Cross country: Hersey girls, Libertyville boys take titles at Wauconda’s Willhoit invite

After a lengthy delay to the start of the race due to rain and lightning, the Hersey girls cross country team was ready to go Saturday morning at the 12-team Al Willhoit Wauconda Invitational.

The Huskies rolled to the championship with 32 points followed by Lane Tech (75 points) in second place, and Hoffman Estates (109 points) in third. Mundelein outdistanced Grayslake North 171-198 for seventh place while the host Bulldogs (224 points) placed ninth.

Hersey freshman Graceleen Mabry (19:06) edged Hoffman Estates senior Maya Zabiegly by one second for third place on the 3-mile Matthews Middle School course in Island Lake. Hersey's Alexandra Kopacz placed fifth to edge Hoffman Estates' Ella MacNider by three seconds.

"They did a nice controlled race and packed up until the second mile before they raced all out for the last mile," said Hersey coach Mikayla Olsen, whose team placed ninth in Class 3A last year. "They should make state again, I'm hoping they make top five this year, and they are young and hungry."

Hersey's trio of Alexa Izenstark, Jojo Messer, and Elizabeth Waltz took places 7-8-9 to help carry the Huskies to the team title. Hersey lost its No. 1 runner Madeline Bialko (Loyola) to graduation.

"I'm really excited. We're going to be really good this year and next year, said Mabry, who won Class 3A IESA state crowns in seventh and eighth grade when she was at MacArthur Middle School. "It was pretty muddy in the back hills, and we tried to go full out in the last mile."

Kaneland's Macey Jug placed 10th followed by Grayslake North's Madison Petersen in 11th, Hersey's Jamie Lakiewicz in 13th, Mundelein's Precious Oyebanji in 15th, and Hersey's Martyna Makowski in 16th. Kaneland's Danielle Bower placed 21st while Grayslake North's Lucy Roscoe was 22nd.

"We did well, but really not knowing if we were going to race or not (due to the weather) kind of took us out of our pattern," said Hoffman Estates coach Matt Ihms. "The girls got out hard, they did it right, and Maya and Ella ran well to finish fourth and sixth."

BOYS

In the boys race, Libertyville held off Glenbrook South 25-41 to take first place in the 12-team Al Willhoit Wauconda Invite.

Lane Tech edged Hersey 92-98 for third place on the 3-mile Matthews Middle School course in Island Lake as lightning and thunder caused the start of the meet to be delayed until the skies cleared.

Stevenson outdistanced the host Bulldogs 134-179 for fifth place while Lake Forest toppled Grayslake North 192-238 for seventh place.

Libertyville sophomore Taylor Rihm rolled to the individual title in 15:59 to defeat his next closest competitor by 25 seconds.

After placing 22nd in Class 3A last year, the Wildcats have a lot of experienced runners back including Thomas Chudy (fourth), Filip Vojvodic (fifth), Marcello Prinz (seventh), Trace Whildin (eighth), and Jack Steffe (10th).

"We only lost two seniors from our varsity to graduation, and our guys went out and competed well to secure the spots they needed to get the victory," said Libertyville coach Stuart Mendelsohn, whose team also won the Wauconda Invite last year. "We had a couple of guys with the sick bug, but they still went out and performed the best they could to help the team win the invite. Taylor as a sophomore has his sights set big, and he knows the work and effort he needs to put in to stay there after being a part of the seven that competed at state last year."

Hersey's top runners were competing at Peoria on Saturday, but the Huskies' freshman duo of Santiago Arroyo and Johan Gonzalez placed 11th and 12th, respectively.

Stevenson was led by 2024 sectional qualifier Caleb Holloway in 14th place as he edged Wauconda junior Parker Koch (15th) by one second.

Libertyville freshman Hakim Elmenshawy placed 18th followed by Stevenson's Owen Moran (21st), and Hersey's Jeremiah Esposito (22nd).

"The course was definitely very rough, especially when we went through the forest area," said Rihm, who placed 108th in Class 3A as a freshman. "We're already running faster times now than we did last year, and we hope we can finish in the top 10 at state."