Winning's a kick for Jones; Barrington wins Wheeling Invite
Buffalo Grove sophomore Olivia Jones was locked in an intense battle with Barrington freshman Rebecca Batliner and Rolling Meadows junior Christina Gastfield at the Wheeling Invitational on Saturday.
The three runners set the tone for the first mile and made separation in the second mile before pushing each down the home stretch.
But Jones found the extra gear, out-kicking Batliner and Gastfield to capture the victory in 17:35 at Heritage Park on Saturday.
Batliner (17:36) and Gastfield (17:40) followed closely behind.
"It felt great," said Jones who flashed her speed the final 50 meters to secure the victory. "It definitely benefited me today."
Barrington's pack stuck together long enough, with five runners in the top 25, taking the team title with 67 points in the 18 team field.
"We've been talking about running as a pack all year," said Barrington coach Debbie Revolta, "It was time for them to get out of their comfort zone and take a risk."
Libertyville placed four runners in the top 18 to take second with 91 points, followed by Rolling Meadows (98), Lake Park (115), and St. Viator (171).
Jones, Batliner and Gastfield set the pace for the 3-mile course.
"We worked off one another and learn from each other," said Jones of the three-way race for the finish. "And whoever is having their day, they take it."
Batliner surged to the lead in the last half of the final mile only to have Jones pass her down the home stretch.
"I was trying to match it," said Batliner of Jones' winning move. "She had a really good kick at the end. I was happy with my finish, but I can work on it and I can always get better."
Gastfield held the lead entering the final mile in the see-saw race.
"We had a pretty good pack and kept switching off leads," added Gastfield, who finished eighth in Class 3A last season. "I knew they both had good kicks, so I tried starting mine a little early - it didn't work out."
Huntley junior Haley Loprieno (18:11) edged Belvidere North junior Kristen Levi (18:12) for fourth place.
Barrington is showing signs of progress with a squad that features one freshman and three sophomores; the Fillies took another step forward on Saturday.
Sophomore Elizabeth Tracy (18:17) and sophomore Alexa Argianas (18:42) took sixth and 10th place to support Batliner.
The Fillies secured the victory with junior Colleen Shandley (19:11) and sophomore Kaila Privatsky (19:12) notching 24th and 25th place.
"We can do it in practice, but it didn't always correspond to the meets," said Tracy of the Fillies' pack. "We're finally starting to get that down, just at the right time."
Libertyville also had a strong pack with senior Megan Janezic (18:40) and junior Erin Jaffke (18:43) taking ninth and 11th place.
Freshman Nicole Jaffke (19:00) and freshman Katie McAuliffe (19:01) aided the Wildcats' effort by taking 17th and 18th place.
"Megan and Erin do a nice job of setting the tone," said Libertyville coach Joe Roth of his two leaders. "We wanted to get up there and compete with Barrington today."
Junior Colleen Vrshek (19:01) and junior Claire Brady (19:01) went 19th and 20th in aiding Rolling Meadows' drive to third place.
Sophomore Meghan Duggan (18:46), freshman Kaylee Flanagan (18:48), and senior Ashley Prochazka (18:55) took 12th, 13th, and 14th place pacing Lake Park to fourth place.
Freshman Hanna Winter (18:19) used a strong second mile in securing seventh place and leading St. Viator to fifth place.
Senior Ronnie Mack (19:02) also supported the Lions' effort with a 21st-place finish.
"Each race I'm getting more confident," said Winter. "The competition really helped we were pulling each other the whole race."
Huntley and Buffalo Grove both score 176 points, finishing in sixth and seventh place.
Freshman Mackenzie Levy (18:31) took eighth place and freshman Jenna Weiner added 22nd place leading Stevenson to eighth place.
Sophomore Rosalba Trujillo (18:57) finished in 15th place for Waukegan and Hilary Halford (19:10) took 23rd place for Carmel.
West Aurora stampede: Hoffman Estates was missing both Melissa Schmidt and Hannah Worman on Saturday at the West Aurora Stampede, but despite being shorthanded, the Hawks rose to the occasion by taking a solid third place with 109 points.
Sandburg won the title with 95 points followed by defending Class 3A state champion Geneva (105 points).
Sophomore Haley Goers (18:02) led the Hawks attack by securing 5th place. Sophomore Takshaka Patel (18:45) and senior Grace Watkins (19:01) took 13th and 24th place to aid Hoffman.
"Good teams rise to the occasion regardless of who is out there," said Hoffman coach Kirk Macnider of his team's performance. "I wanted the kids to respond and they did."
Sterling Invite: Schaumburg proved to be the class of the field at Sterling's 30-team invitational, where Colette Falsey, Britten Petrey and Karen Lesiewicz finished 1-2-3 in just over 18 minutes, more than half a minute ahead of the fourth-place finisher. The Saxons also got an eighth-place finish from Jordan Wagner (18:57), a 15th from Nora Ferguson (19:11), a 22nd from Kelsey Steenstrup (19:33) and a 43rd from Lizzie Tapia (20:11).
Schaumburg finished with 29 points, topping second-place Iowa City (61) and Loyola (143). Iowa City had been ranked as high as 49th in the nation and had beaten Naperville North earlier this season.
Coach Jon Macnider was pleased with how his top three took command of the race, which featured temperatures around 40 degrees, plenty of standing water and very soft footing.
"I told them to try to get near the front of the lead pack - that will be fast enough," said Macnider. "Then just respond to the situation, and they did a really nice job of that."
Conant, led by Becky Sulentic's 27th-place finish in 19:46, placed 16th.