Saxons stick with Huskies

Naperville North might be ranked as the second-best boys cross country team in Illinois, but on Saturday they were second to none as they opened their invitational season with an impressive performance.

Led by the top two finishers, junior Kyle Gibson (15:02) and senior Jon Newman (15:05), the Huskies took the first-place trophy 32-50 over Schaumburg in the Lancer Invitational in Roselle.

Naperville North got fifth- and sixth-place finishes, respectively, from juniors Mike Herbert (15:28) and David McWilliams (15:38). With top-five runners Tyler Jermann and Dan Harper out with injuries, the Huskies called upon JV senior Jake Cusack (16:04), 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 (15:45) came in 10th with seniors Erich Seimetz (15:47) and Brian Burkhardt (15:50) and junior Phil Allman (15:51) following consecutively for the Saxons. Freshman Travis Morrison (16:01) 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 (15:41) 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."

Wheeling placed five runners in the top 40 and junior Eric Rodriguez (15:58) finished in 15th place despite a sore leg.

"Right now, I have a little pain in my calf," Rodriguez said. "I felt it during the first mile, but after that I was able to get my leg loose and I was able to charge."

Seniors Norbert Gajos (27th, 16:30) and Mark Swakow (40th, 16:54) set personal bests for the Wildcats while following Toni Segura (21st, 16:14) and Ken Diedrich (23rd, 16:17).

"We're making good progress," Wheeling coach Tom Polak said. "We're getting faster, we're getting better. Those are the things that we want to be doing at this point of the season."

Buffalo Grove was racing without No. 1 runner Clay Locke, who had the flu, and its second runner, sophomore Tim Marr, who was running in the freshman/sophomore race.

"We were doing a training thing today," Bison coach Jamie Klotz said. "One of the keys to the state meet, when we get down there, is being able to run as close as you can to 10 minutes in two miles. This race affords you an opportunity to use it for kind of a training tool."

Marr passed with flying colors, running 9:54 to win the underclassman two-mile race. Sophomores Mike Galla (10:22) and Mark Giannis (10:37) finished back-to-back behind Marr but fell just short of Klotz's goal.

Streamwood finished eighth but got the seventh-best individual time from senior Neal Klein (15:39).

Maine West (236) took ninth, led by Brian Katamay (16:42). Sophomore Ogar Somo ran a 10:53 time in the 2-mile race, prompting Warriors coach Andy Trotter to say Somo's promotion to varsity is nearing.

Elk Grove (272) has only five varsity runners, but still managed four sub-18 minute performances and trailed sixth-place Bartlett by only 45 points.

St. Viator finished 12th and had three runners under 18:00, led by freshman Nick Fiore (17:48).

At Wauconda: There were a lot of twists and turns to the 32nd Annual Wauconda Invitational for area boys cross country runners Saturday morning at Lakewood Forest Preserve.

Unfortunately for six runners, there was a wrong turn on the 3.1-mile course that would lead to a real shake up in the final standings as all six of the key runners were disqualified.

In the end, Barrington captured the championship of the huge 35-team field with 91 points as the Broncos toppled McHenry (133 points) in second, and Cary-Grove (160 points) in third.

No. 1 runner Curtis Weisenberger of McHenry was one of the disqualified runners or the Warriors would probably have won the title, according to Barrington coach Ty Gorman.

Cary-Grove's Phil Fairleigh was also disqualfied, but reports say that the six DQ'd runners may have been directed the wrong way by a course official after the mile mark. Crystal Lake South had two runners DQ'd.

"(Dan) Quarfoot took a wrong turn which cost him about 100 meters," Gorman said. "Matt (Barns) ran a great race today and this is the best I've seen him run all year."

Mundelein's Alex Mena stayed on course to win the race in 15:54 as Mena held off Vernon Hills' Moe Bahrani (16:01) in second, and Barns (16:04) in third.

Barrington's top trio of Barns, Quarfoot (11th), and Mike Pfeifer (16th) carried the Broncos to the crown.

-- John Bumbales

At Peoria: Jeffrey Thode finished sixth (15:07) to lead Conant to fifth place in the Peoria Woodruff Invitational at Detweiller Park.