Geneva boys take title

The freshman phenom is officially a sophomore sensation.

Kelly Whitley, a sophomore on the Geneva girls cross country team, is 3-for-3 in winning first place in every meet she's been a part of this year.

On Saturday, Whitley won Kaneland's Larry Eddington Invitational for the second consecutive year at Elburn Woods. Her time of 18:50.54 on the 3-mile course helped Geneva take second place overall.

"It doesn't matter who is on Kelly's back, (if) she comes across first, it doesn't matter," Geneva coach Bob Thomson said.

"I like this course, I like the hills," Whitley added, "but they were a big challenge today. Benet ran really well, they ran a great race."

Benet placed 6 in the top 15 and edged out the Vikings with 46 points. Geneva, which was not racing all its top runners, finished with 49 points.

"I honestly was a little disappointed in our race today," Benet coach Scott Brooks said. "We didn't really run together as a pack today. That being said, we ran well time-wise...it's nice to say we went out and beat Geneva, but the kids are disappointed with how they ran as a pack.

"The world is smart enough to realize we didn't run against Geneva's seven best runners. We really didn't beat the No. 1 team in the state, but at the same time, this was good for us."

"We try to let each of the girls get a week off, maybe a couple weeks off, but we still ran a solid race," added Thomson, whose Vikings finished third in the state in Class 3A last year. "The girls are probably disappointed they lost to Benet, but it's no big deal. It's not the most important meet of the year...four girls got the chance to run varsity this week for the first time this year, but they still ran great."

Dundee-Crown was a distant third with 116 points, followed by Kaneland (147), Burlington Central (151), Rockford Lutheran (154), Glenbard East (190), Glenbard North (214), Timothy Christian (259), Rochelle (261), Jacobs (266), IMSA (286) and Westminster Christian (375).

In addition to Whitley, Geneva was guided by Sarah Heuer (fifth), Megan Brady (17th) and Rachel Hammond (20th).

Jen Howland (fourth) was Kaneland's top runner as well as Andie Strang (24th) and Lisa Roberson (38th).

"I was happy with the way the team ran, especially since they didn't get to run last week," Kaneland coach Doug Ecker said. "They did well, but there are still some things to work on. They are young."

Maggie Gannon and Markelle Turk's back-to-back 10th and 11th-place finishes helped Burlington Central finish fifth overall.

Boys race: There's nothing like running side-by-side with a good friend from an opposing team.

That was the scene at Elburn Woods Saturday, when Geneva's Andrew Nelson and Dundee-Crown's Anthony Manfrin finished mere tenths of a second apart from one another.

In the end, it was Nelson who edged Manfrin, which helped the Vikings win the Larry Eddington Invite, which was hosted by Kaneland.

Nelson clocked in at 15:36.03 in the 3-mile course. Manfrin was right behind with 15:36.57.

"We established a nice friendship over the summer at a camp, so it was nice to have someone to run with side-by-side almost the entire race," Nelson said of Manfrin. "The finish says it all."

"Anthony has been really consistent up front," Chargers coach Tom Smith added. "He and Nelson battle every time they go out, and that's really exciting. Anthony beat him last week, and coming in, we knew Nelson was going to put up a great race."

Geneva won the invite by a score of 46, as the Chargers finished with 56. Batavia was in third with 84, Benet fourth (118) and Kaneland 140 to round out the top 5.

Jacobs was sixth with a 156, followed by Rochelle (169), Westmont (191), Sycamore (252), DeKalb (287), IMSA (294), Burlington Central (363), Rockford Lutheran (371) and Timothy Christian (397).

Geneva had five in the top 18, including Nelson, Chris Higgins (fifth place), Kevin McDowell (seventh) and Connor Bartel (15th).

"Those guys came to run today," Geneva coach Bob Thomson said.

Al Lowe and Stephan Jurgens went third and fourth for Batavia, which also had Drew Schmitt place 13th.

"I'm very excited about that," Batavia coach Mike DiDomenico said of placing four in the top 23. "I think our kids are doing a great job this year, and that's evident by their performances...hopefully, this will be our year. We ran against a lot of great programs today."

"Everyone has excuses...but that would have changed the dynamic of the race," Benet coach Kevin Renicker said of the two runners missing. "I'm really impressed with Batavia and Geneva and how they run, and Dundee-Crown ran an excellent race, so I knew it was going to be tough with the tight packs. I'm happy with what we did today, but I know we are a better team."

Kaneland was led by Paul Davies (12th), Dominic Furco (27th) and Logan Markuson (28th).

"I know our kids get up for this meet because it's a home meet," Kaneland coach Chad Clarey said. "Most of all, we are just trying to get through the day healthy...team-wise, we are just trying to get our pieces in place. We didn't run with a full lineup today, and I know other schools did the same thing, so it's kind of hit-or-miss when you look at a team and how well they are doing...We are a slow-starting team, and this was a nice start for us. This was a good building block for us."