Palatine, Barrington go 1-2 at regional
Palatine’s girls cross country team won the Class 3A state title in 2009 and took second last year.
The Pirates are eyeing another big finish this year.
Palatine took a step in the right direction on a perfect autumn morning on Saturday. Junior Tess Wasowicz (17:38) and sophomore Jessica Lincoln (17:52) finished 1-2 to lead the host Pirates to the 3A regional title at Deer Grove East with 38 points.
You want to build some momentum going into the next round,” said Palatine coach Joe Parks. “I think it was a step in the right direction.”
Barrington (45 points) finished second followed by Lake Zurich (60), Cary-Grove (84), Prairie Ridge (147), Crystal Lake South (173), and McHenry (200).
All seven teams will advance to next Saturday’s 10:30 a.m. Schaumburg sectional at Busse Woods.
Individual qualifiers include Grant’s Lindsay Lewis, Jill Sales, Kacie Wodek, and Sarah Guzior and Round Lake’s Salena Alvarez.
Wasowicz and Lincoln led the charge for Palatine, followed by sophomore Cassidy McPherson (sixth, 18:23) and senior Ellen Smith (seventh, 18:32). Senior Laura Schweikert (19:27) completed the scoring by taking 22nd place.
“We wanted to get out hard, but stay in control,” said McPherson of the Pirates’ pack. “I thought we really worked the middle mile.”
Barrington offered a solid challenge to Palatine, with junior Becca Batliner (18:01) and senior Ella Tracy (18:17) taking third and fourth.
“We really wanted to work on packing it up together,” said Tracy of the Fillies’ charge. “We keep moving people up and we’ll have to continue that next week.”
Junior Rachel Simon (11th, 18:46), sophomore Caroline Reynolds (12th, 18:47) and senior Alexa Argianas (15th, 19:06) gave the Fillies a solid pack.
“We need to be consistent and I thought the girls ran well,” said Barrington coach Deb Revolta.
Lake Zurich won the North Suburban Conference title last week and had no letdown on Saturday. Sophomore Meaghan Gelinas (18:19) led the way by taking fifth place.
“We wanted to run like we did at conference,” said Gelinas of the impressive Bears’ effort. “We wanted to stick together and keep pushing up.”
And LZ did that with senior Elizabeth Berton (eighth, 18:36) and freshman Katie Fabbrini (ninth, 18:37) followed by senior Cassie Houghton (18th, 19:10) and junior Angela Ufheil (20th, 19:13).
“They ran awesome,” said LZ coach Ian Silverman. “We seem to be ready, it’s the end of the season focus, and we’ve been talking about that all year. They see each other in races and stay together.”
Freshman Talia Duzey (18:38) finished in 10th place to spark for Cary-Grove.
“The start and finish are probably the scariest parts, when I’m in the middle part I don’t really think about it,” said Duzey of her race. “The last 800 meters I definitely wanted to push.”
Junior Sarah Englund (14th, 19:02), senior Kathie Wollney (17th, 19:09), senior Paige Freund (19th, 19:12) and sophomore Natasha Geiger-Powell (24th) also aided the Trojans’ attack.
“We haven’t qualified for the sectionals the last two years, so this is pretty exciting,” said Cary-Grove coach Mark Anderson. “I think we’re back to the Cary-Grove style of pack running, and their confidence is way up.”
Junior Becca Hoklas (23rd, 19:30) helped Prairie Ridge advance. Sophomore Malgorzata Waz (19:38) took 26th for Crystal Lake South and junior Quin Rogers (18:58) secured 13th place in propelling McHenry.