Cross country: Crystal Lake South girls shine
The highly anticipated matchup between Marian Central's Peter Walsdorf and Crystal Lake Central's Tommy Landt was put on hold for another week.
A stress reaction and sprain in Landt's right ankle prevented the Fox Valley Conference champion from competing against Walsdorf, the East Suburban Catholic Conference champ, at the Class 2A Belvidere Cross Country Regional on Saturday.
Walsdorf ran away from the rest of the pack to win in 15:13.73 to remain unbeaten for the season. The race for second was tight between Crystal Lake Central sophomore Karson Hollander (15:44.91), Marengo's Luke Chaffin (15:45.52) and Woodstock's Aidan Schleutermann (15:45.56).
"Peter really took off," Hollander said. "The first stretch he stayed with us and he turned the corner and was just gone. Something in me wanted to go after him, but it was probably better to stick back."
Walsdorf has not had a real close race this season after finishing 10th in the Class 2A State Meet last year as a junior.
"It would have been fun to race with (Landt)," Walsdorf said. "Hopefully he'll be there next week (at the Lakes Sectional. I heard about him not running in the line for the bathroom, but I wasn't sure. He ended up not being there, which kind of stinks."
Landt injured his right ankle in training last week and it was diagnosed as a stress reaction and sprain. Central still won the regional title with 39 points, while Woodstock, the Kishwaukee River Conference champion, was second with 69. Belvidere North (88), Marengo (120) and Freeport (132).
The top five teams and top five individuals not on those teams advance to the Lakes Sectional. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no state meet this season, so the sectional finishes the high school season.
Regionals and sectionals are being split into flights. At Belvidere, the Nos. 1-4 runners ran in the first flight, with Nos. 5-7 in the second. Sectionals, with more teams, will split into three flights.
Crystal Lake South's Bella Gonzalez, Abby Machesky and Addie Frisch finished 1-2-3 and the Gators put six runners in the top 12 to win the team title with 21 points. Crystal Lake Central (52) was second and Woodstock (137) was fourth.
In the boys race, Woodstock North's Jorge Aragon (11th) and Harvard's Steve Austin (19th) advanced as individuals. Marian's Caroline Binotti (17th) qualified as an individual in the girls race.
"I went out fast in the first mile really looking for a (personal record) today," Walsdorf said. "I was hoping someone else would be there to run out at the mile with me. It didn't end up that way, so I just tried to keep it up and keep that lead going."
Chaffin, the two-time KRC champion, enjoyed seeing different competition and the group he ran with.
"Me and Peter are close friends and I've gotten close to Aidan too," Chaffin said. "It was a fun race to run with some friends. It made it not as serious. It felt really good."
Central's Danny Hamill (fifth), Austin May (sixth), Anthony Camacho (10th) and Reilly Wheeland (16th) rounded out the scoring.
Woodstock had Jack Hansen (11th), Dylan Hanson (12th), Alex Wickersheim (18th) and Logan Hagmann (24th) for its second-place finish.
Marengo's Zach Secor was seventh behind Chaffin, followed by Aaron Moehrlin (32nd), Patrick Signore (37th) and Tommy Lulinski (41st).
Gonzalez was out on her own in the girls race as well, winning in 18:17.74. Machesky was second in 18:45.84. The Gators' only loss this season was when they took fourth in the FVC Meet on Oct. 10, with 14 points separating the top four teams.
"We have just run against one or two teams (in most meets), it was nice seeing new people and getting out there and racing," Gonzalez said. "We're doing pretty well. We went 1-2-3 and were all right there. That's good going into the sectional."
Annie Ferrero led Crystal Lake Central's girls in fourth place. The Tigers' Kylie Smith was eighth, followed by Gwenyth Brickey (11th), Hope Ferrero (13th) and Emma Macke (16th).
Woodstock's Theresa Presisto and Maggie Adams were 14th and 15th. Abygale Smith was 34th, Ireland Dunnett was 36th and Grace Topf was 41st.