Palatine gets its groove back

The Palatine girls cross country team got right back on track Saturday at the Class 3A Palatine regional.

Despite the sloppy conditions at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve, the Pirates tallied 27 points en route to first place, with six runners finishing in the top 12.

Palatine had been bumped from the top spot on the Illinois Cross Country Coaches Poll after finishing second behind Prospect at the Mid-Suburban League championship, and Pirates coach Joe Parks was eager to get his squad back in the win column.

"It's definitely a confidence-booster after a down week last weekend," he said. "That's what we wanted to do. After one day of being down a little bit, the girls came back Monday in pretty good spirits. I don't think we were coming out to prove ourselves to anybody, it was just to come out and run like we did all year."

Hersey (83) finished in second, with Fremd (86), Barrington (88) and Buffalo Grove (115) rounding out the top five. Each of those five teams qualified to compete in the sectional meet on Oct. 31.

Palatine junior Sarah McIntosh flip-flopped between first and second throughout the race with Buffalo Grove sophomore and MSL champion Olivia Jones. McIntosh (16:58) ultimately edged out Jones (17:00) for the first-place finish.

"After last week we were a little disappointed, so we just wanted to come this week and do better," McIntosh said. "We were pumped."

"It was a great race," Jones added. "I was trying to take the lead, but it didn't work today. But everyone has their day, so I'm just going to have to come out and battle next week."

Palatine's Courtney Brown (17:13), Ruth Allen (17:32) and Tess Wasowicz (17:43) finished in third, fifth and seventh, respectively. Hersey junior Salena Clohisy (17:18) took fourth place, and senior Sarah Reynolds (17:34) finished in sixth.