Dundee-Crown's Manfrin wins FVC title
Last March, Dundee-Crown standout Anthony Manfrin had to wonder if he would ever run again.
Suffering from a broken hip, Manfrin missed the indoor and outdoor track season. He entered the cross country season hopeful his injury woes were over.
Unfortunately for the rest of the Fox V alley Conference Manfrin is completely healthy again.
Leading for most of the 3-mile race, Manfrin claimed his second consecutive FVC title with a time of 16:01.6 at Saturday's conference meet at McHenry Township Park in Johnsburg.
“I tried to be cautious when we started practice this fall, said Manfrin. “I knew I had to be patient with the injury. I am running pain free and winning this conference championship is a dream come true.
Veteran D-C coach Tom Smith knew Manfrin was ready to compete at a high level.
“I was confident Anthony would run well today, said Smith. “Anthony has really matured through this injury process. He came into this meet under the radar. He ran smart and patient today.
Crystal Lake Central, led by a fourth-place finish by Chris Alvarez claimed team honors with 70 points. D-C was second with 80 points. The Chargers' Andrew Knapek was third, followed by Robert Medina (22nd), Ryan Smith (26th) and Jon Keable (28th).
Jacobs, which was third with 90 points, was led By Nick Ellingson with a sixth-place finish. Ellingson was joined in the Top 10 by William Hennesy in eighth place. Other scorers for the Golden Eagles were Joey Cieniewicz (21st), Alex Johnson (24th) and Ross Ryan (31st).
Grayslake Central, paced by a 17th place finish by Luke Zygmunt was seventh with a score of 184.
Crystal Lake South, 4 points behind by Grayslake, was eighth with 188 points.
The Gators' top runner was Ryan Masey with a 34th place finish.
Grayslake North, with a 15th place effort by Matt Kendzior, was ninth with 236 points.
Huntley was 11th with 253 points. The Red Raiders got a 30th place finish by Sam Marcuccelli.
Cary-Grove, with a 39th place finish by Dustin Thurow, was 12th with a score of 307 points.
Big Northern meet: Burlington Central won the Big Northern Conference championship, its first conference cross country title since 1987. The Rockets placed all five of their runners in the Top 20 and scored 46 points. Richmond-Burton was second with 55. BC's Clint Kleim was the individual champion of the meet in a time of 14:24, 22 seconds better than the second-place effort of Marengo's Torben Hoffmeyer.Joe Gannon finished sixth for BC, Dan Morgan was eighth and Mike Gulik 12th, each earning all-conference honors. Will Evans finished 19th to round out the Rockets' scoring. Ross Seaton was Hampshire's top finisher in 31st place. The Whip-Purs finished 10th as a team.
NAC Meet: Greg Benson took 17th place in a time of 19:25 to lead Westminster Christian at the Northeast Athletic Conference meet.