Lake Park turns in title effort at Niles West
One of the largest girls cross country meets in America brought out some tough competition Saturday morning at the 37th Annual Patrick Savage Invitational.
The huge two-division race featured a total of 34 teams competing on the 3-mile course on the grounds of Niles West High School, including one entry from Wisconsin.
DuPage County power Lake Park was the class of the field as the state-ranked Lancers rolled to the championship of the Red Division with 27 points.
In the White Division, Woodstock was a dominant force as the Blue Streaks captured the first-place trophy by a 25-75 margin over runner-up St. Viator.
Lake Park's Lindsay Flannagan led the Lancers' surge with a winning time of 17:50 in the Red Division which was the second best time to Woodstock's Kayla Beattie who won the White Division in 17:37.
"She (Flannagan) ran very well and she broke the school record so you can't get any better than that," said Lake Park coach Harvey Braus, whose team is ranked third in 3A. "All of the 10 girls in the race ran their best time of the season and we had seven of our kids in the top 12 spots."
Warren did not have its full lineup available for the race, but the Blue Devils still placed fifth in the White Division with 161 points. Hinsdale South placed third in the Red Division with 93 points followed by Leyden (120) in fifth, and Grayslake Central (198) in seventh.
"I just took the week off to focus on training," said elite Warren runner Heather Olson. "We're getting ready for next week and the rest of the season."
St. Viator's strong effort was led by junior Amanda Kompanowski's fourth-place finish in the White Division while Leyden junior Jaime Johnson added a fourth-place run in the Red Division.
"I think they did very well today and I think they are going to improve a lot still," said St. Viator coach Tony Peso. "Amanda (Kompanowski) will do even better and I think she can break 17 minutes."
Grayslake Central was once again led by senior Daisy Brey in 13th place for the Rams.
"Daisy ran a good race and this was her best time ever," said Grayslake Central coach Joel Peebles. "Laura Sloan made a big improvement from here last year and Erika Garcia ran her best time of the year."
In the White Division, Warren freshman Gabby Nystrom held off St. Viator freshman Taylor Skala for 12th place. Annie Brandes added a 14th-place finish for the Blue Devils to outdistance St. Viator's Maggie O'Malley in 16th.
"We didn't run our top two runners today and now we're looking towards the second half of the season and getting prepared for state," said Warren coach Cheryl Anderson. "We had a lot of personal bests for quite a few of the girls. Alyssa Herman won the fresh-soph race today and she's been running on varsity."
St. Viator teammates Keegan Griebel and Jessica Tanyko placed 20th and 22nd respectively for the Lions. Stevenson was led by sophomore Paige Ekenberg in 25th place as the Patriots did not use their regular lineup at the varsity level.