Smoody, Palatine brew up a title

Palatine has never won a state boy cross country title.

But senior Mat Smoody said two weeks ago that the Pirates -- who were three-time state runners-up from 2003-05 -- had something special brewing.

The Pirates proved him a prophet Saturday, capturing their own sectional title at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve.

The Pirates totaled 57 points, with Smoody and senior Kevin O'Brien leading a strong pack.

"I think today shows us that we have it all," Smoody said. "I think we're pretty set. I think we're all ready and feeling great."

The Pirates ran together as a team for the first half of the race before separating.

Smoody and O'Brien took second and third, respectively, and sophomore Chano Bernardo finished 12th despite a sprained ankle.

Sophomore Alec Bollman (22nd) and senior Eddie Lopez (25th) helped lock up the win.

"Now that we qualified we can focus on state," said Pirates coach Chris Quick. "If we run that way like a team, we have a shot to win a trophy."

The Pirates are so strong that if you swapped Smoody and O'Brien for Palatine's sixth and seventh finishers, seniors Paul Kwak (31st) and Alex Mourousias (42nd), the Pirates would have been second with 115 points.

Hersey (79) did finish second to the Pirates for the third straight week.

Senior Kevin Havel led the way with another dominating performance as he prepares to compete for the big prize.

"I've been ready for this for four years," Havel said of Saturday's state final. "I'm just really anxious for it. I would definitely say we're ready. We've been focused on this for a long, long time. It's now or never."

Senior Billy Wisser took fourth, and junior Erik Stanton was eighth to give the Huskies three finishers ahead of any other team.

Hersey only trailed Palatine by one through four runners but couldn't get a runner in before the Pirates' final three.

"We had a really good race from our sophomore, Matt Cwiok (26th), but we didn't have a fifth man today," said Huskies coach Tim Phillips. "If we run like this next week, we'll probably get sixth or seventh. If we can rebound and get someone to run with Cwiok, I think we could come back with a trophy. But that's a big if. We have to have somebody step up."

Barrington (178) tied Dundee-Crown (178) for fourth place, while Cary Grove (168) took third.

The Broncos received stellar performances from senior co-captains Matt Barnes (seventh) and Dan Quarfoot (14th). Juniors Micah Koenig and Jeff Robinson both came in at 15:31 to give Barrington four runners in the top 50.

"I'm extremely happy," Barnes said. "This (is) the best day ever. I don't think there's anymore that we could have done."

Dundee-Crown's semi-charmed ride continued.

Few expected D-C to advance past the Rolling Meadows regional. Now the Chargers are headed to Peoria for the first time since 1991 with only two seniors in the top 12.

"I think we can run with the great teams now," said freshman Anthony Manfrin, the team's top finisher in 18th. "We have a good pack. We have a young team, but we have a lot of talent."

Coach Tom Smith acknowledged his team's lack of experience but pointed to the boys' attitudes as a key to their success.

"Their frame of mind was all positive," Smith said. "They weren't feeling overwhelmed. They kept saying to each other 'we can do this'. They said that when we walked off the course last week. It's awesome."

Cary-Grove came into the meet hoping to finish third, and coach Layne Holter was happy that the team "ran to our potential today."

"We knew it was going to be a dogfight for those last three spots," he said. "But we've been running pretty well the last couple of weeks. We've had different guys in our top seven step up and have a great race the last couple weeks."

The Trojans were very happy to go downstate and avoid a repeat of 2006, when they missed qualifying for state by 3 points.

"We're definitely relieved because we were worried that it would be the same thing as last year," said C-G sophomore Phil Fairleigh. "That was real tough. So we were relieved but also real excited for next week."

Prospect's season came to an end with a sixth-place finish. Junior Chris Hayek qualified as an individual for the Knights (215).

"They're an inexperienced squad and we showed it today," said coach Mike Stokes. "Obviously there are some things that they need to change, and most of it comes with maturation."

"Sometimes the best thing is to get a punch in the face. It wakes you up."

Senior Clay Locke of Buffalo Grove ran solo to 13th place and will do so again in Peoria as an individual qualifier.

Mundelein senior Alex Mena (ninth) also qualified as an individual.

Rolling Meadows junior Kevin Clark finished 27th, Fremd sophomore Aaron Ferst was 41st, Wheeling junior Eric Rodriguez came in 57th and Fremd senior Nick Hurley finished 106th running as individuals.