state runner Billy Thomas to graduation last year, so not a lot was expected from the Hawks this season. But Hoffman pulled a major surprise on Thursday in running to its first Mid-Suburban West title at Macnider Cross Country Course at Hoover Middle School.

Hoffman defeated Barrington 27-30, and also raced past host Schaumburg 15-49 to secure the West title.

Junior Matt Petersen (16:42) led the charge with a second-place finish to power the Hawks.

"We've been shooting for this since the summer," said Hoffman Estates coach Brenden Mariano. "We knew we had a shot and we trained hard and stayed healthy."

Hoffman Estates lost its opening dual meet of the season at Wheeling but went 5-0 in the West in securing the title.

Junior Shiv Patel (16:56) and junior Bryan Gamboa (17:00) went 4-5 for the Hawks, with sophomore Jose Espinoza (17:06) and senior Michael Sanfillippo (17:08) taking 7th and 9th.

Senior Kyle Monahan (16:37) took first place to pace Barrington, which was missing senior Konrad Eiring.

Barrington defeated host Schaumburg 16-45

At Palatine: Conant senior Zach Dale won in 15:31 to lead the Cougars to a 26-29 victory over Fremd and a 28-28 tie with host Palatine in a Mid-Suburban triangular at Deer Grove East.

Senior Shujaat Sultan (15:53) added a fourth place finish for the Cougars.

Sophomore Brian Leonard (15:44) and senior Graham Brown (15:45) went 2-3 in helping Palatine secure a 23-32 victory over Fremd.

Danny Peterson (15:54) led Fremd with a fifth place finish.

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