Vikes, Stars chase Wheaton North
The conservative approach worked just fine for Wheaton North's boys cross country team Saturday morning.
Running without one of their top runners, the Falcons took care of business while capturing the Class 3A St. Charles East regional title at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.
Led by seniors Collin Christensen (third, 15:17.4), Chase Kadlec (fourth, 15:22.3) and Graham Farnsworth (seventh, 15:30.7), the Falcons scored 40 points while overtaking second-place Geneva (47) and third-place St. Charles North (55).
"Geneva and St. Charles North had us on the ropes with a mile to go and our kids moved up and really did a nice job," said Falcons coach Nate Roe, whose team took regional honors for the third time in four years. "We knew it would be a challenge."
Justin Soderlund, who helped lead Wheaton North to the DuPage Valley Conference title last week, was held out of the lineup Saturday.
"It was just precautionary," said Roe. "He had some cramping last week. We knew this was the week we could be conservative."
Geneva, fresh from winning its first Western Sun Conference title, used an 8-second split between its first and fifth runners to solidify its runner-up spot.
"It was a huge PR for our team this week," said sophomore Kevin Sparks, who led the Vikings with a sixth-place time of 15:29.1. "We proved we can run with Wheaton North and St. Charles North -- two of the top teams in the state. It gives us a huge boost of confidence going into sectionals."
Greg Adelman (eighth), Evan Ehrhardt (10th), Andrew Nelson (11th) and Kevin McDowell (12th) added counting scores for the Vikings.
"Our fourth and fifth guys really stepped up," said Sparks.
St. Charles North received a 1-2 effort from seniors Chris DeSilva (15:06.1) and Mike Strasser (15:12.1).
DeSilva, who had beaten a similar field at the season-opening Jeff Leavey Invite in early September, took control of the race at the mile mark.
"I kind of had the confidence that I had beaten all of these guys in that meet (Leavey Invite) so I thought I could do it again," said DeSilva. "They all kind of expected me to lead it and I can finish really fast.
"I thought, 'I've got control so I'm going to run like I'd rather run it.' "
Strasser relied on a late kick to move into runner-up position.
"This is my last race on this course and I just gave it everything I had," he said. "I really wanted to put it together for the team. This is a huge checkpoint for us."
Batavia (115) and Glenbard East (157) secured the fourth and fifth team berths. Jared Klein paced the Bulldogs in 18th place, while Brian Peters finished 11th for the Rams.
Glenbard West's Robert Cooper (15th), St. Charles East's John Deutsch (21st), Glenbard North's Brett Lustgarten (22nd) and Mike Matuszak (27th), and Bartlett's Aaric Wilson (26th) advanced from non-qualifying teams.