Huskies set the pace
Naperville North might be ranked as the second-best boys cross country team in Illinois, but Saturday it was second to none, opening its invitational season with an impressive performance.
Led junior Kyle Gibson and senior Jon Newman, the Huskies took the first-place trophy 32-50 over Schaumburg in the Lancer Invitational in Roselle.
Naperville North also got fifth- and sixth-place finishes, respectively, from juniors Mike Herbert and David McWilliams. With top-five runners Tyler Jermann and Dan Harper out with injuries, the Huskies called upon JV senior Jake Cusack, who finished 18th to cap their scoring.
"We have a really good team this year," Gibson said. "We're pretty confident that we can beat just about anyone."
Schaumburg knew the Huskies would be good, regardless of who was available.
"We knew Naperville North would be real tough. You don't get ranked No. 2 for nothing," Saxons senior Nathan Rutz said. "When you have a program like theirs, you can pretty much replace almost anyone."
Rutz finished fourth with a 15:16 time and Schaumburg had five more runners precede the Huskies' fifth man to the finish line.
Sophomore Pat Lesiewicz came in 10th with seniors Erich Seimetz and Brian Burkhardt and junior Phil Allman following consecutively for the Saxons. Freshman Travis Morrison was 17th.
Schaumburg coach Jim Macnider felt his team wasn't in top form, perhaps due to fatigue from a dual meet against Hoffman Estates on Thursday, but thought Saturday's second-place finish showed it is still a team to be reckoned with.
"We wanted to build some confidence," he said. "We were looking to get close to Naperville North. I think the kids realize that if they're the second-best team in the state, we're going to be all right. So I'm pretty pleased."
Downers Grove North took third (79) with Lake Park (90) and Wheeling (126) rounding out the top five.
The Lancers were disappointed to walk away without a trophy, but leading runner Alex Rummelhart put things in perspective.
"I can't be too mad," Rummelhart said after finishing eighth individually. "We ran a great race as a team. That's the best we've done in a while. We're still missing one of our top guys (senior Mike Della Penna) to injury, and if we just move that pack up, we could have been third easy."