Conant's Dalton gets last laugh following slippery start

Conant's Kalli Dalton expected to be at the head of the pack against Fremd on Thursday. She didn't expect to fall flat on her face.

But that's exactly what she did, slipping as the gun sounded.

"We didn't wear our spikes. I took off with my back foot, and I slipped and face planted," Dalton said.

She had the last laugh, though. The senior finished in first place with a run of 19:21, guiding the Cougars (1-1, 1-0) to a 24-33 victory at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve.

The first laugh actually belonged to teammate Caitlyn Alexander, who turned around to chuckle at her teammate before making a move of her own.

"I think it's more because we're so close that that type of thing would make us laugh," she said.

Alexander had to regain her composure quickly as a pack of Fremd runners attempted to take four of the top six spots in the race.

"We figured Conant would go 1-2, and we had to have four or five people beat their third runner," Fremd coach Mark Anderson said.

Alexander had other plans. With Fremd's Stephanie Resis, Roxanne Miller and Kelsey Burnell ahead of her, the Conant senior had to have a gut-check.

"That's the mental part of cross-country," Alexander said. "It's how much you want it. Coach (Amy Spizzirri) said that to us during the race, and when she said it, I was like, 'I want to win this.'"

Brooke Fairbanks and Megan Hodgson finished just behind the group of Fremd runners, securing the victory for the Cougars.

"I don't think people realize in cross-country how essential the 3-4-5 runners are. Our 3-4-5 stepped it up and got the job done," Spizzirri said. "For a while they had five Fremd runners in front of them. And at one point, they had to make the decision. Go with those five or let them win. And they took the challenge."

Conant's Michelle Rawleigh took a challenge of her own. A three-year volleyball player for the Cougars, the senior joined the cross-country team this summer because it offered a fun way to get in shape for soccer. Her second-place run of 19:36 changed that mindset.

"Now I have to think of where strategically I am instead of just running for the fun of it," Rawleigh said.

Fun? Conant looked to have a lot of it Thursday.

• Prospect's Lucy Taylor and Annette White both finished in 19:44 to take the top two spots in an 18-45 win over Buffalo Grove in the MSL East.

• Schaumburg's Emily Gallup (19:53) took first but it wasn't enough to hold off rival Hoffman Estates. Andera Contreras (21:00) took second and led the Hawks' next seven finishers in a 20-43 win MSL West win.

• Winner Amber Stack ran 19:43 to lead Wheeling's 21-35 MSL East win over Rolling Meadows. Erlena Josifi took second for the Mustangs in 19:57.

• Despite the 1-2 finish by Elk Grove's Gina Erbacci (19:13) and Lauren Infusino (19:22), the next seven places went to Hersey in a 25-43 MSL East win. Megan Gojney (19:29) took third.

Boys cross country

The Schaumburg boys cross country team came into 2007 with a lot of uncertainty.

Although the Saxons finished third in last year's state meet, they graduated four of their top five runners.

However, coach Jim Macnider was confident several underclassmen, as well as his returning seniors, would be able to form a strong team.

Led by sophomore Pat Lesiewicz (16:44), the Saxons used a top-heavy pack in its 23-34 Mid-Suburban West dual win over Hoffman Estates on Thursday.

Lesiewicz, who grew up watching older brothers Tim and Brian run for Schaumburg (2-0 in the West), said the team knew it would be good, despite the key losses.

"We all had really good summers," he said. "So we were all expecting to be on top, even though we're missing most of our top runners (from last year)."

Senior Nathan Rutz (16:49) came in second and was joined by senior fifth-place finisher Brian Burkhardt (17:04), junior Phil Allmon (17:13) and freshman Travis Morrison (17:21), who finished seventh and eighth, respectively.

"That's one of the things about any good program," Macnider said. "Even though you lose guys, you know you have kids waiting to get their turn. That's what's happening now."

Senior Ross Goers (3rd, 16:57) paced Hoffman (1-1 in the West), which was coming off of a first-place finish at the Fenton Invitational on Saturday.

Junior Matt Perez (fourth, 17:01), senior Emilio Saraga (sixth, 17:08) and senior Chris Sutphen (ninth, 17:23) gave the Hawks a chance, but no other runner could get under 18 minutes.

"We just didn't have it today," Goers said. "We didn't pack it up at the two-mile (mark). It wasn't one of our best meets."

While coach Matt Dowd wasn't pleased with the Hawks' performance, he hoped the loss would motivate his runners. Dowd also pointed out they went 0-6 in duals meets last year, yet still finished fifth in the conference and 22nd in the state.

"When you don't perform like you want to, good runners will use it to train harder, to race harder, to bring out the passion," he said. "If you can't take your bad days and use them to fuel your fire, well, then you don't deserve to win."

-- Joe Esse

• Prospect placed three runners in the top five led by Chris Hayek's 16:36 second place to give the Knights a 24-32 MSL east win Buffalo Grove. Tim Marr ran a 16:11 first for the Bison.

• Eric Rodriguez ran a 16:48 second place to lead Wheeling's 26-29 MSL East win over Rolling Meadows.

• Hersey's Kevin Havel and Billy Wisser finished 1-2 -- both in 16:05 -- in a 15-41 MSL East win over Elk Grove.

Girls swimming

Like Prospect the day before, the Buffalo Grove girls team has been looking for someone to replace a very important swimmer who is competing for a club team this season.

Prospect lost defending state breaststroke champion Julia Andracki to the Arlington Alligators -- but has found a capable replacement in freshman Greta Pietraszek.

The Bison started the season looking for someone to pick up the slack in the 500 free and 200 IM. Erin Rodriguez had swum these events, but she is also competing with the Alligators this fall.

The Bison had success in both events in Thursday's 106-80 Mid-Suburban League crossover victory over visiting Hoffman Estates.

The Bison's Nicole Delaney finished first in the 500 (5:54.77) and Rosie Fashing placed second (5:55.13).

In the IM, Buffalo Grove also placed 1-2 behind Julia O'Rourke (2:28.31) and Delaney (2:30.13).

"We tried a couple of things," said Bison coach Tom Mroz. "We were down a couple of varsity swimmers, so we brought a couple up from JV. We're trying to see where everyone goes. We've got a lot of learning to do."

Erin Rodriguez's sister, freshman Angela, was impressive Thursday. She swam a leg on the winning 200 medley relay (2:06.80) and the 200 free relay (1:54.14) teams, won the 100 free (1:02.07) by more than three seconds, and added a first place in the breaststroke (1:18.02) by nearly eight seconds.

While the Hawks came in second on varsity, they won the JV meet 84-60.

"We have a lot of freshmen," said Hoffman coach Josh Schumacher, whose Hawks saw 29 freshmen try out for the team with eight making the varsity. "They've really had an impact."

Hoffman's standouts were senior Susan Liu in the backstroke, Allison O'Halloran in the sprint events and Marta Borowy in the 500.

-- Kathy Rudolph

Boys Golf

Ryan O'Connell and Kyle Heckers led the charge in Maine West's 161-180 win over Niles North by both shooting 39s.

• A pair of 38's by Fremd Erik Peterson and Kyle Bahnick led the Vikings to a 154-162 win over Hoffman Estates. Max Martin was medalist with his 37 for the Hawks.

• A 35 by Buffalo Grove's Ryan McCullough helpd the Bison (162) edge Wheeling (165) and Schaumburg (172). Joe Kent and Kevin Taylor had 39s for the Wildcats while Steve Caldarola put in a solid 36 for the Saxons.