Lake Zurich nets surprise NSC victory
There are usually not a lot of surprises in girls cross country, but Saturday’s North Suburban Conference meet was the exception to that rule.
While many were pointing toward 2010 runner-up Libertyville to regain its NSC title, Lake Zurich swept in and captured the championship of the 13-team meet with an outstanding team performance on the 3-mile Zion Leisure Center course.
The Bears placed five runners in the top 16 places to roll to the crown with 40 points while Lakes wound up slipping past Libertyville 81-89 to earn runner-up honors in the 13-team meet.
Mundelein (109 points) was not too far behind in fourth place followed by Warren (126) in fifth, Vernon Hills (132) in sixth and Stevenson (190) in seventh.
Lake Zurich’s top-five pack was led by Meaghan Gelinas in fourth, Katie Fabbrini in fifth, Cassie Houghton in seventh, Elizabeth Berton in eighth, and Angela Ufheil in 16th.
“We wanted to run together and just be aggressive with no backing down,” said Lake Zurich coach Ian Silverman. “Every spot mattered today so we couldn’t afford to take it easy with a lot of good teams here.”
Libertyville freshman Kristi Del Prato made her first NSC meet one to remember with a first-place clocking of 17:59 as she easily held off Lakes’ senior teammates Kathryn Dean (18:08) in second and Hannah Wittman (18:13) in third under very windy running conditions.
“I was really happy and it was a mostly flat course with a few small hills,” said Del Prato. “In the woods it was less windy so I kicked it in there. I’m very happy with how much progress I’ve made.”
Besides Dean and Wittman, Lakes had two other all-conference (top 30) finishers with Danielle Greisbaum in 17th, and Brittani Greisbaum in 26th. Amanda Timmerman placed 33rd for the Eagles.
“Lake Zurich has a lot of talent on their team and they’re peaking at the right time,” said Lakes coach Keith West. “I’m just really happy with our team’s performance today. We set the goal to win the whole thing, but Lake Zurich put five of their kids in the top 16 and we just came up a little short today.”
Despite placing third, Libertyville actually had six all-conference runners behind Del Prato, Nicole Jaffke (15th), Abigail Toohey (22nd), Maggie Fiorito (23rd), Lexie Zafiratos (28th), and Emily Moroz (30th).
“Lake Zurich has come on like crazy the last couple of weeks and they were just better today,” said Libertyville coach Joe Roth. “We definitely didn’t do great, but Lake Zurich ran great so this doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Mundelein’s push for fourth was led by junior Claire Naughton (10th), Stephanie Johnson (19th), Ellie Palacios (20th), Marisa Perreault (29th), and Emily Schlebecker (31st).
“Our coach (John Osmanski) has been emphasizing the team goal all along and he tells us to run as a pack and run together,” said Naughton, who missed last season with a hip flexor injury. “I definitely came in with a mindset to make junior year my best year and show everybody I could come back from an injury.”
Warren had a great trio of runners with Meg Tully in 11th, Rebecca Haight in 13th, and Andrea Saigh in 14th. Vernon Hills’ trio of Danielle Fiarito (12th) Melanie Rogers (21st), and Alison Marks (24th) also earned all-conference honors.
Stevenson was paced by freshman standout Kya Suzuki in sixth place while sophomore Lindsey Lewis led Grant in 18th. Freshman Nicole Syverson (27th) was also all-conference for Lake Zurich while Vernon Hills’ Kristen Whitney placed 32nd.