Girls cross country: Batavia, Kaneland, Harvest Christian win regionals

Batavia's girls cross-country team, led by individual champion Marygrace Golden, won the Class 3A West Aurora regional championship Saturday while Kaneland, paced by individual champ Rachel Richtman, claimed the Class 2A Burlington Central regional crown.

Batavia scored 29 points to far outdistance second place Oswego (77) for the title at West Aurora.

Finishing second for the Bulldogs was Mia Gianfrancesco in a time of 17:38.03, just behind Golden's winning run of 17:37.39. Jenna Schifferer was sixth for Batavia while Erin O'Brien finished eighth and Alexa Andrews 12th.

Class 3A at Hononegah: Jacobs (2nd), Huntley (3rd) and South Elgin (5th) advanced to the Waubonsie Valley sectional. Alyson Doherty (4th) was Jacobs' top runner, Grace Allen (9th) led Huntley and Hannah Anderson (6th) paced South Elgin.

Class 3A at Palatine: With 68 points, Cary-Grove finished second to advance to the Hoffman Estates sectional. Allison Drage was the Trojans' top runner. Advancing as an individual was Dundee-Crown's Sylvia Waz, who finished ninth.

Class 2A at Burlington Central: Richtman ran a time of 18:11.30 to win the race and lead the Knights (51 points) to the team title. Olivia Franklin, Grace Purcell, Andrea Wells and MacKenzie Egert also scored for Kaneland. Crystal Lake South (2nd), Burlington Central (3rd) and Hampshire (6th) also advanced to the Kaneland sectional. Emma Murphy led CL South, Chloe Bilyk was BC's top runner and Sophia Oury paced Hampshire.

Class 1A at Harvest Christian: Harvest Christian scored 18 points to run away with the team title and the Lions' Nygia Pollard, in a time of 19:23.4, won the individual crown. Carsen Forte (2nd), Hannah McHugh (4th), Becca Gafrick (5th) and Cassidy Richter (6th) led the Lions. St. Edward also qualified for the Lisle sectional by finishing third. Jase Leonard took ninth place to lead the Green Wave.