Wheeling's Loquercio turns it up, takes regional title

For Wheeling senior Justin Loquercio, it has been a trying season.

After finishing fifth in the Mid-Suburban League boys cross country meet in 2014, the Wildcats senior seemed poised for a big fall.

Unfortunately, a number of bumps and bruises put a drag on the Wildcats senior's final campaign.

But Loquercio was back in rare form on Saturday, holding off Fremd junior Danny Peterson in the final mile in securing the Hoffman Estates Class 3A regional title after breaking the finish line in 15:46 at Busse Woods.

Loquercio and Peterson were neck-and-neck the first 2 miles before the Wildcats' senior made a final move with a half mile remaining to secure the victory on a damp but sunny course.

"I knew Danny (Peterson) has a great kick, I just wanted to get some separation," said Loquercio, who bounced back from an 11th-place finish at last Saturday's MSL meet. "Today was kind of a wake-up call, I wanted to make up for last week and get focused for next week."

Hoffman Estates was also back in form.

The MSL West division champions rebounded from a third-place finish at the MSL meet and held off Prospect 56-62 as the Hawks secured their first regional title since 2003.

"We wanted to race well and get with each other and see what would happen," said Hoffman Estates coach Brendan Mariano of his team's victory. "We executed the plan early and closed it off in the third mile."

Fremd (87), Hersey (97), Glenbrook South (109) and Wheeling (142) rounded out the six qualifying teams who will advance to next Saturday's Schaumburg Class 3A sectional at Busse Woods at 11:15 a.m.

Hoffman's pack set the tone early, senior Shiv Patel (15:59) gave the Hawks a big lift, finishing in third place.

Junior Alex Makrounis (16:13) and Jack Worman (16:20) aided Hoffman by taking seventh and ninth place while senior Bryan Gamboa (16:22) held off a hard-charging Prospect pack in the final mile to gain a 10th-place finish.

Senior Nathan Otto (16:42) completed the scoring for the Hawks with a 27th-place finish.

"We wanted to go out with a solid pace for the first mile," said Patel. "The goal has been to get our pack tighter."

It worked, as the Hawks were able to seal off the Prospect pack in the final mile to earn the victory.

"After conference we knew we needed to improve on some things," Mariano said. "We got back to some fundamentals."

Prospect was without two of its top five runners from it recent runner-up finish in the conference conference, but the Knights didn't miss a beat. Senior Karson LeComte (16:00) set the tone by taking fifth place.

Prospect then leaned on its solid pack running, with junior Sean Sanaghan (16:27), sophomore Jack Terry (16:29), junior Jack O'Donnell (16:30), and senior Max Crowinshield (16:30) securing places 12, 14, 15 and 16.

"Our main objective was to get out of the regional," said LeComte. "We finished strong today, now we just have to move the pack up and we should be in good position."

Peterson led the charge for Fremd. The junior, who finished fourth in the MSL last week, kept things humming this week with his second-place finish that helped the Vikings secure third place.

"I felt maybe I could kick at the end," said Peterson who couldn't quite match Loquercio's final surge. "I'm happy with the race and my season. I'm doing so much better than I thought I would."

Senior Alex Lytle (16:33) and senior Joe Smaga (16:34) finished 18th and 19th for the Vikings, with sophomore Matt Wallace (16:36) and junior Luke Vogelgesang (16:38) securing 23rd and 25th place.

Hersey junior Sam Svienty (16:00) supplied Hersey with a major boost by finishing fourth, with senior teammate Dan Gerardi (16:27) taking 11th.

"I'm feeling great," said Svienty, who has come on strong in the last two weeks. "Everything is coming together."

Loquercio set the tone for Wheeling, with junior teammate Matt Hoffman (16:11) also supplying a bit of a spark (solid sixth-place finish) to help the Wildcats secure the final sectional qualifying spot.

Schaumburg senior Nick Olvera (32nd), Conant senior Armaan Goyal (33rd) and Rolling Meadows junior John Gerardi (35th) advanced as individual qualifiers.

Palatine regional: Lake Zurich junior Matt Pereira set the tone by taking first place in 14:58 and leading the Bears to the Class 3A Palatine regional title with 43 points at Deer Grove East.

Junior Brian Griffith (15:06) and junior Kyle Griffith (15:08) were not far off the winning pace in taking second and third place in helping Lake Zurich to the title.

Mid-Suburban League champion Buffalo Grove was without No. 1 runner Kevin Salvano, but the Bison were able to secure second place with 71 points.

McHenry (93 points), Jacobs (106 points), Palatine (113 points), and Barrington (147 points) rounded out the top six teams with all advancing to next week's Schaumburg Class 3A sectional race at Busse Woods starting at 11:15 a.m.

Senior Tom Cleary (15:21) and Mitchell Guittar (15:22) went 4-5 to pace the Bison attack. Junior Josh Hellyer (15:39) supplied a 12th-place finish, with junior Arturo Bautista (16:03) adding a 19th-place finish.

Senior Dan Trejo (15:55) and junior Ben Kontney (16:00) went 16-17 to power Palatine, with freshman Jorge Corona (16:06) adding 21st place.

Sophomore Nick Laning (15:37) secured 10th place in pacing Barrington. The Broncos also got strong efforts from senior Scott Williams (20th, 16:05) and sophomore Connor Mahoney (24th, 16:08).

Niles West regional: Elk Grove senior Sean Frintner and Maine West sophomore Derek Pace earned individual sectional appearances by placing 33rd and and 35th.

Frintner finished in 17:03, and Pace in 17:05 to grab the final two qualifying spots.

New Trier (34) points won the team competition and leads a qualifying group of Maine South, Loyola, Niles North, Niles West and Notre Dame.

Fenton regional: St. Viator earned one of the team advancement berths in Class 2A, finishing third with 64 points, behind Deerfield (51) and the host Bison (62).

Jacob Bonanotte (eighth, 16:48), Nick Spanier (10th, 16:50) and Sam Brey (11th, 16:50) paced the Lions' effort.

Jose Vasquez of Fenton had the top finish, 16:05.

Luther North regional: Christian Liberty Academy junior Tommy Lowry turned in the top performance, winning in 16:17 to earn a spot in next weekend's Class 1A sectional.