Boys cross country: Cool effort leads Mundelein to Warren Invite victory
With race-time temperatures at 80 degrees, the Warren Invitational was not for the faint of heart Saturday morning on the newly aligned 3-mile O'Plaine campus course.
But when all was said and done, Mundelein had run to its third first-place finish of the 2017 season as the Mustangs easily outdistanced runner-up Glenbrook South 60-110 for first place in the 18-team field.
Evanston topped Fremd 114-135 for third place while Rolling Meadows was a close fifth with 147 points. Cary-Grove (169 points) pulled away from Antioch down the stretch to capture sixth place.
Crystal Lake South senior standout Jack Becker rolled to first place in 14:47.3 to beat his next closest competitor by over 18 seconds. After taking 20th in Class 3A as a junior, Becker is now one of the contenders to win the Class 2A crown this fall as the Gators moved down a class based on their school enrollment.
"Going into this I knew it was hot so I didn't want to take the pace out right away," said Becker. "Around the 2-mile mark I started to make a move, and then I never looked back after that point."
The rest of Crystal Lake South's pack struggled under the stifling running conditions, but CLS coach Rich Eschman is very optimistic about Becker's chances this season.
"He ran the way he's been doing all year which is awesome, and he just wants to keep it up," Eschman said. "He's being really smart about his racing, and in Class 2A he's definitely one of the top three guys without a doubt."
Mundelein's push for the championship was led by Robert St. Clair in fourth, Michael Parduhn in sixth, and Carl Schoenfield in ninth. Dario Carrillo (18th), and Aidan Afonso (23rd) rounded out the Mustangs' top five scorers.
"I think Mike Parduhn got hurt by going out too fast in this heat, but overall we did alright with three runners in the top nine," said Mundelein coach Kurt Rutz. "Dillon Blake won the frosh-soph race, and it was a really tough week of practice so we did not give them a break."
Senior Ed Worthem led Fremd's pack in fifth place followed by teammates Matt Wallace in 20th, Charles O'Brien in 28th, and Wesley Jones in 35th.
"Ed (Worthem) is coming back from being an all-stater on the 4x800 team in track last year, and it was good to see him mix it up with the good guys from Mundelein," said Fremd coach Darius Sanchez. "The top three is coming along well, and our No. 2 guy (Wallace) missed last year with a stress fracture so it was good to see him out there."
Eddie Lennon was Rolling Meadows' top runner in 19th place followed by teammates C.J. Miller (25th), Tanarius Twiggs (29th), and Royce Piscitello (33rd).
"I'm pretty happy with the varsity guys because in the fresh-soph meet we had three in the top 10 who could have helped us," said Rolling Meadows coach Frank Schweda. "I was pretty happy with how Eddie (Lennon) ran because obviously it was pretty hot. Our top four has trained well together and we're trying to get better."
Elite sophomore Charlie Smith led Antioch in third place while Round Lake's Diego Giron (13th) nipped Cary-Grove's Derek Warren (14th) at the finish line.
Wauconda got a 21st-place run from Adam Fox while junior Bryan Holland led the host Blue Devils in 24th. Wheeling's Tyler Polak placed 26th followed by Cary-Grove teammates Maxum Caesar (27th), and Jonathon Lewis (31st).
"Bryan (Holland) made the decision to come out for cross country late and I'm happy with how he ran," said Warren coach Bill Dawson. "Most of our top runners are freshmen and sophomores, and I thought our other runners ran pretty well because nine of our top 10 are underclassmen."