Cross country: Barrington's 1-2 punch sends Fillies past Prospect for sectional crown
The ongoing battle between the Barrington and Prospect girls cross country teams continued Saturday morning at the Class 3A sectional at Busse Woods in Elk Grove.
And behind an incredible 1-2 finish from the duo of Scout Storms and freshman Mia Sirois on the 3-mile course, it was the Fillies that would run to the championship of the 18-team meet by a 33-56 margin over the runner-up Knights.
Third-place Hersey (112 points) easily locked up one of the seven team berths to the 44th state meet next Saturday in Peoria while fourth-place Warren (183 points) earned its first trip downstate since 2012.
New Trier (201) placed fifth while Loyola Academy (217) and Lake Zurich (226) earned the final two trips to state. Palatine (243) missed out in eighth place.
Storms beat her previous best time on the course by 25 seconds with a winning time of 17:01.74 while Sirois placed second in 17:13.
"I tried to take it out pretty fast and in the third mile I closed pretty hard so I'm happy," said Storms. "Mia is just a freshman so I'm super excited to see what she can keep doing, and we're going to try and put our best race out there (at state)."
Barrington coach Debbie Revolta was very pleased with the squad's performance.
"They came to run today for sure," Revolta said. "Mia has been running well, and they put it out there today to let the chips fall where they may. I tell our girls that the only rankings that count are the one's that come out at the end of the year."
Defending state champ Prospect was led by Veronica Znajda in third, Meg Peterson in fifth, and Lily Ginsberg in 10th.
"They (Barrington) came in here with a very focused mindset after we squeaked out a 2-point victory over them two weeks ago at conference," said Prospect coach Pete Wintermute. "We know we've got the pieces, we know there are some things we have to execute better, but we've been there before."
Hersey's pack was led by Margaretha Grabske in ninth, and Alexa Izenstark in 16th.
"We finished right where we were supposed to be and the goal today was to qualify," said Hersey coach Mikayla Olsen. "We've got to work on getting our 3-5 closer to that 1-2 and I think we could easily be in the top five."
Warren's troops were led by freshmen Kaylee Wilson in seventh and Finley Jezuit in 15th.
"I was really happy with how the girls ran today, and they did even better than expected," said Warren coach Louie Klein. "Kaylee Wilson kept her momentum up from when she won the conference meet two weeks ago, and four of the top five PR'd today which was really awesome."
Among the 10 individual state qualifiers were Vernon Hills' Anna Lester (fourth), Palatine's Monika Urbaniak (18th), and Hoffman Estates' Maya Zabiegly (20th). Lake Zurich was led by Celia Blaylock in 21st while Fremd's Isa Hasty (22nd), Libertyville's Margaret McGormley (23rd), Palatine's Abigail Jordan (24th), and Elk Grove's Delaney Malone (27th) all reached state as individuals.
Sabrina Roach placed eighth for the Fillies followed by teammates Abby Lewis (13th) and Angelica Hill (14th). Prospect's Ireland Wildhart placed 17th while teammate Sophie Fransen was 26th. Streamwood's Sophia Baumert just missed state by one place in 28th.
Boys race:
The competition was tough when 18 teams heard the starting gun sound Saturday morning at the Class 3A Hoffman Estates boys cross country sectional meet at Busse Woods in Elk Grove.
When all was said and done, it was New Trier that rose to the top of the field with a first-place score of 93 points as the Trevians were able to outdistance Hersey (116 points) in second place.
Other qualifiers to next Saturday's 77th state meet at Peoria's Detweiller Park were Barrington (139 points) in third, Highland Park (155) in fourth, and fifth-place Fremd (172) which is heading to state for the first time since 2009. Prospect (203) earned the final berth to state in seventh while Palatine (227), and Jacobs (237) missed the cut.
New Trier's Ben Crane (14:53.62) beat Fremd junior runner-up Rory Gaan by six seconds for first place while Barrington was led by Joe Bregenzer in fourth.
"This was my third best time this season I believe. It started kind of slow, and I was in the lead for the first mile which was unexpected," said Gaan, who placed 41st in the state last year. "I knew my range was between first to third place. This is our first time down to state in 14 years so that was our big goal this season."
Hersey was led by Zach Frayder's seventh-place run followed by teammates Liam Naughton in 19th and Rob Geissenberger in 22nd.
"Any time you get to state you've got to be happy and New Trier's top three were really up there," said Hersey coach Kevin Young, whose team saw the Trevians place three runners in the top 16. "Our 2 and 3 were farther back than they needed to be and we need a tighter pack next week."
Junior Ethan Scott placed eighth for Barrington while Jacobs had two individual state qualifiers in Matt Andreano (ninth), and Andrew Beyer (10th).
"We did a good enough job to advance and Ethan Scott ran one of his strongest races of the season," said Barrington coach Tom Root. "We can definitely find some ways to improve going into next week."
Cary-Grove's Jameson Tenopir captured the fourth of 10 individual spots to state while freshman Jack Jennings was Fremd's No. 2 runner in 14th place.
Lake Zurich's long streak of trips to state was snapped, but freshman Luke Marshall (17th) qualified as an individual. Other individuals headed downstate are Palatine's Alex Krieg (18th), and Vernon Hills' Charlie Blackmer (20th). Jacobs' Maximilian Sudrzynski just missed reaching state in 23rd place.
"We had some fumbles out there," said Palatine coach Joe Parks, whose team has three sophomores in their top four. "And one of our normal three scoring guys went down in the first couple 100 meters."
Prospect's berth to state was led by freshman Landon Samp in 24th while Libertyville was paced by Michael Chudy in 25th. Stevenson's Dylan Zimmerman placed 27th to lead his squad. Barrington's Justin Hurtado placed 31st to edge Conant's Jayden Patel in 32nd, and Prospect's Owen Smith in 34th.