Cross country: Hersey girls, Libertyville boys take titles at Wauconda

There was no stopping the Hersey girls cross country team Saturday morning at the 14-team Al Willhoit Wauconda Invitational as the Huskies placed five runners in the top 11 places to roll to the team title by a 32-81 score over Lane Tech.

Grayslake North edged Mundelein 128-134 for fourth place while Kaneland nipped West Chicago 201-208 for eighth place.

Senior Madeline Bialko (18:53) took third place as Hersey's top runner on the 3-mile course at Matthews Middle School in Island Lake. The Huskies' pack looked great behind Alexa Izenstark (fifth), Sofia Donner (sixth), Elizabeth Waltz (seventh), and Margaretha Grabske (11th).

"Really like our goal today was to just run as a pack and run as a team especially during those first two miles," said Bialko. "We wanted to try to speed up at the end. I think our team did really well, I think we definitely are more motivated when we run as a team."

Grayslake North was led by its duo of Yaremi Ramos (ninth) and Madison Petersen (10th) while Hersey teammates Martyna Makowski (13th), and Jamie Laskiewicz (16th) rounded out their pack.

"We wanted to take it controlled today and stick together for the first two miles," said Hersey coach Mikayla Olsen, whose team is ranked fourth in Class 3A. "She (Bialko) ran really well today. She's having a great senior year, and we need to keep getting our sixth and seventh closer to that fifth person."

Precious Oyebanji (14th) was Mundelein's No. 1 runner followed by teammates Hannah Roberts (18th), and Brooklyn Dambrosio (29th).

"She (Oyebanji) looked strong. She went out a little strong at the beginning still trying to figure out her race strategies for the year," said Mundelein coach Carsyn Rodriguez. "A lot of girls are fighting off colds and flu's, but we're really proud of how they fought and stuck with it."

Junior Danielle Bower was Kaneland's top runner in 17th place while senior Jessica Balmer led West Chicago in 21st. Senior Ashley Gaba (22nd) was Maine East's leader again followed by teammate Shalini Patel in 31st.

"They did well, they're starting to get better and they've all been sick so we're just trying to get them all practicing so we only have 14 girls on the team basically," said Kaneland coach Doug Ecker. "This is the most we've had running so far so we hope to get up to full strength, and Audrey (Walker, 41st place) ran a good race."

Boys race: The Libertyville boys cross country team looked like they were in mid-season form Saturday morning at the Al Willhoit Wauconda Invitational held on the 3-mile Matthews Middle School course in Island Lake.

The Wildcats easily captured the championship by a comfortable 22-81 margin over runner-up Glenbrook South. Hersey captured fourth place in the 15-team meet with 124 points followed by Stevenson (136 points) in sixth, Maine East (191) in seventh, Wauconda (200) in eighth, and Larkin (287) in ninth.

Libertyville sophomore Filip Vojvodic was the individual champion with a winning time of 16:08 followed by teammates Thomas Chudy (third), Michael Chudy (fourth), Jack Steffe (sixth), Taylor Rihm (eighth), and James O'Keefe (11th).

"My team motivates me every day to get stronger and faster and Libertyville is on the rise," said Vojvodic, who won by five seconds. "We've been putting the work in this summer and during the season and our goal is to make it to state."

Senior Luis Mendoza led Maine East in seventh followed by Hersey's Kass Kurzynski in 10th, Stevenson's Caleb Holloway in 14th, Libertyville's Peter Rappa in 15th, Wauconda's Levi Coburn in 16th, and Stevenson's Gurshaan Sohi in 17th.

"They looked really good. Our top two ran pretty much the whole way together and they basically finished in two packs," said Stevenson coach Scott Sommers. "It's starting to come together. Caleb (Holloway) really puts the time and work into everything, and those two (Holloway and Sohi) have kind of been trading off who is first and second in our first four meets."

Hersey's duo of Luke Carlson and Owen Wade placed 19th and 20th while senior Rafael Valdes led Larkin in 31st. Stevenson trio of Tanay Doshi, Taha Elmehdi, and Eshan Patel took places 34-36 followed by Hersey sophomores Jonah Morrison (37th), and James Homoly (38th). Maine East's Jonathan Garcia Hernandez rounded out the top 40 runners.

"He (Valdes) ran a good time; 17:50 is not too bad on this course because there are a lot of turns, and he was out really fast with a 5:34 for his opening mile," said Larkin coach Nathan Williams. "I was pleased with him (Valdes). It was his best time on this course for certain and one of our other captains Alex Lopez looked pretty good as our No. 2 runner today."

Sophomore Lyric Henry (42nd) was Maine East's third runner followed by Wauconda's trio of Brody Bendler, Brogen Finley, and Liam Pierce in places 43-45.