Glenbard South earns title on tiebreaker
Things can get really close in cross country, and Saturday's varsity girls race at the Metro Suburban Conference West meet at Kress Creek Farms in West Chicago had a paper-thin margin of victory.
Glenbard South and Aurora Central Catholic each finished with 48 team points, but the Raiders went home with the championship plaque having won the tiebreaker - the team that earned the better sixth-runner result.
"I thought ACC had won. When I heard (the team standings), it was a huge surprise," said Glenbard South coach Mark Tacchi. "It's been a challenge year with some injuries. Today was the first day in a while that everyone was here."
Rounding out the team standings were Wheaton Academy with 61 points followed by Riverside-Brookfield (83), Fenton (133) and St. Edward (149).
The Raiders had four runners place in the top 13, which earned all-conference status. Abby Schlenker finished the 3-mile course in 18 minutes, 56.2 seconds for third place. Teammate Diane Lipa followed in fourth. Tacchi said having Lipa in the lineup Saturday was crucial. She had been battling injury all season.
Rounding out the Glenbard South lineup, Ava Childs placed 10th, Courtney Knight 11th, Erica Mote 20th, Alyssa Flores 22nd and Elizabeth Cizek 24th.
Aurora Central Catholic went home with the top two individual medals. Abby Fioresi earned the conference championship by winning in 18:08.8. Teammate Karina Liz was second in 18:41.1 and neither runner had anyone close to them when they crossed the finish line.
Fioresi said she remained focused until the end and wasn't paying attention to her lead.
"I didn't look back until near the end," she said. "I've improved a lot from last year and the team has improved a lot."
Like many runners this time of the year, Liz has been battling health issues.
"I've had walking pneumonia. I'm getting my lungs back and I have felt better the last two weeks," she said.
Like the Glenbard South girls, the Wheaton Academy boys defended their MSC West title Saturday. The Warriors finished with 40 points. Fenton was second with 58 followed by Glenbard South (58), Riverside-Brookfield (65), Aurora Central Catholic (141) and IC Catholic Prep (184).
"We're running great and unless someone gets hurt, we should qualify for state," said Warriors co-coach Jim Spivey. "Our top four runners ran really well today."
The top finisher for the Warriors was Jacob Robleski with a third-place 15:31.6. Jonah Jones took fifth, Jimmy Ridge sixth and Mitchell Smith eighth and earned all-conference medals with Jeffrey Ridge 18th, Casey Bello 20th and Ryan Wittstock 29th also battling for Wheaton Academy.
Fenton junior Jose Vazquez-Perez missed last season's conference competition due to a stress facture. He more than made up for that Saturday by winning the individual league title in 15:15.1.
"At the 2½ mile point, I planned to make my move. But I got past the 2-mile point and felt I was slow and decided to go for it from there," he said. "I'm happy with this, but I am not satisfied. Satisfaction stops progress and I want to do better."
Teammates Samuel Hernandez took ninth and Cristian Sanchez 10th as medalists.
Fenton returns home to host its own Class 2A regional Saturday. Aurora Central Catholic, Glenbard South and Wheaton Academy are at the Class 2A Marist regional at Midlothian Meadows in Markham.