Stevenson charges to second
Running in temperatures hovering around 80 degrees was much more than some area boys cross country runners had bargained for Saturday morning at the Warren Invitational.
Many spectators sported umbrellas for shade as opposed to rain as was the case last weekend.
In the final team standings, Evanston ran to first place on the 3-mile course on the grounds of Warren High School with 93 points.
The Wildkits held off hard-charging Stevenson, as the Patriots were runners-up with 105 points.
Crystal Lake Central placed third with 139 points, followed by Niles North (146) in fourth, Crystal Lake South (162) fifth, and the host Blue Devils (167) in sixth.
Warren's senior front-runner Karsen Green collapsed and dropped out of the race at around the 2-mile mark because of dehydration from the heat. Green was able to recover without incident after the race was over, but it put a major cramp in the Blue Devils' scoring.
"I thought Spencer Simon (seventh) ran really well and Danny Kleine (21st) did O.K.," said Warren coach Bill Dawson. "He (Green) set the course record here last year and his goal was to break it, but I don't know if he could do that in this heat today."
Evanston's Matt Marol rolled to the individual crown in 15:21 to easily topple runner-up Josh Uvodich of Crystal Lake South in 15:48 and Fenton's Nathan Smith (third) in 15:50.
Stevenson's second-place effort was led by the trio of senior Tyler Bartlow (15:53) in fourth, senior Oliver Rose (15:57) in fifth, and sophomore Renat Zalov (16:04) in sixth.
"This is the biggest group of talent we've had in awhile and we were able to put it together today," Bartlow said. "Our coaches have been putting us through some pretty tough practices through the meets, but I think it is going to pay off at the end of the season."
Nathan Kolman (46th) and teammate Evihn Vaszily (48th) were also top-five scorers for the Patriots.
"The team ran extremely well today and we haven't had a nice day to run in a few weeks now," said first-year Stevenson coach Scott Somers.
"They're at practice every day, and they're pushing and working together in order to finish together in races like this."
CLS's push for fifth place was led by Uvodich, and the Gators' next highest finishers were David Lundine in 30th, John Ryan in 37th, and Wade Kilian in 38th.
"Josh (Uvodich) struggled today and he should have been with the leader but he fell off," said CLS coach Rich Eschman. "We could have done better today, but we had guys who were sick during the week."
Mundelein was led by sophomore Martin Mean in 11th place, but Mean walked off on crutches following the race due to a lingering calf injury.
Juan Carrera was Round Lake's top runner in 12th place to outdistance Grayslake Central top finisher Will Brewster in 14th, and Grant top finisher Ryan Mamerow in 15th place. Matthew Kendzior led Grayslake North in 19th to nip Grayslake Central's Kevin Dickson in 20th. Paul Myles was Warren's No. 3 runner in 32nd place to edge Grayslake North's Tyler Vincent in 34th.
"That leg has been just a little bit sore and he (Mena) has had a sore calf for about a week," said Mundelein coach John Osmanski. "Our No. 2 runner today collapsed from being dehydrated, and the pace stayed really consistent the whole way."