Grant strides to runner-up invite placement
There was some great racing to the finish between two girls cross country teams Saturday morning at the 17th annual James "J.T." Taylor invite hosted by Grant.
The host Bulldogs took runner-up honors to a powerful Lake Forest team by a 40-55 margin on the 3-mile Camp Henry Horner course in Fox Lake. Grayslake Central had a strong third-place showing with 91 points in the 14-team meet, while Carmel Catholic was a close fourth with 97 points.
Grant's push for second place was surprising, considering the Bulldogs had only one senior in their top five. Freshman Danielle Osmon (18:42.80) won the race by less than three seconds over Lake Forest sophomore Emma Milburn.
Grant also got an eighth from senior Madison Romig, who placed 60th in Class 3A in 2014. The Bulldogs' pack also featured junior Rachael Temple in 12th, junior Brooke Drabek in 16th and freshman Eva Cardy in 18th.
"(Osmon) is still kind of learning how to race, but she's got a ton of talent and she went out with the leaders today," said Grant coach Jeff Durlak, whose team also got a 24th from sophomore Samantha Kaye. "Madison ran a great race too. It was probably her best race on this course, and she is ahead of where she was last year at this time."
Osmon did not have much room for error heading down the stretch.
"I'm just happy that everyone else on the team did really well," Osmon said. "Cross country is really fun, and everyone in it is really nice. I'm really having fun, and I hope we can go to state as a team."
Grayslake Central put together another consistent effort with junior Megan Girmscheid continuing to shine with a fourth-place finish. The Rams were able to hold off Carmel for third place with junior Elizabeth Aho in 13th, senior Lura Quandt in 21st and senior Sara O'Malley in 25th.
"I think it was our best team race of the year so far," Grayslake Central coach Jimmy Centella said. "We were missing one girl, and we ran some girls down at the fresh-soph level. "Megan continues to get stronger and stronger, and she beat some state-level girls today, so I was happy to see her run with them."
Carmel's young trio was impressive again. Freshman Zella Stockhausen was 10th, while sophomores Aileen Hull and Lauren Laughlin were 14th and 15th, respectively. The Corsairs also got a 26th-place run from freshman Gabby Terselic.
"We were shooting for the top four and trying to be the top (Class) 2A team here today," said Carmel coach Jim Halford. "Zella had a sensational race. She's a freshman and it was only her third race, but she's getting there."
Lakes did not have elite senior Kortney Schardt competing in the meet, but the Eagles did get a 23rd-place finish from freshman Rae Dwyer and a 30th-place finish from junior Alyssa Stromsland.
"I held out three of the top five today because we are going to train right through to Fox River (State Park) next Saturday," said Lakes coach Keith West, whose team will run in the Antioch invite next weekend. "Rae Dwyer has improved a lot in the last three weeks. I'm just really happy with the way she ran today, and Alyssa improved as well today."
Grant's Roxanne Temple placed 28th, followed by Grayslake Central's Riley Achtemeier in 29th, Carmel's Molly Machala in 33rd, Wauconda's Lily Sanchez in 37th, Carmel's Bella Day in 38th, Carmel's Lauren Caffarelli in 39th and Grayslake North freshman Caroline Riss in 40th.
"(Riss) came in having run in middle school and she's showing all kinds of promise for us as a leader on the team," said Grayslake North coach Brandon Boyd. "We have a young team that is working hard so we don't have a lot of experience. We just keep working at it. They're learning to be competitive."