Cross country: Fremd boys, Crystal Lake South girls take titles at Warren

It was a pretty close race to the finish, but Fremd held off Evanston 48-62 for the championship of the 21-team Bill Dawson Invitational boys race Saturday morning at Warren's O'Plaine campus.

The Vikings' young squad was led by junior individual champ Rory Gaan (14:53.69) on the 3-mile close while freshman teammate Jack Jennings placed second in 15:04.89.

Glenbrook South edged Glenbrook North 148-149 for third place followed by Antioch (187 points) in fifth, Carmel Catholic (206) in sixth, Crystal Lake South (236) in seventh, Lakes (261) in eighth, and Mundelein (282) in ninth.

“It was great (running) conditions, I knew I had guys pushing me for the first mile so my goal was just to stay with my teammate Jack Jennings for the first mile and try to break 15 minutes for the first time this season,” said Gaan, who placed 41st in Class 3A as a sophomore. “We've been working hard all summer, and once we get our full team together I think we can make it to state.”

Glenbrook North's John Ihrke placed third followed by Glenbrook South's Andy Ordway in sixth, and Cary-Grove's Jameson Tenopir in ninth.

“Our regular No. 2 runner (Ethan Waddell) is out this week and should be back next week,” said Cary-Grove assistant coach Bill Roth. “He (Tenopir) might have gone out a little too fast, but he stuck with the leaders for the entirety of the race and it was another quality race for him.”

Carmel was led by Cole Bonham in 11th while Fremd teammates Adarsh Prathap and Thomas Border placed 12th and 13th, respectively. Mundelein was paced by Alberto Diaz in 14th.

“This is our first real go at things for the season, and six of our seven PR'd,” said Fremd coach Matt Zaluckyj. “We return five of seven on varsity and they're looking forward to some big competition at Palatine next week that we're gearing up for.”

Round Lake's Daniel Campos placed 16th to outdistance Antioch's Carson Lanners in 17th, Glenbrook South's Spencer Rudolph in 18th, and Fremd's Tom Johnston in 20th.

CLS's Joseph Gonzalez took 21st place followed by Grayslake Central's Adan Cordova (23rd) as the Rams (fourth in Class 2A) held out just about their entire varsity roster.

Fremd's Trent Odachowski finished in 24th followed by Antioch's Carter Webb (25th), Mundelein's Thomas Russ (26th), CLS's Adam Strombom (27th), and Lakes' Jackson Summy (28th).

“We split our squad up today. This meet is a good way to celebrate cross country and celebrate coach (Bill) Dawson too,” said Warren coach Brett Heimstead. “We're trying to rebound after losing a couple of all-state guys a few years ago.”

Dawson was the Blue Devils' longtime boys cross country coach and a math teacher for over 35 years at Warren. He passed away at the age of 64 three years ago from esophageal cancer.

Girls race:

The 2023 girls cross country season is just underway, but the sixth Annual Bill Dawson Invitational proved to be a good test for area teams Saturday morning on Warren's O'Plaine campus.

Some teams, including two-time defending Class 2A state champion Grayslake Central, held their full varsity lineup out of the 17-team meet on the 3-mile course with a very light rain falling during the race. In the end, it was Crystal Lake South that captured the team title by an 88-133 margin over runner-up Fremd.

Glenbrook North's Maria Polyakov was the individual champion with a winning time of 17:44.62 while Glenbrook South's Kaitlyn Burns placed third.

There was a logjam of teams battling it out for third place which was taken by Evanston with 142 points. The host Blue Devils were a close fourth with 145 points followed by Maine South (151) in fifth, Carmel Catholic (161) in sixth, and Antioch (164) in seventh.

The Gators' road to the team title was led by Abby Machesky in seventh, Olivia Pinta in 18th, Colette Bacidore in 21st, and Victoria Pinta in 26th.

“We have four girls back from our top group last year and they ran very solid races today,” said CLS coach Ken Greenfield, whose team placed fourth in Class 2A last year. “We packed up pretty well together, and the gaps were pretty tight all the way through.”

Carmel's troops were led by junior Izzy Bing in fourth place followed by Streamwood's Sophia Baumert in fifth, Lakes' Madison Twarling in sixth, Fremd's Adeline Dietrich in eighth, and Maine South's Olivia DeLuca in ninth.

“We definitely kept some of our kids down on the fresh-soph level and we won that meet,” said Maine South coach Jeff Downing. “It's a matter of time getting a little more experience before we move them up (to varsity), and we were missing our No. 1 runner (Sofia Arcuri).”

Warren was led by freshmen Kaylee Wilson in 11th and Finley Jezuit in 12th while Lakes' Brianna Gara placed 13th.

“We had two of our top five missing today, but Madison Twarling was outstanding,” said Lakes coach Travis Shepherd, whose team placed second in Class 2A last fall. “We lost two all-state caliber runners to graduation. But that being said, we have a strong top five, and Gara has already PR'd by over a minute.”

Other top finishers in the meet were Antioch's Rosie Gonzalez (15th), Fremd's Isa Hasty (16th), Grayslake North's Madison Petersen (17th), Rolling Meadows' Lucy Bollweg (19th), Maine East's Ashley Gaba (20th), Maine South's Ally Seurynck (23rd), and Carmel's Norah Belmonte (25th).

“We came in with expectations of top five. The team is very inexperienced, and the girls almost all ran personal bests today,” said Fremd coach Joe Marcin. “It's all about gaining experience and mental preparation to help them stay engaged and run well.”