Huntley's Smith, Hoffman Estates set the Lake Park pace

Huntley senior Keagan Smith is looking for more.

The Red Raiders senior has earned two state medals, including last year's ninth-place finish in Class 3A - and he wants more.

Smith flashed his all-state potential on a cool Saturday morning by cruising to Lake Park's 41st annual Harvey Braus Invitational title in 15:04.2 in Roselle.

Smith led wire to wire, pulling away from the chase pack after the first mile and crossing the finish line with a comfortable 11-second cushion and has put himself in the conversation for a potential run for the Class 3A title this fall.

"It's a bit of a change," said Smith, who had run in the shadows of conference foe and defending Class 3A champion Jesse Reiser of McHenry his first three years. "It's nice and I run pretty well under pressure."

Hoffman Estates also is looking for more this season. Last year the Hawks qualified for the Class 3A state meet and finished 24th.

Hoffman definitely took a step forward on Saturday, placing five runners in the top 19 in securing the team title with 44 points.

"We're taking what we learned from last year, working on some of the weaknesses," said Hoffman Estates coach Brenden Mariano of his team's rise. "We wanted to come out and run well today, and we're still working on preparing ourselves for the end of the season."

Huntley took second with 73 points, followed by Chicago Jones Prep (78 points), St. Charles East (80 points), and Oak Park-River Forest (122 points).

Hoffman Estates offered a solid front pack on Saturday with senior Bryan Gamboa (15:15.1) leading the charge in a second-place finish.

Senior Shiv Patel (15:20.8) and senior Matt Petersen (15:29.9) went 4-6 in helping push the Hawks' front pack, with junior Alex Makrounis (15:46.1) and junior Ryan Greenwalt (15:58) securing the title with 13th- and 19th-place finishes.

The Hawks' leaders have been dealing all season, and they continued to impress on Saturday after jumping to an early advantage and holding on during the final stretch.

"We've been working hard the past couple months," said Patel. "The plan today was to get out and get in position, and just execute. It was great battling it out."

Hoffman Estates returned its top five runners from last season, when the Hawks made quite a splash by securing the Mid-Suburban West title. This year the Hawks enter with a bit higher expectations.

"Of course, we're just trying to keep an upward trend going," said Patel. "It's fun battling it out with your brothers. Now we're just trying to get our top five spread down."

Huntley also enters this season with a bit higher expectations. The Red Raiders qualified for their first state meet last season and are looking to add to their accomplishment this year.

Smith pushed the pace on Saturday and he was supported by the contributions of senior Seth Conroy (15:18.6) and senior Mike Grocholski (15:28.4), who went 3-5 in the Red Raiders' attack.

"These guys know the history," said Huntley coach Matt Kaplan. "They're really into setting standards for the program. We have a goal of returning to state and improving on that team place. The chemistry has been great."

And it's a lot easier with a front-runner like Smith, who is healthy this season after returning from a stress fracture to begin last season.

"We're pretty hungry," said Smith. "It was a bit of an experience for us last season. Now that all of us have that under our belts we are looking to keep building."

St. Charles East qualified for state meet last season for the first time since 1999, and the Saints want to keep the quality run going. They offered a glimpse of its potential by taking fourth on Saturday with senior Michael Gerkin (15:33.7) leading the charge with a ninth-place finish.

"I'm very confident with how we performed today," said Gerkin, who took part as the Saints finished third in their own invitational last weekend. "I thought we ran a lot faster today. Last week the weather might have gotten to us, but today was perfect conditions."

Senior Mark Sciurba (15:43.9) and senior Jack Rzepecki (15:47.9) secured 12th and 14th place, with J.B. Sandlund (15:55.8) adding 18th place to bolster the Saints' attack.

Sciurba took a big step forward for the Saints after finishing 38th last weekend.

"We're off to a real good start," said St. Charles East coach Chris Bosworth, who was missing his No. 4 runner Brett Izzo. "I think we're a much better team than last year. We don't have that front runner but we're really deep."

Senior Justin Isla (15:54.2) and senior Lucas Isla (16:01.5) took 17th and 23rd in helping Bartlett secure seventh place.