Record performance from Warren's Macuiba
When you think about course records being set in boys cross country, you certainly don't think about them happening under the course conditions that the Warren Blue Devil Invite were run under Saturday morning in Gurnee.
With heavy rain and torrential downpours taking place Friday night, the 3-mile course on the grounds of the O'Plaine campus were anything but ideal as the boys race was moved up to the second race of the day to preserve the course as best as possible for the varsity runners.
And when all was said and done, Warren senior Dustin Macuiba (14:42) somehow managed to set a course record by five seconds, as the Blue Devils also captured the team title in a 91-106 decision over runner-up Cary-Grove.
Grayslake Central was a close third with 111 points, despite not having top runner Jack Aho for the meet due to a minor injury.
Crystal Lake South placed 15th with 145 points, but Gators' top runner Jack Becker had to drop out about half way through the race due to a right quad injury.
After placing 17th in Class 3A last fall, Macuiba is off to a great start in 2015. After a first-place finish at Wauconda last weekend, he ran away from the field, beating his next closest competitor by 28 seconds.
"Overall, it was hard to get going fast because the course was really soft, but I got a PR," said Macuiba, who ran a 14:46 at state last year. "I started out at 4:50, then around 9:50 at two miles, so once I saw the clock I knew I was going to have it."
The Blue Devils are shaping up to have a great season with senior Brady Roegner giving Warren a big boost in ninth place.
"(Macuiba) is running really well, and you want to have the course record on your own course," said Warren coach Bill Dawson. "Our third runner (Roegner) moved up to our No. 2, but our No. 2 (Alex Delgado) has some shin problems and he still did pretty well."
Cary-Grove had a trio of juniors leading its pack, as Alex Ratkovich placed fourth, Jack Adams 18th and Kyle Adams 19th for the Trojans.
"(Ratkovich) looked good, he looked comfortable throughout the race, and he's a special guy," said Cary-Grove coach Layne Holter. "Our top three just have a special bond from all of the training they do year round."
Grayslake Central was yet another team that turned to a "terrific trio," as junior Matt Aho took the place of Jack Aho as the Rams top runner in the meet in second place. Matt, Jack and Elizabeth Aho are triplets. Elizabeth placed 13th in the girls race Saturday.
Senior John Girmscheid placed 12th for the Rams, while sophomore teammate Eli Minsky placed 15th.
"Matt (Aho) stepped up and he did exactly what a No. 1 runner is supposed to do in leading our pack," said Grayslake Central coach Jimmy Centella. "John and Eli both had strong races and we weren't at full strength. But it was a good opportunity for other guys to step up at the varsity level today."
With Becker unable to finish the meet due to the injury, Crystal Lake South was paced by Jon Prus with a fifth-place run. The Gators also got a 22nd from Ryan Foster and a 26th from Doug Cain. Becker's injury is not expected to keep him out of action for an extended period of time.
"The injury (to Becker) really hurt us, " said CLS coach Rich Eschman. "If Jack would have finished second or third that would have improved our team score by 50 points. But we'll move on, and we'll be fine."
Mundelein senior Uly Hagedorn motored to an eighth-place finish, while Matt Hoffman led Wheeling's troops in 11th place. Rolling Meadows' top runner was John Gerardi in 13th place, while Wheeling's Elliot Nabatov rounded out the top 20 finishers.
"Uly ran a great middle of the race and he was still under the weather a little today," said Mundelein coach Kurt Rutz. "Joe (Clow) has really been coming on strong, and he was under 17 minutes which is the first time he's done that in a long time."
Fremd's Matt Wallace placed 24th, followed by Delgado in 25th, Warren's Julian Ruiz in 27th, Grayslake North's Liam O'Connell in 28th, Warren's Nathan Oommen in 29th and Cary-Grove's Tommy Williams in 30th.