York’s Janowski, Barrington girls show they’re in midseason form at Palatine meet
Two-time defending girls state cross country champion Barrington showed that it is still the team to beat Saturday morning at the Palatine Invitational Meet of Champions at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve.
And defending Class 3A champion Karlin Janowski of York showed she is ready to defend her state title after posting a winning time of 16:25.8 on the 3-mile course.
The Fillies' trio of runner-up Angelica Hil, Mia Sirois (third) and Victoria Tarara (fourth) were too much for the rest of the 28-team field as they won the team title with 117 points.
Edwardsville placed second with 131 points, followed by Prospect (149 points) in third, Hersey (156) in fourth and Maine South (203) in seventh.
Coming off illness, Notre Dame-bound Sirois is still not at 100%. Sirois posted an IHSA record time of 15:53.4 to win the state meet as a sophomore, but she missed her entire junior season last year due to injury.
“We wanted to go through the first mile at 5:30. That's exactly what we did, and we worked together,” Sirois said. “I got really sick the first or second week of September. I'm kind of just keeping a broad perspective right now, and hopefully I have bigger and better things ahead in high school and at Notre Dame.”
Sophomore Ashleigh Forbes placed 10th for Barrington, but its fifth runner placed 99th.
“We had four runners in the top 10, so that bodes well and the kids are working hard,” said Barrington coach Debbie Revolta. “I would say (Sirois) is 85% healthy. But she is going to get better and better, and she has great teammates around her.”
Janowski was not intimidated by the pack of Barrington runners she had to deal with in the pressure-packed meet.
“Honestly, this was probably my most challenging race so far,” said Janowski, whose team placed 10th. “I didn't let them get in my head, I did not want to worry about them, I just ran my race.”
“I think Karlin is such a hard-working kid, she is laser focused, and every time she comes ready to compete,” said York coach Lauren Deangelis. “She's a great teammate, she is always cheering them on and leading by example.”
Tessie Bradley led Maine South in sixth place, while freshman Maddie Serur led Hersey in eighth. Caitlin Resac was Prospect's top runner in 13th place while Celia Blaylock led Lake Zurich in 15th. Prospect's Ali Kalkwarf placed 17th to edge Hersey's Gianna Suvada in 18th.
“Overall we were good, but we didn't run at full strength today and we had a girl tripped up in the first 800 meters,” said Prospect coach Pete Wintermute. “Caitlin and Ali led us out from the start and ran a great race. Our goal is to keep moving forward and get better each week.”
Boys cross country
None of the 31 teams at the Palatine Invitational Meet of Champions could match the depth of St. Louis University High, which rolled to the championship with 57 points. Dixon placed second with 130 points followed by Fremd (153 points) in third, Prospect (182) in fourth and York (195) in fifth.
Hersey took seventh with 227 points. Eighth-place Neuqua Valley was led by runner-up Jesse Gudauskas with a time of 14:33.4.
“It was a little warmer than I expected, but I can't complain because it wasn't hot,” said Gudauskas, who placed 24th in Class 3A last year. “Last year I was dealing with a nagging calf injury so my goal is to win state. Of course, there's like 10 other people who want to do the same thing, so I want to place as high as I can.”
“(Gudauskas) is a student of the sport and a workhorse in every sense of those words,” said Neuqua Valley coach James Janota. “He is a tremendous leader for this team, and he has built an aerobic engine over the course of the past summer that is going to help him vie for a top position in the state of Illinois.”
Lake Zurich's Karanveer Patil took third place, followed closely by Fremd teammates David Moore in fourth and Jack Jennings in fifth.
“It was the first meet that everyone has run in for us. We had seven solid performances, and they all ran faster than we ran at Peoria last week,” said Fremd coach Matt Zaluckyj. “We have our big two up front, and that is going to help us compete in any big invite we go to.”
Junior Patrick Hill led York's pack in eighth place, followed by Vernon Hills' Bryant Lester in eighth, Neuqua Valley's Grayson Meek in 12th, Lake Zurich's Jacob Hinojosa in 14th and York's Michael Gurgone in 15th.
“Two of our top five aren't even in the lineup and we still took fifth so we had some awesome breakthroughs,” said York coach Charlie Kern. “Patrick Hill has been our No. 1 runner all year, and he's a top 10-in-the-state kind of guy.”
Senior Gabe Gronski was Hersey's top runner in 16th place. Junior Bobby WIntermute led Prospect in 21st place. Wintermute is the son of Prospect girls cross country coach Pete Wintermute. Prospect's Pierce Baker nipped Maine South's Collin Frye for 24th place.
“I was really happy with the meet, and for some of our guys it was only their second meet of the season,” said Prospect coach Jay Renaud. “Bobby (Wintermute) had a very good meet, he was our No. 1 runner last week as well, and our 2-3 runners ran very well.”
Patrick Rosean was Prospect's third runner in 27th place. Taylor Rihm was Libertyville's top runner in 30th place. Fremd's Carter Bartkus edged Vernon Hills' Will Gagamov for 32nd place.
“Gabe (Gronski) had a solid day, and allowing Lucas (Pfoutz) to win a race was important because he won't run another freshmen race at Hersey,” said Hersey coach Mike Glosson. “Luke Carlson had a family commitment today, and Gabe is our only kid who has run in a sectional meet.”
At the 13th annual Macnider Invitational in Schaumburg, Huntley took home the championship with 45 points as junior Mark Omoniyi won the race for the Red Raiders in 16:07.9.