Grayslake Central pieces together impressive triumph
The pieces are starting to fall into place for the Grayslake Central boys cross country team.
That was never more evident Saturday morning in the 12-team Pat Harland Invitational hosted by Antioch.
Behind individual champion Jack Aho, who won the 3-mile race on the hilly Fox River Park course, Grayslake Central easily captured first place with 33 points. Crystal Lake Central edged Warren 80-81 for runner-up honors. Grayslake North placed seventh with 198 points.
Running just north of the state line in Wilmot, Wis., Grayslake Central showed great pack running in low-50-degree conditions with Aho outdistancing Dustin Macuiba of Warren by 16 seconds.
Junior Matt Aho placed third for the Rams followed by teammates Eli Minsky (eighth) and John Girmscheid (ninth). Senior Jack Battaglia's 13th-place finish put the finishing touches on a great top-five pack for Grayslake Central.
"On the first mile I just felt it out and sat on Dustin (Macuiba)," said Jack Aho, who had his best time on the Fox River course by 50 seconds. "We've had some sickness on our team, but a lot of guys are running well, and I got some confidence back that I had lost."
Grayslake Central coach Jimmy Centella likes the direction his team is headed with the Fox Valley Conference meet just two weeks away.
"(Jack Aho) beat a really strong runner in Dustin today, and to run that time on this course (15:17) shows his fitness is just on another level," said Centella, whose team placed sixth in Class 2A last fall. "We had a strong race. Matt (Aho) took third, and for Eli (Minsky) to finish as our third man should be a big confidence booster."
After Macuiba, Warren got a 10th from senior Brady Roegner, 15th from junior Julian Ruiz and 23rd from junior Andrew Miller. Senior Alex Delgado did not run again for Warren.
(Jack Aho) is really good," Warren coach Bill Dawson said. "Dustin still ran a pretty good time (15:33) on this course. We were a little banged up - we were missing a couple of people - but I thought we competed to the best of our ability."
Elgin senior Brandon Copeland placed 12th, while Grayslake North's pack was once again led by junior Liam O'Connell, who took 14th.
Junior Jeremy Wallace was Lakes' top finisher in 21st place. Senior Alden Aaberg placed 27th for Grayslake Central. Grayslake North's Dylan Ponomar placed 28th, followed by Lakes senior Jake Hubbard in 29th and Grayslake Central junior Ben Steinbeck in 30th.
Junior Pat Schoenfelder was the host Sequoits' top runner in 36th place.
"He had a good week of practice, and that was about a 40-second PR for him on this course," Antioch coach Chris Bailey said. "We were missing one of our guys. We've just got to encourage them to move up as a pack."