Make it four straight for Lake Zurich
The proverbial four-peat was in their sights, and the Lake Zurich boys cross country team did not disappoint their fans Saturday afternoon at the North Suburban Conference meet.
The Bears easily rolled to their fourth straight NSC crown by a comfortable 33-83 margin over runner-up Libertyville as the Bears had seven runners in the top 17 places on the 3-mile Zion Leisure Center course.
Warren placed third in the 14-team field with 107 points to outdistance Lake Forest (133 points) in fourth and Stevenson (165 points in fifth). Round Lake was a close sixth with 171 points as the Panthers toppled a close finishers Lakes (182) in seventh, Mundelein (205) in eighth, Vernon Hills (206) in ninth, and Grant (208) in 10th.
The very windy running conditions did not affect Lake Zurich senior Pat Juras on Saturday. He posted a winning time of 15:08 to defeat junior runner-up Nick Korhumel of Libertyville by eight seconds.
“Everything went pretty well today, but we have to remember this isn’t our biggest meet,” said Juras, whose team competes at the Palatine regional next weekend. “But it was a nice win because we’ve had a lot of injuries so it’s nice when everything comes together like this.”
Besides Juras, the Bears’ impressive pack included Jon Smith in fourth, Alexander Milner in seventh, Jon Ramirez in 10th, David Smith in 11th, Trevor Kuehr in 12th, and Jared Ripoli in 17th.
“I thought Pat (Juras) looked a lot better then he did last week and Jon Smith made a big move in the last mile and caught a couple of guys which was nice to see,” said Lake Zurich coach J.B. Hanson. “At this point we’re just trying to get everybody in the right place both mentally and physically and we’re getting there.”
Korhumel got some great support from senior teammate Dan Ryan in fifth place while the Wildcats also received all-conference (top 30) performances from Cameron Taylor (16th), and Easton Huch (18th).
“We’re happy and we knew it was going to be close for second place,” said Libertyville coach Mark Buesing. “Nick (Korhumel) ran well despite being sick most of the week and Dan Ryan is a hard-working guy and a leader on the team.”
Led by third-place finisher Martin Martinez (15:25), Warren also had four all-conference runners with Tyler Herman (15th), Reese Brady (23rd), and Jacob Butler (30th) all turning in outstanding performances.
“We ran well, and it seemed like every team in the top three ran well today,” said Warren coach Bill Dawson. “We had four guys finish all-conference so it was a good year and the kids have come through so far.”
Stevenson was led by Jonathan Kersky in 21st place and he was joined on the all-conference squad by teammate Thomas Russell in 27th place.
“We had a really good outing for what we had on our plate and every single one of them had a great second half of the race,” said Stevenson coach Scott Somers. “Jonathan (Kersky) is really coming into his own and in the second half of the season he’s gotten faster and faster in every meet.”
Lakes junior standout Ryan Prais continued to shine for the Eagles with a sixth-place run. Teammate Josh Camp easily had his best meet of the year with a 13th-place finish.
“He (Prais) looked excellent and he ran a very smart race for the first two miles,” said Lakes coach Andy Schroeder. “In the last half mile he was able to fight through to finish sixth and Josh Camp had a very good race as our No. 2 runner.”
Vernon Hills was paced by sophomore Kyle Whitney in 14th place while Round Lake was led by the duo of Robert Paz (19th), and Tony Arenas (20th). Ben Mohrdieck added a 22nd-place finish for the Cougars while Grant teammates Peter Audrain (24th), and Trent Peters-Clarke (26th) finished strong. Sophomore Liam Mellon was Mundelein’s top funner in 28th. The Mustangs’ Bryce Richards just missed all-conference in 31st.