Boys cross country: Splitt leads Grant to soggy invite title
With so much water and mud on the course, boys cross country runners knew they were not going to be able to stay clean Saturday morning at the James "J.T." Invitational hosted by Grant.
But those messy conditions on the 3-mile Bulldog Athletic Complex course suited Grant senior Justin Splitt just fine as his first-place finish in 16:21.6 helped lead Grant to the championship of the powerful 17-team meet with 72 points.
Crystal Lake South barely edged Woodstock 106-107 for runner-up honors as a very steep and muddy hill on the course provided an additional obstacle for runners to overcome with temperatures in the high 50s at race time.
Lakes was only able to field five runners for the big meet, but the Eagles still managed to place seventh with 196 points to topple Northern Lake County Conference rivals Grayslake North (204 points) in eighth, and Round Lake (228 points) in ninth.
Splitt got great support from junior teammate Colton Romig, who placed fifth in 16:41 for the Bulldogs.
"Knowing the course conditions, I just wanted to have some fun in the mud and the rain," said Splitt, who outdistanced runner-up Diego Giron of Round Lake by 13 seconds. "I'm just really excited moving forward, and we have a really good chance of winning the conference if everybody stays healthy."
Grant had a very consistent pack behind its top two runners with Charlie Hamann (21st), Ryan Bishop (22nd), and Randal Holm (26th) helping to pave the way to the crown.
"Justin (Splitt) has definitely run well the last two weeks, and he set the school record (15:10) last weekend in Peoria," said Grant coach Jeff Durlak. "Colton (Romig) ran tough as our No. 2 runner, and our three through six guys were pretty close together today."
Splitt's 15:10 clocking at Peoria broke the previous school record of 15:11 set nine years ago by Ryan Mamerow at the 2010 IHSA state meet in Peoria.
Crystal Lake South showed some strong pack running Saturday behind the trio of junior Alex Picchi in 10th, Christopher Davis in 17th, and Matt Brown in 19th. The effort of No. 4 runner Garrett Czajkowski (28th) also helped carry the Gators to the second-place trophy over Woodstock.
"We had everybody run today which was nice because that is only the third time that has happened this season because of injuries," said CLS coach Rich Eschman "Picchi had a decent day, he didn't have a great day, but he fell in the first mile coming out of the turn so he had to recover after that."
Lakes' troops were led by senior R.J. Migas in eighth place as Migas was a member of the Eagles' first team to qualify for the state meet last fall.
"We didn't run three of our top seven today," said Lakes coach Travis Shepherd, whose team placed 14th in Class 2A last year. "(Migas) is really coming on strong, and on a soggy day like today I was just really proud of him."
Grayslake North got an 11th-place finish from No. 1-runner Brandt Batteau. But the losses to graduation have been putting the Knights through some growing pains during the early stages of the 2019 season. Grayslake North lost all-stater Connor Riss (12th in Class 2A) to graduation.
"(Batteau) has been our No. 1 runner this season, and Alex (Larrivee) looked good today as our No. 2 runner," said Grayslake North coach Anthony DeStephano. "We have two freshmen, one sophomore, and two new juniors, and they're learning how cross country runs and how to race."
Round Lake junior Cody Arenas placed 15th followed by Grant's Josh Delgado in 29th, and Lakes' Nathan Rolla in 30th.