Lake Zurich gathers steam at Wheeling Invite

Lake Zurich is hoping it soon has all the pieces in place to make a strong postseason run.

The Bears took a step forward by winning the Wheeling Invitational on a raw Saturday at Heritage Park with 71 points.

Belvidere North, last year's Class 2A runner-up, took second with 94 points followed by Buffalo Grove (105 points), St. Ignatius (154), and Libertyville (165).

Despite missing No. 2 runner Francisco Soto, Lake Zurich had the winning formula. The Bears placed five runners in the top 24 with a 28-second split.

Andrew Morrison (15:30) led the charge with a fourth-place finish. The senior recovered from a slow start to propel the Bears.

"I wished I could have gotten out a little faster," said Morrison. "I made up some but could not catch up to the lead pack."

Senior Paul Geimer (15:43) and junior Ryan Moncrieff (15:49) took 10th and 14th place for LZ, followed by junior Alex Bend (15:54) and junior Victor Delatorre (15:58), who placed 19th and 24th.

"We definitely closed the 1 through 5 gap," said Geimer of the Bears' strong pack running. "That's what we need to do, have a tight pack in front."

Lake Zurich hopes that the eventual return of Soto will translate into an even stronger postseason finish.

"With Sisco (Soto) back we'll be right where we want to be," added Morrison. "We want to be coming back from injuries, not getting worse. I think we may surprise some people."

Individually, Libertyville senior Mitchel Neubauer ran a solid race in finishing second to champion Paul Zeman of Belvidere North.

Zeman set a blistering pace and led wire-to-wire finishing at 15:12. Neubauer hung tight the whole race taking second in 15:19.

"The Belvidere North guy was flying, he looked strong the whole race," said Neubauer, "I was just trying to stay up with him and thought maybe there'd be a slight chance to catch him - it didn't turn out that way."

Nuebauer has made plenty of strides in a solid season. Last year he finished 11th at Wheeling.

"Last year I didn't hurt enough on the second mile," added the senior. "This year I tried to do that and hold my pace as best as I could for that second mile. I think it paid off."

Buffalo Grove's Jereme Atchison (15:29) also cashed in with a third-place finish. The Bison sophomore used a punishing third mile to secure his position leading BG to third place.

"I just kept pushing to catch up to the leaders," added Atchison. "Coach (Jamie) Klotz said to win the last mile, so I kept pushing."

Sophomore Taras Didenko (15:48) aided the Bison by finishing in 13th place, and senior Ryan Pater (16:04) added a 26th place.

"I tried to stay up with (Atchison)," said Didenko, "Every single practice I try to stay up with Jereme - he just makes me work for it."

Daniel Ryan (16:11) added 27th place to Neubauer's second place, pacing Libertyville to fifth place.

Kyle Dockery (15:31) came back from an early season knee injury to secure fifth place in leading Barrington (169 points) to sixth place. The junior latched onto the lead pack and held steady for the 3-mile course.

"I figured it would go out fast, so I tried to hang with them," said Dockery of the torrid start. "From there I kept my pace, not letting anyone pass me."

Freshman Ryan Prais (15:52) secured 16th place, sending Lakes to an eighth-place finish.

Senior Kevin Schaefer (15:48) took 12th place, helping Maine West secure ninth place.

Senior Photis Karkalis (15:38) and his twin brother Angelos Karkalis (15:47) challenged the lead pack early before taking 8th and 11th place for Rolling Meadows, which finished 12th.

"The first 2 miles went by fast," said Photis Karkalis. "The whole race caught up to me in the final mile."

Sophomore KJ Matuszak (15:53) took 17th place for Carmel.

Sterling Invitational: Pat Lesiewicz ran to victory in 15:02, helping Schaumburg to a third-place finish among 26 teams with 128 points. Fenwick won with 72, and Minooka was runner-up at 103.

Lesiewicz was way out front in a two-man race with Fenwick's Martin Grady, who'd edged Lesiewicz by one place in last fall's Class 3A state meet. This time, Lesiewicz finished four seconds ahead of Grady.

"Pat was able to out-kick him," said Schaumburg coach Jim Macnider. "I think maybe (Lesiewicz) had a little harder race than he thought he'd have."

Schaumburg also counted finishes from Pat O'Connell (22nd), Mike Perry (27th), sophomore Tyler Anderson (38th) and Connor Prizy (42nd). Macnider said he expects to have junior Travis Morrison ready for meets again soon, and hopes Prizy's recent battles with illness will soon be behind him as the Saxons focus on the priority, which is performing well at Detweiller Park in four weeks.

"We've got the kind of group," said Macnider, "where if we put it all together, we can make some special things happen."

St. Charles East Invitational: Palatine put six runners in the top 11 on the way to a dominant victory. Led by a 1-2 finish from Alec Bollman (15:45.9) and Chano Bernardo (15:50. 4), the Pirates kept their total to 29 points, well ahead of St. Charles East (65) and Stevenson (79). Palatine's third runner was Reuben Frey (fifth, 16:10.0), fourth was Ryan Wojdyla (seventh, 16:20.4) and fifth was Tim Meincke (10th, 16:29.7).