Geneva girls, Batavia boys claim titles
A promising pack of freshmen girls from Geneva's cross country team dominated the Royal-Cadet Invitational Saturday at Marmion.
All 7 of the Vikings' runners were underclassmen who finished in the top 19, leading the way to a first-place finish in the 3.1 mile event.
This was pretty good for the Vikings, considering the other half of their "real" varsity team was racing at a different meet in Peoria.
"(The 7 freshman) ran the (freshman/sophomore) meet last week (at St. Charles East) and scored 15, a perfect score, so today, winning varsity is an awesome accomplishment," Geneva coach Bob Thomson said. "Everyone ran a great race. A lot of kids came up to me and told me they ran a PR. I'm happy with all of them."
After Katherine Rack of Oak Park-River Forest won the meet individually with a time of 19:00, Geneva's Kelly Whitley (second), Liza Tauscher (third), Kat Yelle (fifth), Tess Ehrhardt (eighth), Rachel Hammond (11th), Megan Brady (13th) and Taylor Wickware (19th) easily gave the Vikings the win.
"We felt really good," said Whitley, who, like all the other freshman, participated in her first race at the varsity level. "It was really fun. We weren't expecting to do as well as we did. We are all freshmen, so it's a big surprise."
Benet placed second with a score of 57, followed by Oak Park-River Forest (100), Batavia (114), DeKalb, East Aurora, IMSA, Leyden, Rosary and Oswego East.
"I'm OK with our finish, but we got beat on our best day by Geneva," Benet coach Scott Brooks said. "We just weren't ourselves today, from the beginning to the end of the meet."
Benet's top runners were McKinzie Schulz (second overall), followed by Molly Allen, Sarah Clark, Jenny Bohac, Anna Langhenry and Liz Schreiber, who all clocked in the top 19.
Batavia had 5 runners in the top 28. They were Alexis Sampson (10th), Teresa Orlow, Katie Parisi, Anna Suthpen and Megan Suthpen.
"The three teams in front of us were all very good teams, so there's nothing wrong with (fourth place)," Batavia coach Chad Hillman said.
Rosary's top runner was Stephanie Roth (31st).
Boys race:ŒThe boys cross country race at the Royal-Cadet Invitational at Marmion was so close, most coaches and runners did not know who won until the results were announced at the awards ceremony.
"It was too close, which really says a lot about one, the area, and two, how important it is that sixth, seventh runner is, and how that one guy in front of you made all the difference in the world," Benet coach Kevin Renicker said.
Batavia didn't place a single runner in the top 9, yet owned the 10th through 14th spots, which helped the Bulldogs win the meet with 60 points.
"We are very happy with the results, obviously," Batavia coach Mike DiDomenico said. "The kids worked hard all summer and I'm very impressed they packed it in as well as they did. They did a really nice job. This is a nice first step. We don't have stars, we have a team, and we preach that team concept and philosophy, and that's what it's all about."
"I thought Batavia did a really good job today," added Marmion coach Bob Rebensdorf. "They had a strong team. I knew we had a strong team coming in, but I didn't know how strong. I was really proud of our top 5 guys. We'll take the second-place finish."
Marmion senior Josh Stein won the 3.1 mile race. Despite feeling ill, he ran a 16:17 -- 10 seconds behind Benet's Robby Olp. Stein's first-place finish helped the Cadets edge the Redwings for second place (65 points) by a point.
"We came out on our home course to protect our house…so I thought we did pretty good," Stein said. "Last year, I had a 16:02, but we ran the course a little different, so I think I'm about right where I would finish."
"(Stein) finished by a wide margin, so I think that kind of affirms in a field like this he's one of the area's top runners," Rebensdorf added. "I think one of his goals was to defend his home course and finish first. The margin was great, as far as I'm concerned."
After the top 3, the margin was much wider, as Glenbard West tallied 139 points for fourth place overall, followed by East Aurora (142), Glenbard East (149), Geneva (160), Wheaton North (189), DeKalb (239), Leyden (248), IMSA, Oswego East and Downers Grove South.
Batavia's pack consisted of 10th-place Robbie Blotter, followed by Drew Schmitt, Jared Klein, Andrew Sampson and Brad Wlosnczynski.
Aside from Stein, the Cadets were led by T.J. Heffernan (sixth place), Oscar Aguinaga (16th), Matt Wenzel (17th) and Mike Weiler (25th).
In addition to Olp, Benet's top runners were Alex Krouse (fourth overall), Kevin Cleary (15th), Nick Sullivan (22nd) and Paul Brom (23rd).
Glenbard West was led by Robert Cooper (fifth place); Glenbard East's top runner was Brian Peters (seventh).
Geneva's leader, despite half the varsity running at a different meet in Peoria, was eighth-place Kevin McDowell.
T.J. Luby led Wheaton North's team with his 19th-place finish.
-- Christine Bolin