Morrison, Schaumburg surging early
The Schaumburg boys cross country program enjoyed quite a run from 1980 through 1999. The Saxons had 16 top-10 finishes and won three state titles.
But in the last 10 years, the Saxons have only finished in the top 10 once - a Class AA third-place finish in 2006.
It's still early but the Saxons look like they are ready to make another run.
Senior Travis Morrison took second in 15:12, leading Schaumburg to an impressive second-place finish on a wet Saturday with 89 points at the 36th annual Lake Park Invitational in Roselle.
Defending Class 2A state champion Belvidere North dominated the 20-team field, finishing first with 28 points.
Senior Paul Zeman, the defending 2A state champion, led the Blue Thunder by taking first in 14:58.
Sophomore Tyler Yunk (15:13), sophomore Paxson Menard (15:27) and sophomore Garrett Lee (15:28) finished third, fifth and sixth, respectively, to give Belvidere North a comfortable victory.
The Blue Thunder featured all seven runners in the top 24 in its very impressive performance.
"We're used to racing in big championship settings," said Zeman of the Blue Thunder team that returned all seven runners from its title run. "We're just looking to put it all together one more time. We're training through these meets and we're focusing on the end of the season."
Schaumburg made Belvidere North work for its victory as sophomore Evan Prizy (15:33) and junior Tyler Anderson (15:33) finished eighth and ninth and junior Pat Swiech (16:02) took 23rd to aid Morrison.
"Belvidere jumped right out there and had four or five guys up front," said Saxons coach Jim Macnider, whose team ran a conservative first mile. "We were a bit smarter today. Mentally we talked about holding back a bit and running with the lead pack and then trying to break and go with it. We did break it up a little bit. We did all right."
Morrison hung with Zeman for the first two miles before the Belvidere North senior made some separation entering the final mile, but the Schaumburg senior believes the best is yet to come for his talented team.
"I kind of regret letting him (Zeman) go, because once I lost contact it was pretty much over," Morrison said. "I'm hoping by the end of the year if we can all hit on the same day we'll be a team to beat."
"We knew it would be a challenge today," said Anderson. "I think we ran well and moved up through the whole race. This team has a lot of potential."
Naperville North also had an impressive run, finishing third with 89 points. The Huskies packed four runners in the top 17.
"Tactically we ran smart," said Naperville North coach Dave Racey of the Huskies' solid pack. "We'll continue to keep them together and continue to move them up all year. Overall I'm very happy."
Huskies junior Nick Drendel (15:37) and sophomore Jimmy Qiao (15:40) finished 11th and 12th, followed by junior Dan Emrie (15:51) and sophomore Sam Ceruti (15:54) in 16th and 17th.
"Right now we're just looking for that fifth guy so we can have that solid pack by state," said Qiao. "We trained together and had a strong summer, so I think that is what is really helping us."
Junior Nick Miller (15:31) and junior Chris Beaupre (16:01) finished seventh and 22nd to power Machesney Park Harlem to fourth place with 165 points.
Senior Mike Rykoskey (15:55) and senior Steven Decker (15:56) pushed each other to finish 18th and 20th, respectively, and lead St. Charles East to fifth place with 211 points.
"The first mile we ran with each other, jetting back and forth," said Rykoskey of his teammate Decker. "We helped each other out the entire race. Today was a confidence builder. We ran the way we wanted to run."
Senior Nick Hall (15:23) and senior Joe Poupard (15:48) took fourth and 14th place in Glenbrook North's march to sixth place. Deerfield sophomore Alex Gold (15:33) took 10th place.
Junior Joe Stewart (15:50) and junior Matt Stewart (15:55) finished 15th and 19th for Metea Valley. Junior Alex Mertes (16:02) took 25th place for Elk Grove.