Perez paces Lake Zurich
The 3-mile Adler Park course may have a lot of hills and even a wooden foot bridge to navigate, but there was no way that or even a false start was going to stop senior Gerardo Perez and the Lake Zurich boys cross country team Saturday afternoon.
The Bears got a decent challenge from defending champion Lake Forest, but Lake Zurich rose to the top of the North Suburban Conference standings by a 36-50 margin while Perez was winning the 12-team race in record fashion.
Perez emerged from the woods well ahead of the rest of the field before pouring it on in the stretch drive to win the race in a course record time of 15:02.80. The previous record was a 15:08.
To make the win even better, junior teammate Andrew Morrison would place second in 15:30 to help set off a huge Lake Zurich celebration which marked its second NSC crown in three years.
"I wanted to win it since freshman year and I knew I was in range for the record after the second mile," said Perez. "The team stepped it up today and our fourth and fifth runners did what I knew they could do."
All seven Bears runners earned all-conference honors by finishing in the top 30, including Francisco Soto in seventh, Paul Geimer in 11th, Jordan Pavlovich in 15th, Jake Paulus in 20th, and freshman Pat Juras in 25th.
"Everything we do is geared for the end of the year and the kids came to run on the right day and they deserve all of the credit," said Lake Zurich coach J.B. Hanson. "He (Perez) set a course record last week at Wheeling and this was even more impressive because he did it alone and he beat the times of a lot of good runners."
Warren held off Stevenson 94-116 in the battle for third place followed by Libertyville (144) in fifth, Lakes (169) in sixth, and host Vernon Hills (195) in seventh.
Warren teammates Karsen Green and Simon Spencer placed fifth and sixth to lead the Blue Devils' charge while Vernon Hills' Max Candocia edged Stevenson's Tyler Bartlow for eighth.
Mike Ricciotti (23rd) and Paul Myles (26th) were also all-conference for Warren.
"I'm happy for Spencer (Simon), but I think Karsen (Green) is capable of better," said Warren coach Bill Dawson. "I thought it was between us and Stevenson for third and fourth so finishing third was pretty good for us."
After Bartlow, the Pats received a 21st from Renat Zalov, a 22nd from Oliver Rose, and a 31st from Adam Pauley.
"As a team we got out a little slow on the second start and they just weren't able to make up the distance throughout the rest of the race," said Stevenson coach Scott Somers. "I think as a team we felt a little sluggish today and we're just trying to get ready for regionals."
Round Lake sophomore Juan Carrera continued to shine with a 12th-place finish for the Panthers Saturday while Lakes sophomore Blake Franson also turned in a strong 13th-place showing.
Another super sophomore, Grant's Ryan Mamerow, placed 16th to nip Libertyville junior Mitch Neubauer in 17th, and Mundelein sophomore Martin Mena in 18th.
Other area all-conference runners were Lakes junior Kyle White in 27th, Libertyville senior Jim Murnick in 28th, Mundelein junior David DuVal in 29th, and Libertyville junior Ryan Burke in 30th.