Warren's Olson kicks to victory
The 32nd Annual Wauconda Invitational was a great test for area girls cross country runners Saturday morning at Lakewood Forest Preserve.
A total of 36 teams took to the 3.1-mile course, with Cary-Grove pulling away from Fox Valley Conference rival Crystal Lake Central 150-163 for the championship.
Lake Forest slipped past Dundee-Crown 177-198 for third place while Crystal Lake South placed eighth with 275 points.
The individual race was a close one for the first two miles, but Warren junior Heather Olson put on a burst of speed in the final mile to easily win the race in 18:19.
CLS's Kristina Aubert was the runner-up in 18:48 followed by CLC's Stephanie Peisker (18:56) in third, and Vernon Hills' Danielle Dickman (19:17) fifth under some pretty warm running conditions on the hilly course.
"Today I wanted to really put on a surge headed into the last mile and I was very happy with my time," said Olson, who placed 17th in the state last year. "I really like this course, and I'm excited about coming back here for the conference meet."
The trio of Madeline Aufmann (seventh), Hillary Young (12th), and Molly Macinnes (18th) helped lead Cary-Grove to the crown. Peisker, Haley Staples (ninth), and Rachel Bush (17th) carried the Tigers to runner-up honors.
"I didn't think we would win this meet with 150 points, but having those three runners in the top 18 was huge with where our fourth through seventh runners were," said Cary-Grove coach Mark Anderson. "I think all of our kids ran really well for this point of the season, but there are definitely things we need to keep working on."
Warren's Sarahbeth Jones had a strong finish in eighth place while Kelsey Sieler led Dundee-Crown's charge in 10th. Rachael Dean led Lakes in 11th to outdistance Huntley's Haley Loprieno in 13th, and Grayslake North's Kimberly Denikas in 14th.
Lake Forest's third-place finish was led by a balanced effort behind Caroline Kelleher in 20th and teammate Brittany Mitchell in 23rd.
"We don't have any real front-runners, but our gap between one and five is going to be under a minute," said Lake Forest coach Steve Clegg. "In cross country a lot of times it comes down to the 3-4-5 runners and we have a strong top six."
Other top finishers Saturday were Lakes' Ariel Butzine in 15th, Johnsburg's Nell Langner in 16th, Dundee-Crown's Claira Himmel in 19th, and Grant's Kendra Kennedy in 21st.
St Edward's Ashley Lucas (22nd), Grant's Alexis Capps (24th), and Stevenson's Chrissy Pacewicz rounded out the top 26.
"She (Dickman) had a great race, she felt really good, and she improved her time by at least a minute from when we ran here two weeks ago," said Vernon Hills coach Suzanne Richert. "They all improved from what they did two weeks ago and we have a few people missing on varsity who could have helped us today."
CLC did not have its full lineup intact either Saturday or the Tigers could have made a serious push for the title.
"It was close, but right now we're just focusing on our team and working on making progress for the next meet," said CLC coach Shannon Schroeder. "We were missing a girl today who is usually our No. 3 runner and we know what we need to work on."