Warren's Green, Olson deliver victories in course-record times

With cooler weather than normal for this time of year, the Warren Invitational was run under ideal conditions for area cross country runners Saturday morning.

And Warren junior Karsen Green took full advantage of the situation in the boys race as Green won in 15:09 on the 3-mile course on the grounds of the O'Plaine Campus to set a course record by one second.

Evanston was the class of the 21-team field with a winning score of 61 points while Lake Forest outdistanced Fenton 98-117 for runner-up honors.

Stevenson had a solid fourth-place finish with 153 points as the Patriots edged fifth-place team Crystal Lake Central (157 points) and sixth-place Warren (164).

Green had some tough competition for the individual crown Saturday, but he was able to hold off Grayslake North's Nicholas Lane (15:14) for first place.

"This whole week I put in all speed work and I was just going to try to outkick (Lane) with 200 or 300 meters to go," said Green, who broke the previous record set by Stevenson's Tim Entwistle two years ago. "I'm really surprised with my time today because I was expecting a 15:30, but running in this weather was perfect."

Crystal Lake South edged Grayslake North 238-245 for seventh place as Josh Uvodich led the Gators in fourth place. Mundelein placed 11th with 338 points while Grayslake Central (368 points) placed 13th.

Oliver Rose led Stevenson's surge in seventh place while Carson Sterchi was CLC's top runner in eighth. Joe Bruzzini added an 11th-place run for CLS followed by Mundelein freshman Martin Mena in 12th. Alex Mena did not run for the Mustangs on Saturday after taking first place at the Wauconda Invitational last weekend.

"We're quite happy with (Martin) Mena sticking his neck out there in the varsity race as a freshman," said Mundelein coach John Osmanski. "He's still young, and he's getting better every time as he gets more experience."

Ben Flavin was CLC's second runner in 13th place while Stevenson's Barrett Wood helped carry the Patriots' scoring in 15th. CLC's Tyler Whitfield placed 17th.

"They definitely ran their best team race of the year and they had a good final kick," said Stevenson coach Don Proft. "Rose has worked very hard over the summer, Barrett got himself in a good position in the middle of the race, and there was a lot of passing in the end."

Wade Kilian placed 27th for CLS while Warren coach Bill Dawson received a 28th-place run from Spenser Simon.

"We did better than last week and we're just trying to figure out what is best for these guys right now," said CLC coach Bill Eschman. "It was a perfect day to run so the times were very fast today."

Tyler Bartlow (34th) was Stevenson's No. 3 runner Saturday followed by Grayslake North's Jimmy Johnson in 35th, Warren's John Marlowe in 36th, Grayslake Central's Mark Giertych in 37th, Warren's Steve Walz in 38th, and Stevenson's Renat Zalov in 39th.

"We didn't run well as a team today, but we were missing one of our top two runners," said CL South coach Rich Eschman. "Our top two guys ran well today and I was real happy with them."

Record run for Olson: Saturday morning was the kind of day girls cross country runners dream about.

Warren's Heather Olson shattered the previous course record of 17:50 at Warren's O'Plaine Campus to win the 3-mile race in 17:26 under ideal conditions for this early in the season.

After winning the Wauconda Invitational easily last weekend, Olson had to battle Saturday to hold off Crystal Lake South's Kristina Aubert (17:31) in second place.

"I think she (Aubert) is really good on flat courses and it was a really great race right to the end," Olson said. "The weather was great and it was really just a great day to run so I'm really happy."

The team competition was a close one with Crystal Lake Central outdistancing the host Blue Devils 83-97 for the championship of the 20-team meet as the Tigers' top trio once again helped carry them to the victory.

Stephanie Peisker placed third for CLC with strong support from teammates Haley Staples in eighth and Rachel Bush in ninth.

"I thought we made improvement over last weekend and our gap between our third and fourth runners was closer today," said CLC coach Shannon Schroeder, whose team will compete in Class 2A this fall. "Our top three are definitely leading the way right now and we're looking to see who will step up and be our fourth and fifth runners."

Warren's top four was outstanding with Olson, Sarahbeth Jones (sixth), Gabby Nystrom (16th), and Annie Brandes (17th) leading the Blue Devils' surge.

"She (Olson) smashed the course record and she had asked me the other day what the course record was so that was her goal today," said Warren coach Cheryl Anderson. "Our one through four runners are very solid and this was the first invite where we really put everybody together."

CLS locked up third place with 130 points to outdistance Stevenson (149 points) in fourth, and Mundelein (178 points) in sixth. Grant placed ninth with 214 points behind Kendra Kennedy in 10th and Alexis Capps in 11th.

Stevenson was led by Kim Tarnoff in 13th while Nell Langner led Johnsburg in 14th. Grayslake North's Kimberly Denikas was the Knights' top runner in 15th place while Chrissy Pacewicz added a 19th-place finish for the Patriots. Paige Ekenberg was Stevenson's third runner in 22nd place.

"Our girls got off to their fastest start of the season and our second and third runners being together helped out a lot today," said Stevenson coach Don Proft. "Kim (Tarnoff's) time was really good and this was definitely our best team race of the season so far."

Stephanie Belokon was CLS's No. 2 runner in 23rd place to edge Antioch's Jen Naegele in 24th. Mundelein had a good 1-2 punch Saturday behind teammates Claire Heitman (25th), and Hannah Glenner (26th). CLC's Katie Bland placed 27th while Chelsey Tyllia placed 29th for the Gators.

"I knew that Heather Olson and Kristina (Aubert) would be in a close race and mentally Kristina knew Heather would try to pull away from her after two miles," said CLS coach Nikki Lydon. "The team did a great job today, and next week we're going to bump two of our fresh-soph runner up and they will help our varsity team."

Mundelein's Dulce Arroyo placed 33rd while CLS's Colleen Sullivan (35th), and CLC's Alexa Adams rounded out the top 36 runners.