Boys cross country: Statement made by sectional runner-up Prospect

Prospect's boys cross country team has been waiting for over a year to redeem itself after finishing in 14th place at last year's sectional meet.

Consider it a mission accomplished.

The Knights, on a soggy and cool Saturday morning, placed five runners in the top 27 in securing second place at the Class 3A Schaumburg sectional with 85 points, ensuring themselves of a trip to the state meet.

"They have been running well all year and they got the job done today," said Prospect coach Mike Stokes. "And I still think they have more left to show next week."

Individually, Lake Zurich junior Matt Pereira navigated the muddy course, pulling away in the final 400 meters to secure the title in 15:40.47, with Buffalo Grove senior Kevin Salvano taking second in 15:43.19 at Busse Woods.

"The plan going in was just to win," said Salvano who was defeated for the first time this season. "Matt (Pereira) is a great runner and he just had another gear today."

Pereira combined with junior Kyle Griffith (15:44.28) and junior Brian Griffith (15:46.47), who took fourth and fifth place in leading Lake Zurich to the sectional title with 82 points.

Buffalo Grove (127 points) took third place followed by Hoffman Estates (167 points), and McHenry (198 points) to round out the top five. All advance to next Saturday's Class 3A state meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

Senior Karson LeComte (16:04.91) set the tone for Prospect by taking ninth place, followed by senior Matt Cozine (16:14.93) and junior Sean Sanaghan (16:15.26), who took 17th and 18th place for the Knights.

"After last year we needed to redeem ourselves," said LeComte. "I knew if we just got out and ran our race, we'd be in good shape. Last year's race gave us motivation. We didn't want it to happen again."

Junior Jack O'Donnell (16:24.35) and senior Max Crowinshield (16:25.50) placed 26th and 27th for Prospect.

"It definitely feels great," said Cozine. "It was a terrible feeling last year and it has definitely fueled us this entire season."

Buffalo Grove was also looking for a better fate this season after missing the state cut with a sixth-place effort last season.

BG survived an early hit on Saturday when No. 2 runner Tom Cleary went down in the first mile. But sophomore Mitchell Guittar (16:14.85) secured 16th place, followed by junior Josh Hellyer (16:28.48) adding 31st place to keep the Bison on pace.

Cleary (16:38.01) finished in 36th place, with junior Arturo Bautista (16:48.64) adding a 55th-place finish.

"It was much better than last year," said Buffalo Grove coach Zach Crandall. "With Tom (Cleary) going down, Josh came up big. We wanted to come in and win it, but the goal today was to move on to state."

Senior Shiv Patel (16:15.4) finished 19th in powering Hoffman Estates to fourth place and its second consecutive state appearance.

Junior Jack Worman (16:25.73) and junior Alex Makrounis (16:31.18) also gave the Hawks a big lift by taking 28th and 33rd place, followed by senior Bryan Gamboa (16:40.97) in 44th place.

Senior Nathan Otto (16:51.39) completed the scoring for the Hawks with a 60th-place finish.

"With all the adversity that we have faced this season, it feels great," said Patel. "We've just had to keep pushing on this season. We knew time was not going to be a factor with all the mud. Our goal has always been to get down to state."

Senior Michael Hahndorf (16:00.3) finished in seventh place in helping McHenry take the final state qualification spot. Senior Tyler Lay (16:06.75) added to McHenry's attack by finishing in 12th place.

Warren senior Dustin Macuiba (15:43.96) secured the top individual spot with his third-place overall finish. Other individual qualifiers included Highland Park senior Brett Davidson (15:50.86) who took sixth place, and Stevenson senior Jared Borowsky (16:00.90), who took eighth place.

Crystal Lake South junior Jonathan Prus (16:05.93) finished 10th, followed by Lake Forest senior Mark Myers (16:06.57) in 11th.

Cary-Grove junior Alex Ratkovich (16:07) secured 13th place, followed by Wheeling senior Justin Loquercio (16:11.63) in 14th.

Loquercio made good on his final attempt to qualify for the state meet, rebounding from a 43rd-place finish at last year's sectional.

"I may have gone out a little too fast, but I knew these conditions would not be favorable for moving up later," said Loquercio. "I put last year's performance aside and ran as hard as I could. It feels great."