Smith, Huntley leg out runner-up Bartlett finishes

Huntley senior Keagan Smith was glad he didn't feel hamstrung in the final mile of Bartlett's 13th Annual Flyin' Hawk Cross Country Invitational.

Smith's powerful finishing surge helped him break up Lincoln-Way's top two runners, Tommy Kolacki and Ian Peterson, and put him just 1.5 seconds behind Kolacki at the finish line Saturday morning at Sunrise Park. Smith finished the 3-mile race in 15:39.5.

"Lately this season I still haven't had something like that, and it felt good to have it again," Smith said of his closing kick. "Usually around mile two my hamstrings go out, but today they never went out and I was feeling good."

Kolacki and Peterson were among four runners in the top seven as Lincoln-Way Central topped Huntley 33-61 for the team title. Fremd took third with 79.

Conant was fourth with 93 as standout Zach Dale, who won last year in a meet-record 14:42.1, did not race in what coach John Powers said was a planned rest day to prepare for the second half of the season. Senior Shu Jaat Sultan took fifth in 16:03.3.

Smith was followed by Mike Grocholski in sixth (16:03.7) and and Seth Conroy in ninth (16:08.0) for the Red Raiders. Matt Kapolnek and Zach Hollman took 20th and 24th.

"At the beginning it went pretty well and we were able to pack it up and do well together, which is what we wanted," Smith said. "That dissipated after a mile and a half but I still thought we did pretty well."

Jackson Waters was fourth and Ben Alvarado was seventh for Lincoln-Way Central.

"I think we came out and ran well," said Huntley coach Matt Kaplan. "Lincoln-Way Central ran great today and we wanted to see how we fared against some of the better teams in the area.

"I thought Seth, Keegan and Mike worked really well together and Kapolnek and Hollman moved up well."

Sultan held off Grocholski for fifth by meeting his starting goal of a 5:05 first mile. He had hoped to come in at 15:50 but had no complaints with the final results.

"I really wanted to hang with the (front) pack because I felt like I should have been there," Sultan said. "Right before the season I was feeling really great. Then I got sick and after that I couldn't stay with them. It's great to be up where I should be again." Powers was glad to see Sultan come through and show he can be a potent complement to Dale.

"He's starting to come around and get right to where he needs to be," Powers said. "It was good to see Shu Jaat get in the top five here. He's becoming a stronger and stronger No. 2."

Fremd was led by sophomore Danny Peterson in eighth (16:06.5). Senior Matt Fossing took 12th and junior Joseph Smaga was 15th.

Jacobs finished fifth as junior Kyle Ross came in 10th (16:09.2).