Cross country: York girls edge Barrington at 40th Palatine invitational

The 40th annual Palatine Invitational was a real showcase for girls cross country runners Saturday morning at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve as the Meet of Champions had to be decided by a tiebreaker between defending state champion York and Barrington.

The Dukes took home the title at the massive 32-team meet based on their sixth runner taking 32nd place to the Fillies' sixth runner placing 47th which broke the 103-103 scoring deadlock.

Portland, Oregon, squad Lincoln placed third with 122 points followed by Hersey (223 points) in seventh, Wheaton Warrenville South (256) in eighth, and Lake Zurich (262) in ninth.

Barrington sophomore sensation Mia Sirois set the 3-mile course record with a winning time of 16:33.58 under some light rain to easily outdistance York freshman Karlin Janowski (17:00.40) in second place.

"I'm super-happy about it, I felt a lot stronger than I thought I would, and I didn't know I had the course record because I try not to fixate on pace during my races," said Sirois. "This is my favorite time of the year when the temperatures get cooler you are able to put together more quality workouts and run faster."

Despite some breathing problems, Barrington defending Class 3A state champion Scout Storms (17:17) placed fourth followed by Hersey's Madeline Bialko in fifth.

"Our kids are running really well right now, I thought we had a good race, and we're going to keep getting better," said Barrington coach Debbie Revolta. "The times were pretty good, I think we're being consistent, and that's what we need to do."

York got a 17th-place finish from Sophia Galiano-Sanchez, a 25th from Sofia Stoddard, and a 27th from Maggie Quinn.

"It was very team-oriented, they worked together, and they moved up a lot and finished strong," said York coach Lauren Deangelis. "She (Janowski) has been amazing, she is a workhorse, and she's just been really fun to have on the team this year."

St. Francis (11th) was led by Erin Hinsdale (eighth), Elena Mamminga (ninth), and Margaret Andrzejewski (16th). Senior Nicole Poglitsch (11th place) led WWS followed by Barrington's Viktoria Higgins (25th), Palatine's Abigail Jordan (26th), and Hersey's Alexa Izenstark (29th).

"I wish we were a little bit higher up, but we raced down some really good fresh-soph runners today so they can see what it's like to race up front," said Hersey coach Mikayla Olsen. "She (Bialko) had a great day, she pr'd by 15 seconds so I'm excited for her and she looks like a different kid this season she's really confident."

Perennial power Prospect held its varsity out of the meet to prepare an MSL East showdown on Tuesday.

BOYS MEET

This year’s Palatine invite featured some of the top boys cross country teams and individuals in the state Saturday morning on the 3-mile Deer Grove East Forest Preserve course.

Plainfield North captured the team title in the huge 31-team meet with 91 points to outpace runner-up Edwardsville with 126 points.

A logjam of Mid-Suburban West teams battled it in the rain as Fremd (184 points) placed fifth to outdistance Barrington (216 points) in sixth, and the host Pirates (219) in seventh. Neuqua Valley placed 10th followed by Lake Zurich (11th), Libertyville (12th), York (13th), and Hersey (14th).

Plainfield South's Dylan Maloney was the individual champ in 14:28.06 while Barrington's Joe Bregenzer (14:36.60) took second. Bregenzer won the Class 3A state title in the 3,200-meter run last spring.

"I expect to win every race I'm in, but Dylan is a great runner and he's one of the best in the state," said Bregenzer. "I know where I'm at right now, I'm training hard and my legs are tired, but I have confidence when I taper down and I'm fresh I'll be at my best."

Barrington coach Tom Root has confidence in Bregenzer and his team moving forward.

"We had a really good week of training and our mental preparation was a lot better coming into this race," Root said. 'I think Joe was ready to go in that regard, his legs didn't respond the way he wanted them to, but that's OK right now and he can take a lot of confidence as we look ahead to the weeks on the horizon."

Palatine's trio of Alex Krieg (fourth), James O'Sullivan (10th), and Carter Hayes (12th) was impressive.

"It was a little less than we were hoping for, our top three ran great races, and our other guys were just too buried," said Palatine coach Joe Parks. "But it was a good learning experience, and we just have to move on and execute in these situations."

Cary-Grove junior Jameson Tenopir (86th in Class 3A) was impressive in seventh place, and he has high goals for the state meet on Nov. 9.

"My goal going into this race was to get top 10 so I'm really happy with getting seventh and this is about the fastest that I've ever ran," said Tenopir. "My goal right now is probably top 15 at state and I was a bit disappointed last year because I missed out on top 25 and this year I'm in a really good spot to place higher."

Fremd's pack was led by Jack Jennings in 14th and Rory Gaan (ninth in Class 3A) in 19th.

"Overall we had a lot of B+ races and we struggled to move up, but we're a month away from regionals and I think we're in a pretty good spot to be right now," said Fremd coach Matt Zaluckyj. "This is only our second hard race of the year so we're trying to have our best races in November."

Lake Zurich freshman Karanveer Patil placed 16th while Neuqua Valley teammates Jesse Gudauskas and Ryan Adamski placed 23rd and 25th respectively. Mundelein's Elijah Mendoza placed 28th followed by Libertyville's Filip Vojvodic (29th), Barrington's Ethan Scott (30th), York's Carter Olsen (32nd), Maine South's Owynn Garrelts (33rd), and Lake Zurich's Luke Marshall (34th).