Cross country: Palatine boys, Barrington girls win MSL crowns
With a logjam of teams still in contention, the Mid-Suburban League boys cross country meet was a fight to the finish Saturday morning on the 3-mile Busse Woods course.
In the end, Palatine held off crosstown rival Fremd 67-70 for its third MSL championship in the past four years followed closely by Hersey (77 points) in third and Prospect (83 points) in fourth.
Behind individual champion Joe Bregenzer's winning time of 14:24.32, Barrington placed fifth in the 12-team meet with 104 points as Bregenzer won the individual crown for the second year in a row.
"I'm happy with the win. I didn't feel as good as I would have liked, but I fought and I got the job done to get the low stick for my team," said Bregenzer. "I just felt a little tired and a little sluggish. I just want to win state,.I won track in two miles, and I'm going to go for it November ninth at state."
The Pirates' winning pack was led by runner-up Alex Krieg (14:31.88), James O'Sullivan in fifth, and Carter Hayes in sixth.
"They've been kind of holding the front of the pack most of the year so for them to do it again in a big meet like this is what you hope for," said Palatine coach Joe Parks. "We don't ever take these for granted. This is definitely one of the most deeply competitive versions of this meet that I've seen to see five teams run as closely as they did."
Fremd teammates Rory Gaan and Jack Jennings placed 3-4 while teammate Arjun Shah placed 15th to almost help carry the Vikings to the team title.
"There were three or four teams with a mile to go that still had an opportunity to win it, and today was the first time since the Palatine Invite that I've had all of our top seven runners," said Fremd coach Matt Zaluckyj. "It's nice to have to single-digit guys up there and the workouts have been going great (for Gaan)."
Hersey's troops were led by the pack of Elliot Baik (12th), Owen Wade (13th), Mateus Salomao (14th), and Nathan Marotta (17th).
"This is the first meet all season where our top seven have all raced and I'm extremely proud of how our boys ran," said Hersey coach Mike Glosson. "We had six of our top seven in the top 25 (all-conference), it was just an unbelievable effort, and we've had a different No. 1 many times so we're a true team."
Prospect was led by Luke Robinson in seventh, freshman Bobby Wintermute in 16th, and Brody Cushing in 18th.
"Luke Robinson ran awesome with a huge P.R. and our No. 2 runner was our freshman Bobby Wintermute who set our freshman 3-mile record (15:22.09)," said Prospect coach Jay Renaud. "We're in the mix, we're probably a little disappointed with where we finished place-wise, but it was so close so it's hard to be that disappointed and as a coach you always want more."
Buffalo Grove's Riley Wold placed eighth followed by Hoffman Estates' Brady Faulkner in ninth, Barrington's Mark McGinn in 10th, and Conant's Charlie Calderone in 11th.
GIRLS MEET
With four runners in the top seven places, there was simply no stopping the Barrington girls cross country team from winning the championship of the Mid-Suburban League meet Saturday morning on the 3-mile Busse Woods course.
Not only did the Fillies show that they are becoming a state-title contender, but super sophomore Mia Sirois is showing the potential to win the individual state crown after easily running to first place in a P.R. of 16:20.53.
Barrington toppled archrival Prospect 31-54 for its first MSL team title since 2019 followed by Hersey (104 points) in third, and Schaumburg (122 points) in fourth.
Senior Scout Storms placed third for the Fillies followed by teammates Viktoria Higgins (sixth), Sabrina Roach (seventh). Georgia Storms (14th), and Victoria Tarara (15th).
"I'm really proud of the effort my team put out. That was a really great performance, and we all gave our everything," said Sirois, who placed fifth in the MSL last year. "I know our team is capable of doing really well at state so if we all do our best on that day it would be great to get a state team title and we're really going for it this year."
The Fillies' freshman trio of Georgia Storms (14th), Victoria Tarara (15th), and Paige Kusmerz (18th) were impressive.
"I think we ran a great team race. We knew we would have to battle, and we did just that," said Barrington coach Debbie Revolta. "I'm really proud of all of them. I think we had five out of seven people run their best time of the year and that's what you have to do in these meets because there's so many great teams."
Prospect's trio of runner-up Veronica Znajda, Meg Peterson (fourth), and Ireland Wildhart (fifth) carried the team to its second-place finish.
"There's a reason Barrington's ranked as one of the best teams in the state if not the best team in the state and Debbie Revolta's got that program rolling," said Prospect coach Pete Wintermute. "We know we've got to train at a high level to compete with them. It was really nice going 2-4-5, and they set the tone with their energy and positivity."
Palatine's Elizabeth Garrett placed eighth followed by Fremd's Isa Hasty (ninth), Hersey's Alexa Izenstark (10th), and Hoffman Estates' Maya Zabiegly (11th). Elk Grove teammates Delaney Malone and Reagan Malone placed 12th and 13th followed by Prospect's Mary Laba (16th), Hoffman Estates' Ella MacNider (17th), and Hersey's Margaretha Grabske (19th).
"Our No. 1 runner (Madeline Bialko, 26th) is sick, our No. 5 did not race, and our No. 3 will be back for regionals," said Hersey coach Mikayla Olsen. "But we had a few step up today, and our No. 3 is a freshman (Zuzanna Kruszewski, 21st) who ran awesome in her first varsity race."
Schaumburg was led by all-conference runners Jpia Sodimu (20th), Milana Pisto (22nd), Emma Walz (24th), and Abigail Kilian (25th). Fremd freshman Helen Hermann placed 23rd.
"This is an incredibly tough conference that we're in so for these girls to fight and take fourth I'm very proud of them," said Schaumburg coach Caitlin Roberts. "Our pack was incredibly solid, and that is something we've been working on for the past two or three weeks because every number counts."