Lake Zurich joins state meet field
Drama and excitement?
There were plenty of both in the Class 3A Schaumburg girls cross country sectional Saturday morning on the 3-mile Busse Woods course.
Led by individual champ Brooke Wolfe (17:23), Prospect was the clear-cut winner of the 21-team meet with 67 points as the Knights toppled runner-up Barrington (96 points) and third-place Schaumburg (134).
Lake Zurich was able to break up the stronghold of Mid-Suburban League teams to advance to next weekend’s state meet in Peoria with a fourth-place score of 137 points, which marks the Bears’ first trip downstate since 2000.
The fifth and final berth to Detweiller Park was originally awarded to Palatine, but after reviewing the video of the finish, the Pirates and Hoffman Estates (142) actually finished tied for fifth place which means they will both head south next weekend.
A tie for 43rd place to the 100th of a second between Hoffman Estates’ Deedee Delahunt and Stevenson freshman Kya Suzuki (both 19:04.73) wound up making the difference for the Hawks in overturning the original results.
Lake Zurich’s performance continued the Bears’ magical season as they won the North Suburban Conference meet two weeks ago before coming through big time Saturday behind Meaghan Gelinas (14th), Katie Fabbrini (15th), Angela Ufheil (20th), Elizabeth Berton (33rd), and Cassie Houghton (55th).
“We were fighting for fifth, so this is fantastic and they’ve been working as a team all season and that has been the key,” said Lake Zurich coach Ian Silverman. “They stayed together, they worked together, and they came here to race today instead of giving up spots when they were tired.”
Mundelein was the next highest finishing Lake County team in ninth place, and the Mustangs did get the seventh and final at-large qualifier downstate. Junior Marisa Perreault (27th) got the final berth after all of the scoring confusion was sorted out.
Perreault is only the second Mundelein girl in school history to reach state after Kim Dahm placed 12th back in 1987.
“I was just trying to keep an open mind because it’s the last race of the season if you don’t qualify,” said Perreault. “I just wanted to give it all I had because I didn’t want to have any regrets.”
Mundelein coach John Osmanski was ecstatic when he finally heard the news that his runner had made it downstate.
“I couldn’t be happier, and it she (Perreault) must have passed five or six people over the last quarter of a mile,” Osmanski said. “She had a really good race after struggling at conference and regionals and this is great because we bring everybody back next year.”
Tenth-place Libertyville had some troubles as a team, but freshman Kristi Del Prato came through like a champion as she earned the third at-large berth with a 16th-place run. Del Prato had been held out of the regional last weekend due to a nagging leg injury.
“I’m really excited, and it is unbelievable,” said Del Prato, who was nursing her injury after the meet. “I was just going to get up there and try the hardest I could. We have one of the hardest sectionals in the state and my teammates have really helped to motivate me.”
Libertyville coach Joe Roth knows he has a real diamond in the rough to lead his squad for years to come.
“That’s why we held her out last week because ultimately our goal was to get her down there individually,” Roth said. “We wanted her to run a relatively conservative first mile and try to keep six-minute miles for the next two, and she was pretty close to that.”
Claire Naughton was Mundelein’s second runner in 35th place followed by Warren freshman Becky Haight (39th), Mundelein’s Steph Johnson (40th), and Warren’s Meg Tully (42nd).
Ÿ At the Belvidere Class 2A sectional, Yorkville barely beat Crystal Lake Central 67-70 for the crown. Lakes (177) took seventh place, but the Eagles did have two individual state qualifiers in seniors Kathryn Dean (12th), and Hannah Wittman (15th). Carmel junior Caitlin Murphy (14th) will also be running downstate next weekend.