Libertyville rolls to regional title
It was another very impressive performance by the Libertyville girls cross country team Saturday afternoon in IHSA Class 3A regional competition.
After winning the North Suburban Conference crown last weekend, the host Wildcats rolled to their own eight-team regional meet championship on the 3-mile Adler Park course with 23 points to easily topple runner-up Lake Zurich with 70 points.
The Bears had a real battle to hold onto second place against Carmel, but they managed to edge the third-place Corsairs (73 points) by three points for runner-up honors to earn a trip to next Saturday's Schaumburg sectional meet at Busse Woods.
Fourth-place Mundelein also earned a team sectional berth with 89 points while Warren (119 points) earned the fifth and final trip to sectionals. Grant wound up placing sixth with 173 points.
The Wildcats' road to the title was led by senior Megan Janezic, who won the race in 19 minutes flat. Junior teammate Erin Jaffke placed second in 19:07 while senior Sarah Farish placed fourth in 19:15. Janezic, Jaffke, and Farish were all on Libertyville's last team to qualify for the state meet in 2007.
"I felt really good because I was hoping to win the race and I was pleased with how I finished," Janezic said. "It was a pretty good time for this course and I thought everybody ran really well."
Besides its top trio, Libertyville freshman Nicole Jaffke placed sixth followed by teammates Michelle McCracken in 10th, Abigail Toohey in 15th, and Danielle Orsini in 26th.
"They did a really nice job and we had four of the top five spots for most of the race," said Libertyville coach Joe Roth, whose team has won three straight regionals. "We wanted them to go out hard so they have some momentum going into next week and that is going to be a challenge."
Lake Zurich used more of a pack running effort to take home second place as Audrey Smith (ninth), Kaitlin Leopold (11th), Cassie Houghton (13th), Olivia Holicky (14th), and Kelsey Iverhouse (23rd) were the Bears' top five finishers.
"They raced really well, they stayed close together, and they pushed each other," said Lake Zurich coach Ian Silverman. "We're just going to go and compete at the sectional and see what we can do."
Senior Hilary Halford led Carmel in fifth place while senior teammate Shannon Howell placed seventh. Freshman Lizzy Kelly added a 16th-place run for the Corsairs with freshman teammate Katie Housner placing 20th. Carmel sophomore Sarah Myss placed 25th.
"The girls ran well and our No. 3 runner was sick so we had other girls step up today," said Carmel coach Jim Halford. "We were shooting for Lake Zurich today and we came up a little short, but our top four ran great."
Freshman Marissa Perreault led Mundelein with a third-place time of 19:11 while the pack of teammates Claire Naughton (19th), Stephanie Johnson (21st), Kelsey Moon (22nd), and Angela Norton (24th) helped carry the Mustangs to sectionals.
"We haven't been to sectionals as a team since 2005 so we're very excited to be back," said Mundelein coach John Osmanski. "Marissa was absolutely outstanding, it was the best race she's run all year, and she just kept charging."
Senior Annie Brandes led Warren in 12th place while junior teammate Gabby Nystrom had somewhat of an off day in 18th. Sophomore Jolyn Achs placed 27th for the Blue Devils with teammates Amanda Harper (30th), and Meg Tully (32nd) rounding out Warren's scoring.
Grant will have three at-large qualifiers competing at sectionals as Audrey Carrothers (17th), Kacie Wodek (31st), and Trisha Palmieri (38th) all made the cut.