Reilly leads Libertyville to title
The road to the Class 3A girls state cross country meet began for area teams and individuals Saturday morning at the Lake Zurich regional.
Libertyville was a dominant force in the 3.1-mile race at Lakewood Forest Preserve, as the Wildcats rolled to the championship of the 10-team field with 40 points.
Cary-Grove held off Lake Forest 72-81 for second place while Deerfield placed fourth with 111 points.
That left one berth available for the Palatine sectional and it was Lake Zurich that outdistanced Stevenson 133-162 for fifth place under the cool and dry running conditions.
The race for the individual title was a close one for the first two-thirds of the race, but Libertyville junior Hannah Reilly pulled away from the rest of the field in the final mile to take first place in 19:08.
The Wildcats also received a great performance from junior Anne Strychalski, who placed second in 19:22.
"I'm very proud of them, they worked very hard to get to this point, they ran according to plan, and you can't ask for much more than that," said Libertyville coach Harry Carlson. "Hannah came into this race wanting to win it, and she had a pretty good lead with a half mile to go."
Reilly and Strychalski got great support from their teammates Erin Jaffke (ninth), Alyssa Corrigan (11th) and Megan Janezic (17th).
"I went in pretty confident and I thought I had a good chance to win if I ran a strong race," said Reilly. "After last week (at the conference meet) we knew we had a chance to win, and once we were out there we saw what the girls were doing and we knew we could take them."
Cary-Grove was pleased with its runner-up performance. Madeline Aufmann (eighth) and Molly MacInnes (10th) helped pace the Trojans' pack. Hillary Young (15th), Emily Cummings (16th) and Megan Cummings (23rd) rounded out Cary-Grove's scoring.
"Today we weren't touching Libertyville, but I thought it was a solid second place so I'm pretty happy to move on to sectionals," said Cary-Grove coach Mark Anderson. "It was a real solid race for us, and to have five in the top 23 was good for a young team that is gaining confidence."
Lake Zurich had to battle to earn a berth in the sectional, but the Bears advanced behind the strength of Stephanie Weiss in seventh, Audry Smith in 21st and Erika Powers in 29th.
"It wasn't quite the greatest race they've had all season, but it served our purpose," said Lake Zurich coach Ian Silverman. "They're really dedicated kids and the fact that they made it out is a bonus. There will be even more good teams at sectionals."
Stevenson may have finished out of the top five, but the Patriots did have Kim Tarnoff (sixth) and Paige Ekenberg (24th) qualify for the sectional.
"The effort was there and the execution of it was all good, but we got beat out by some teams that are a little better than us right now," said Stevenson coach Don Proft. "Tarnoff ran really well going out with the lead pack and she was able to chase a couple of runners down in the last half mile."
Carmel sophomore Hilary Halford earned the fifth and final at-large individual berth to the sectional with a 26th-place run.
Woodstock regional: Teams advancing to the Class 3A Palatine sectional from the Woodstock regional were Woodstock (47 points), Crystal Lake South (66), Prairie Ridge (71), Warren (88) and Grant (124).
Warren's Heather Olson won the race in 18:40, 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Kristina Aubert of Crystal Lake South.
Warren's sectional-qualifying effort also included the races of Sarahbeth Jones (11th), Annie Brandes (21st), Alyssa Herman (26th) and Aubrey Berry (29th).
Grant was led by the 1-2 punch of Alexis Capps (sixth) and Kendra Kennedy (eighth). The Bulldogs also needed the performances of Heather Ruetsche (30th), Alyssa Pasiewicz (38th) and Vianca Bermeo (42nd).
Grayslake Central's Daisy Brey finished ninth to earn an individual berth into the sectional.
Marengo regional: In the Class 2A regional at Walcamp, Vernon Hills' Danielle Dickman (18:07.5) edged Lakes' Rachael Dean (18:07.9).
Antioch's Erin Poss was third (18:34.7). The top-10 also included Grayslake North's Kimmy Denikas (eighth) and Lakes' Emma Howard (ninth).
Teams advancing to the Belvidere sectional were Crystal Lake Central (51 points), Antioch (87), Grayslake North (97), Vernon Hills (102) and Marengo (102).
Antioch's second-place finish came thanks to Poss, Jen Naegele (11th), Brianna Hogan (21st), Kailey Formella (24th) and Lauren Colette (28th).
Denikas led third-place Grayslake North, which also featured Sarah Johnson (13th), Emmaly Schwartz (18th), Amanda Leon (23rd) and Meghan Gossell (35th).
Besides Dickman, Vernon Hills' top-five included Jessica Feece (16th), Mallory Feece (26th), Carley Umphress (29th) and Sarah Elms (30th).