Libertyville runs to regional title
After taking second place to Lake Forest last weekend at the North Suburban Conference meet, Libertyville was ready to get back on the winning track Saturday afternoon at its own eight-team Class 3A girls cross country regional.
And with a great pack-running effort, the Wildcats did just that as they captured their fourth straight regional crown by a close 54-65 margin over runner-up Lake Zurich.
The Wildcats and Bears advance to the Class 3A Schaumburg sectional next Saturday at Busse Woods along with Warren (86 points) in third, Mundelein (105) in fourth, and Grant (114) in fifth. Carmel just missed advancing with 119 points.
“It was a good bounce-back from last week and our top five really stepped up today,” said Libertyville coach Joe Roth. “Erica Danckers has been really sick the last couple of weeks and we couldn't have done it without her. Those (top) five girls are really almost interchangeable and I think that is what keeps our team strong.”
Sophomore Nicole Jaffke led Libertyville's pack in fourth place followed by teammates Erin Jaffke in eighth, Danckers in 13th, Abigail Toohey in 14th, and Maggie Fiorito in 15th.
Lake Zurich had a similar team effort as Libertyville as senior Amy Polhemus took runner-up honors in 18:57.
The Bears' had great support for Polhemus with Audrey Smith in 11th, Cassie Houghton in 12th, Angela Ufheil in 19th, and Maddie Gelinas in 21st.
“I had a p.r. today by at least 36 seconds and I wanted to take the first mile really fast and try to hold it and it definitely worked,” said Polhemus. “It was a very fast pace with a really big hill at the finish so it's really tough.”
The Bears and Wildcats will really need to peak at sectionals if they hope to make it to the state meet Nov. 6 in Peoria.
“They looked fantastic, and she (Polhemus) just decided to go for it and she raced amazingly,” said Lake Zurich coach Ian Silverman. “She (Polhemus) really decided to go for it and that pushed everybody, and everybody just ran great.”
Mundelein sophomore Marisa Perreault was the individual champion with a winning time of 18:45 on the 3-mile Adler Memorial Park course and she was bolstered by teammates Emily Schlebecker in 16th and Ellie Palacios in 17th.
“Marisa figured out the race to run, she was a lot more patient than last week, and it was a great race,” said Mundelein coach John Osmanski. “The hero of the day was Katie Christensen because she was sick, but we moved her up today and she did an absolutely fantastic job as our No. 4 runner.”
Warren's duo of Meg Tully in fifth and Gabby Nystrom-Marcelain in 10th continued to shine for the Blue Devils with teammates Andrea Saigh (22nd), Victoria Knauf (23rd), Jolyn Achs (26th), and Amanda Harper (27th) adding great depth.
“A lot of them p.r.'d today which is what they needed so we're moving on,” said Warren coach Cheryl Anderson. “Gabby finished in the top 10 which we expected and Meg kept moving up after the first mile.”
Freshman Lindsey Lewis led Grant in third while teammates Trisha Palmieri (ninth) and Kacie Wodek (25th) helped lead the Bulldogs to the sectionals.
“I'm proud of them because we've kind of been up and down all year long and we made it,” said Grant coach Jeff Durlak. “If it wasn't for Trisha I don't think we would have made it and this has got to be one of her best races ever today.”
Carmel's Caitlin Murphy was the top at-large sectional qualifier in sixth followed by teammate Sarah Myss in 18th. Round Lake's Celeste Acosta (20th) also qualified as an individual along with Carmel's Kelley Dodge in 24th.