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Boys cross country: WW South takes title at Wauconda

There was a new look to the Wauconda Invitational Saturday morning in Island Lake, and there were some new boys cross-country teams at the front of the pack when the 2.95-mile race was run.

After running the meet at Lakewood Forest Preserve for many years, the meet was moved to the rolling-hills course at Matthews Middle School this season where a smaller, but powerful 14-team field battled down to the wire.

And it was No. 4-ranked Wheaton-Warrenville South that would capture the championship by a narrow 38-52 margin over DuPage Valley Conference rival Wheaton North.

Geneva also had a strong third-place showing with 111 points as the Vikings edged-out fourth-place squad Libertyville (123 points), despite the Wildcats having the individual champion in senior Alex Tam (14:56.9).

Wheaton-Warrenville South's pack running was outstanding with Sean Maison in third, Bill Hauenstein in fourth, Scott Maison in fifth, and Jacob Kluckhohn in eighth. Senior Andrew Dixon closed out the Tigers' top-five scoring in 18th place, while teammate John Keys placed 23rd.

"We're just trying to pack them up, and we pride ourselves in being a good pack team," said Wheaton-Warrenville South coach Chris Kuntz, whose team placed eighth in Class 3A last fall. "We're young, but we're experienced because three of our top four were on the state team last year and they were a part of that pack."

Wheaton North's strong effort was led by Connor Zvdek (seventh), Joey Simon (ninth), Justin Ostrem (10th), and Kevin Riley (11th). The Falcons also got a 15th-place finish from Nick Garza and 16th from Josh Scharpenberg.

"We knew it would be a good test, and they (Wheaton-Warrenville South) are a good team," said Wheaton North coach Nate Roe. "Last year we had a younger team, and now we have four seniors and three juniors in our top seven. This course has a lot of turns so it is hard to get a rhythm, and I would have liked to break up Wheaton-Warrenville's top four."

Geneva junior Josh Rodgers placed second in 15:07.2 followed by teammates Ryan Kredell (19th), Matt Hoskins (25th) and Cole Montgomery (26th).

"They're coming together, and we feel we will be better when everybody is back," said Geneva coach Bob Thomson. "Josh (Rodgers) was second again today, he's obviously competitive, and he did a nice job of holding off the Wheaton-Warrenville South guy (Sean Maison) at the end of the race."

Besides being a bit under the weather, Tam was very strong in basically leading the race from wire-to-wire for Libertyville.

The Wildcats pack was bolstered by Nate Sweitzer in 20th, Will Gordon in 22nd and Max Sauers in 33rd.

"The course had slants that made for awkward footing, but it was fine," said Tam, who placed 40th in Class 3A last year. "I'm hoping to start challenging the top guys, and my goal for state is definitely top 25, and top 10 for sure."

Libertyville coach Stuart Mendelsohn has been impressed with Tam as the Wildcats prepare for their own invite next weekend.

"He does what he needs to do, and if nobody is near him he just goes out and wins the race," Mendelsohn said. "Our Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are getting better. They're all together with their PR times, and they're pushing each other as a pack."

Grayslake North placed eighth, followed by Warren in ninth, the host Bulldogs in 10th and Round Lake in 11th. The Blue Devils did not use their top varsity lineup for the meet, but they were led by sophomore Hunter Subry in 14th place.

"(Subry) is only a sophomore and he had a good track season running a 2:03 in the 800 as a freshman," said Warren coach Bill Dawson. "Our top seven today was not my top seven varsity, and we had some of them run fresh-soph today."

Grayslake North was led by junior Connor Riss in 12th place, while senior Adam Fox placed 17th for Wauconda.

With less room for the typical huge field of runners than usual at the Wauconda Invite this year, many Lake County area teams ran at the Waukegan Invite instead on Saturday.

  Eventual winner Alexander Tam of Libertyville has an early lead during the Wauconda cross-country invite at Matthews Middle School in Island Lake Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Libertyville's Alexander Tam is the winner of the Wauconda cross-country invite at Matthews Middle School in Island Lake Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Grayslake North's Connor Riss runs toward a 12th place finish during the Wauconda cross-country invite at Matthews Middle School in Island Lake Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Warren's Hunter Subry closes in on the finish line during the Wauconda cross-country invite at Matthews Middle School in Island Lake Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Wheaton Warrenville South's Andrew Dixon, left, and Wauconda's Adam Fox run alongside each other during the Wauconda cross-country invite at Matthews Middle School in Island Lake Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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