CL South's Aubert wins Bartlett race
Crystal Lake South's Kristina Aubert and St. Charles North's Stephanie Strasser are quite familiar with running against each other.
During the spring track season Aubert beat Strasser and the rest of the field to win the Class AA 3,200-meter state championship as a freshman. Strasser, also a freshman at the time, finished third.
Saturday the pair were on the same course at Bartlett Flyin' Hawk Cross Country Invitational at Sunrise Park.
Aubert again was victorious, finishing the 3-mile course in 17 minutes, 57 seconds. Strasser again was third in 18:29. Woodstock's Kayla Beattie was second (18:12).
"I knew Kristina is a good runner because we ran together at state in the 2-mile," Strasser said. "She came and took off. I just couldn't keep the pace this time."
Aubert began to run away from the pack around the 2-mile mark on what she described as "a perfect day for running." "I usually stay with the lead person, but today I felt awesome," Aubert said.
Strasser got the best of Aubert in the state cross country finals last year. Strasser finished eighth, while Aubert was 72nd.
"I knew there was some real competition with Strasser and Beattie," Aubert said. "I knew it would be really competitive."
Woodstock (59) won the girls' team title thanks to three runners finishing in the top six. STC North (67), Bartlett (97), CL South (105) and Schaumburg (109) rounded out the top five.
Bartlett's Alyssa Schneider was fifth in 18:49 and Sam Salinas took eighth in 19:03.
In the boys race, Schaumburg ran away with the team title as the Saxons had five runners finish in the top 14. Nathan Rutz won the race in 15:31. Pat Lesiewicz (fourth, 15:52), Erich Seimetz (fifth, 15:55), Brian Burhardt (eighth, 16:06) and Jay McNamara (14th, 16:33) added to the Saxons' team total.
Ruiz finished ahead of Huntley's Todd Fairbiak by 7 seconds. Streamwood's Neal Klein was third in 15:41.
"My goal was to try to stay in the top three (on the course), trying to get the mentality for sectionals," Klein said. "I figured if I could make a move at a mile then I could some guys, but that didn't pan out."
Glenbard North was second with 79 points. CL South (108) finished third, followed by Jacobs (108) and Lincoln-Way Central (115).
Glenbard North was paced by Brett Lustgarten's seventh-place finish (16:06) and Tim Bates' 10th-place finish (16:16).
Josh Uvodich was the Gators' top finisher, taking sixth in 16:04. Teammate Phillip Hernandez was ninth (16:09).