York girls, WW South boys take Lake Park titles
While Grace Schager added a new entry Saturday to the Harvey Braus cross country invitational record book, York and Prospect repeated history.
Schager, a Glenbard North senior, set a course record for girls with her winning time of 16:00.2 in the 47th running of the meet at Lake Park's East Campus.
Led by Bria Bennis' second-place finish (17:12.6), York took top team honors in the girls race with 38 points followed by Prospect (62 points), replicating the teams' 1-2 finish in last year's Class 3A state race.
York accomplished one goal in the race, keeping its runners close together. Dukes runners took seven of the top 19 berths.
"We're working on keeping our runners closer and closer every single week and not just one through four, we're also getting five, six and seven up there," said York coach Lauren DeAngelis.
DeAngelis also lauded the performance of freshmen Lily Bianchi and Maggie Quinn and senior Lily Beerhalter.
"Bianchi and Quinn have really stepped up," the Dukes coach said. "Beerhalter has put in so much hard work. In the past, she's barely ever broke 19 minutes and today she ran in 18:06."
Hailey Erickson was Prospect's top finisher, taking third place (17:17.6).
"We're going to see a bunch of York this year. They are great program and something that we keep chasing," Prospect coach Pete Wintermute said.
Adding in the chase this year are senior Cameron Kalaway and sophomore Ireland Wildhart.
"Kalaway is not new, she's a senior and has two state championships in the four by eight. She's just a stud and she ran 17:40 today, a lifetime best and really looked great," Wintermute said. "Ireland just keeps coming on. She's a true competitor and stepped up today."
York's Brooke Berger (17:21.9) and Sofia Arcuri, a Maine South sophomore, (17:24.5) rounded out the top five.
Schager took an early led, breaking away from the pack of runners at the one- mile mark and widened her lead during the last two miles.
"I think it's exciting, but I don't think I've completely processed it yet," Schager said about her record-breaking time.
Downers Grove North (123) finished third in the field of 22 teams. Huntley came in fourth (140) followed by Maine South (154).
Boys race:
The boys varsity race was a battle between the Wheatons. Wheaton Warrenville South, placing three runners in the top ten, won the competition, besting Wheaton North. which had two runners in the top ten. The Tigers tallied 42 points to take first place while the Falcons earned 69.
Huntley sophomore Tommy Nitz won the race with a time of 15:10.8, helping his team take third place (87 points).
Sophomore Josiah Narayanan took top honors for Wheaton Warrenville South, taking third place with a time of 15:25.8. Teammates Nathan Virginelli (fifth. 15:31.2) and Lucas Yonker (seventh, 15:41.7) also finished in the top 10.
Wheaton North's Caleb Youngstedt took second place, finishing with a time of 15:23.6. Jude Hubbard took 10th for the Falcons (15:49.0)
St. Charles East's Mitch Garcia finished fourth (15:30.3),
Chicago schools Jones College Prep (fourth, 95 points) and Lane Tech (106) rounded out the top five boys teams. Twenty-one schools competed in the boys race.
Nitz stayed with the pack during the first mile. He made his move during the second mile to take the lead and retained it to the finish line.
"I sat for the first mile and when I was ready, I took the lead," Nitz said, who set a new PR
The sophomore hopes his team will still be running in November.
"We're doing amazing this year," said Nitz. "We have a goal to go downstate."
Narayanan is a recent call-up to Wheaton Warrenville South's varsity squad.
"Last week he won the sophomore race at Hinsdale and we bumped him up," said Tigers coach Chris Kuntz.
Wheaton Warrenville South's running as a pack in practice this past week paid off as the team placed five of its seven runners in the top 14. Kuntz also credited Yonker for keeping the team together during the race.
"Last week the kids didn't pack very well. We kind of got strung out, so we really worked on packing this week in practice. As long as they could stay together in a group and run as a team, they would be OK," the Tigers coach said. "Yonkers is what we call our glue. We try to get all our guys to get around him."
"We've had a good group guys in our front four, plus we had two guys in our fifth and sixth positions that stepped up pretty well and did a nice job today," Wheaton North coach Nate Roe said. "We felt like we would be among the top few."