Marmion makes history while dominating meet

The Marmion cross country team was positively untouchable in Saturday's Suburban Catholic Conference meet.

All 7 Cadets finished first through seventh, easily winning the conference title with a perfect score of 15 at Marmion in Aurora. Coach Bob Rebenstorf believes this has never been done in the history of the conference.

"On paper, I knew I had my best team coming in here I've ever had in my 24 years of coaching, said Rebenstorf, who announced over the summer he is retiring after this season. "I think a lot of the guys tried extra special to try and send me out a winner and go out on a historic win with a sweep of the conference. I'm really proud of the guys. They looked strong and confident out there."

"This is the best Marmion team I've seen in my 23 years coaching at ACC," ACC coach Troy Kerber added. "They are outstanding. Quite honestly, I think they are capable of being a (class) 3A (state) qualifier."

After the awards ceremony, Rebenstorf had the honor of getting ice water in a Gatorade tub dumped over him from his runners. He said that has happened once or twice before, but never by surprise - until Saturday.

"I usually see it coming," Rebenstorf said. "They set me up. I should have known when we were posing for pictures. That was fun. It was worth it."

Andrew Larsen led the way in the 5K race with his time of 15:38, which was 9 seconds off the course record set by Dave Grange. Larsen was also named the SCC male runner of the year.

The second-place finisher from Marmion, Oscar Aguinaga, clocked in at 16:29, followed by Ben Kanute, TJ Heffernan, Zack Young, Chris Hebert and Bennett Marsh.

"We all ran well," Larsen said. "A lot of people stepped up today. It's a great feeling to turn around and watch all six of my teammates come in before everyone else."

"These guys haven't let me down all year," Rebenstorf added. "It was just a team effort, and that's what makes us so strong."

St. Francis was second with a 62. Aurora Central Catholic was third (78), Montini fourth (116), Marian fifth (118) and Immaculate Conception sixth (185). St. Edward and Driscoll had runners present, but did not field a complete team. The top 14 runners were named to the all-conference team.

"You have to give Marmion the credit they deserve," St. Francis coach Scott Nelson said. "We did great, we'll take it. We did our job."

"This was probably our most ineffective race of the year," Kerber said. "We've had some challenges getting everyone running well on the same day. We need to regroup and get after it in the regional. We are fighting for our lives with St. Francis again at the regional... it's going to be like a mini-sectional at our place."

In the collective standings compiled from the entire regular season, the Cadets finished first, the Spartans second, ACC third, Montini and Marian were tied for fourth and IC, the Green Wave and the Highlanders all tied for sixth.

St. Francis was led by Joe Giamberdino's eighth-place finish and time of 17:17, along with Sean Montegue (12th), Trevor Holzman (13th), Matt Denny (17th) and Ben Graunke (18th).

The Chargers' top runner was Max Gilbert (11th, 17:31), followed by Dan Kottkamp (16th), John Cisneros (19th), Manuel Sauceda (20th) and Jimmy Spencer (21st).

The first Montini runner to cross the finish line was Michael Rigor in 15h place with Dan Grace at 22nd Chris Ulrich in at 24th place. Three of Immaculate Conception's runners came in together 39th through 41st - Sean Doherty, Laren Butler and Adam Kramer.

Andrew Knapik cracked the top 10 for the Green Wave with his time of 17:19, which was good enough for ninth place. Driscoll's Jeremy Wilk was the last to make all-conference with his 14th-place showing and time of 17:48.

Girls race: Is there any stopping the St. Francis girls cross country team when it comes time to conference championships? Not this year.

The Spartans won their eighth consecutive Suburban Catholic Conference title Saturday at Marmion on the 5K course in Aurora behind senior and SCC runner of the year, Courtney Trunk, who timed in at 20:13.

"It's senior year, and I probably won't run in college, so I've been thinking about this last conference meet for a while now," Trunk said. "I really wanted it, so I got out there, took control and didn't want to give it up."

St. Francis also received top 12 performances from Alysa Robinson (fifth), Anna Kalkeo (seventh), Kristen Barth (ninth) and Maria Diamond (12th).

"We did what we had to do," St. Francis coach Scott Nelson said. "Last year, we were good and had some strengths and depth, but we graduated 3 of our top 5 kids. These kids came in and stepped in and did a nice job."

"We are a pack team," Trunk added. "We train together (and) we run all our workouts together. In the first mile, we were really tight, we kept it together. That's how we do well in races. That's how we succeed."

Rosary finished second with 55 points, followed by Aurora Central Catholic (65), Marian (100) and Montini (127). St. Edward, Driscoll and Immaculate Conception each had runners present, but did not have enough for a team score. The top 14 runners earned all-conference honors.

"This is a good finish for us because we were third last year, so it's a step up for us," Rosary coach Vic Mead said. "All the seniors ran well today, so this must have really meant something."

"We are a little disappointed, to be honest," ACC coach Troy Kerber said. "We are heading into probably the toughest 2A regional in the state next week (ACC is hosting). There are six state-ranked teams there, and five get out. We were sixth in the sectional last year, and we are trying to regroup as a good young team this year... bottom line, we need to step up next week."

Collectively, St. Francis won the conference; ACC and Rosary were switched, with the Chargers edging out the Royals for second place, Marian was fourth, Montini fifth and the Highlanders, Knights and Green Wave were in a three-way tie for sixth.

Kelly Kieffer led the Royals with her third-place time of 20:34, along with Courtney Convey (sixth), Haley Eutting (13th), Audrey VanAcker (18th) and Nora Bowe (19th).

Jaclyn Nagel was ACC's top finisher with an eighth-place finish at 21:33. She was followed by Alexis Anthony (10th), Nicole Bohr (15th) and Natalie Perry (16th).

Montini only had one in the top 25, thanks to Ericka Laviste and her second-place showing of 20:29. Teammates Stephanie Kaefer (30th), Kelly Boyd (33rd), Theresa Weber (35th) and Mary Kate Mulkerrin (36th) also contributed.

Gabey Montiel (31st) and Megan Barnish (34th) ran for Immaculate Conception. Maude Maschinski and Jenna Roth were St. Edward's only two runners who finished 39th and 40th, respectively. Driscoll's lone girl was Jennifer Rowley (38th).