Redemption for Lesiewicz, Prospect

Prospect boys cross country team and Schaumburg's Pat Lesiewicz were looking for a bit of redemption at the Hoffman Estates regional on Saturday.

Prospect finished second at the Mid Suburban League conference meet and Lesiewicz took third individually last Saturday.

But both the Knights and Lesiewicz rolled to impressive victories on Saturday.

Prospect placed six runners in the top 10, easing to its fifth regional title with 25 points at Busse Woods on Saturday morning.

Lesiewicz shadowed MSL champ Chris Spudic of Prospect for 21/2 miles before exploding over the final 300 meters to land the individual title in 15:48 on a mud-engulfed course.

Schaumburg packed up its second through five runners in landing second place with 65 points, with Maine West (85 points) nipping Rolling Meadows (87 points) for third, and Conant (104 points) rounded out the top five.

All five teams advance to next Saturday's Schaumburg sectional at Busse Woods.

Lesiewicz allowed Spudic separation early last week, but the Schaumburg senior did not allow the Prospect senior out of his sight on Saturday.

"My race plan was I was going to sit on him (Spudic)," said Lesiewizc of the early part of the run. "If I felt like if I had a lot left I was going to try and break him in the middle but I didn't. My secondary plan was to kick at the end."

Spudic (15:53) finished second. The senior set the early pace but could not answer Lesiewicz's surge at the end.

"He's a good runner and he showed it," added Spudic, "I'm not disappointed, I just didn't have a lot left."

But the Knights had plenty in nailing down the regional title with senior Albert Ciolek (16:05) and junior Kellan Strobel (16:14) taking third and fourth place to complement Spudic.

Senior Vince Tagare (16:39) and sophomore Josh Campos (16:41) completed the Knights' scoring by taking seventh and eighth place.

"All seven guys really responded and ran well," added Prospect coach Mike Stokes of the Knights' charge. "I think we got everything done today that we wanted to, now we just have to scrape some of this mud off and get ready for next week."

Schaumburg also looked in good shape with sophomore Tyler Anderson (16:58), junior Travis Morrisson (16:59), and senior Mike Perry (17:00) finishing 14th, 15th, and 16th to aid Lesiewicz's run.

Kevin Schaefer (16:45) took ninth place to lead Maine West, and Trevor Kelley (16:55) and Ogar Somo (17:09) aided the Warriors by taking 12th and 18th place.

"I usually try and go out for the lead and then we have our 2 through 5 runners stay as close together as they can," said Schaefer.

Photis Karkalis (16:08) and Angelos Karkalis (16:18) finished fourth and sixth, leading Rolling Meadows to fourth place.

Muhammad Tayyab (16:57) took 13th place helping to advance Conant.

Individual qualifiers included Hoffman Estates' Marlan Hamilton (28th place), Kyle Gonzales (31st place) and Nick Sherlock (33rd place), and Elk Grove's Alex Mertes (29th place).