Cross country: Zabiegly, Hoffman Estates take titles at Elk Grove

It was a strong performance by the Hoffman Estates girls cross country squad in the individual and team competition Saturday morning at the Elk Grove Invitational.

The Hawks got a first-place finish from junior Maya Zabiegly in 18:46.94, and they walked away with the team championship by a 37-64 margin over runner-up Lake Park. Conant was a close third with 73 points followed by the host Grenadiers (86 points) in fourth.

Zabiegly (85th in Class 3A) outdistanced runner-up Reagan Malone of Elk Grove by 10 seconds while Hoffman Estates sophomore Ella MacNider took third.

"I kind of hit a mental wall lately, but this helped me get over that because running is a huge part of my life so it's near and dear to my heart," said Zabiegly. "I think everyone did really well, I'm really proud of them. They've come a long way as well. I've seen their accomplishments so I'm really happy to be there with them."

The Hawks got an eighth-place finish from Sandy Chagoya followed by teammates Maddy Rakoci (12th), and Molly Bell (13th).

"We executed the race plan today. We did exactly what we wanted to do, and it was a nice sold finish," said Hoffman Estates coach Matt Ihms. "She (Zabiegly) ran 18:21 at the state meet last year, and like every team the hope is that we get the whole team down there this year."

Lake Park was led by Ruth Dellaria, Brynn Ellenbecker, and Lily Potts taking places 5-7 to help carry the Lancers to second place.

"I was really happy with the way that entire group ran. They ran really well today," said Lake Park coach Jay Ivory. "The group behind them had some really great races for their first 3-mile races of the season they ran really well. I was pleased for our first big meet of the season, and we had some people who ran together in groups."

Besides Reagan Malone in second, teammate Delaney Malone (87th in Class 3A) took fourth. Conant was led by Lily Schaefers (ninth), Megan Schaefers (11th), Cordi Bilos (16th), and Amanda Albrecht (17th). Ashley Gaba (10th) led Maine East followed by Buffalo Grove's Taylor Sipiera (14th), and Elgin's Teagan Culver (15th).

"Our top two looked really good today and they looked a lot smoother than Tuesday," said Elk Grove coach Tim Nowicki. "For this time of year those are pretty good times for Reagan and Delaney so we've got to bring the rest of the crew along here and continue to make improvements throughout the year."

BOYS MEET: The battle for the team title went down to the wire Saturday morning at the Elk Grove Invitational as the Buffalo Grove boys cross country team was ready go under some pretty cool running conditions for early September.

But when the final scores were tabulated, it was Northridge Prep that took first place by a 52-57 margin over the runner-up Bison. Conant was a close third with 68 points while Lake Park placed fourth with 78 points.

Hoffman Estates senior Brady Faulkner posted a winning time of 15:45.94 on the 3-mile course to outpace Buffalo Grove runner-up Riley Wold by nine seconds.

"I tried to create a gap in the middle mile and I'm not too happy about my time, but the win was good," said Faulkner, whose team placed sixth. "I've been doing like 80-mile weeks, and my goal is to make it down to state and run sub-15 minutes in Peoria."

Hoffman Estates coach Rich Flach has been happy with Faulkner's dedication. "Brady has been running 80-mile weeks and he's won two of his three races this year," said Flach. "We're not there as a total team yet, but we've got a great leader and some guys who are going to be coming on by the end of the season."

Buffalo Grove's pack of Grant Preusker (11th), Spencer Flershem (13th), Will Capito (14th), and Nate Lipani (17th) helped carry the Bison to second place.

"I thought our pack ran really strong today, obviously Riley moved up nicely to take second place so I'm really happy with our team performance," said Buffalo Grove coach Miguel Parra Garcia. "We have everyone coming back next year so we have some high goals for ourselves going into the postseason and into next year."

Conant was led by Charlie Calderone in fourth, Henry Dombrowski in sixth, and Justin Czepiel in 10th.

"Our top three guys were pretty solid up front, we got a real nice race from Henry and Justin who were both state track qualifiers (4x800) for us," said Conant coach John Powers. "Typically our fourth and fifth runners are with them. But they just struggled to close it out so we've just got to shore that up a little bit because that makes us a much better team."

Maine East was led by Luis Mendoza in fifth place while James Jalowiec led Lake Park in ninth. The Lancers also got a 12th-place run from Lucas Skupien, and a 15th from Daniel Bernal. Elgin's pack was led by David Dorantes in 18th while Buffalo Grove's Luke Hilgeman rounded out the top 20 runners.