Mena moving on; Lane, Bahrani run well at Belvidere
It was a great day for area boys cross country runners Saturday morning at the IHSA Class 3A Palatine sectional.
The host Pirates rolled to the championship of the 20-team meet with 57 points, outracing Mid-Suburban League rival Hersey (79).
Representing the Fox Valley Conference, Cary-Grove earned a trip to the 62nd annual state meet Saturday in Peoria with a third-place score of 168 points.
In the battle for the final two state team berths, Dundee-Crown (178 points) grabbed its first trip to Detweiller Park since 1991 with a fourth-place finish.
Barrington also scored 178 points and took fifth based on its sixth runner. Prospect was a distant sixth with 215 points.
Hersey senior Kevin Havel proved to be the class of the field, cruising to the individual title with a winning time of 14:10. Palatine's Mat Smoody placed second in 14:27.
Mundelein senior Alex Mena. Mena earned the fourth of seven at-large individual state berths with a 10th-place time of 14:53 on the 3-mile Deer Grove East Forest Preserve course.
Cary-Grove sophomore Phil Fairleigh finished 11th to pace the Trojans, while teammate Kai Rikardsen took 19th and Mike McNamara 43rd.
"I got out right where I wanted to because I didn't want to go out too fast, but in the last mile about three guys got away from me," Fairleigh said. "I wanted to do a little better than how I ran, and I will have to have a way better race next week if I want to be all-state (top 25)."
After winning the Lake Zurich regional last Saturday, Cary-Grove coach Layne Holter was happy with the Trojans' performance Saturday in the pressure-packed meet.
"We didn't run quite as well as I thought we were capable of running today, but we're still happy everybody finished strong and the guys were ready to race today," Holter said. "Fairleigh ran a smart race today and Kai Rikardsen ran great again today as our No. 2 runner."
Dundee-Crown's surge to the state meet was not totally unexpected after the Chargers placed third in the Rolling Meadows regional last weekend. The Chargers featured two freshmen, two sophomores, two juniors, and a senior in their top seven.
Freshman Anthony Manfrin led the Chargers in 18th place, followed by Connor Kustief in 23rd and Paul Smith in 44th.
"We haven't been on anybody's radar all year, but we've run solid all year," said Dundee-Crown coach Tom Smith. "It's been a goal to get downstate since day one, and going into the sectional this was the most relaxed and confident group I've had and they were on a mission."
It was mission accomplished for the Chargers.
Huntley senior Todd Farbiak earned the final at-large berth to Peoria with a 16th-place finish.
At Belvidere: Grayslake North's Nick Lane and Vernon Hills' Moe Bahrani earned state berth with strong races in the Class 2A sectional.
Rock Island Alleman's Tim Hird covered the 2.92-mile layout in 14:54 to beat runner-up Lane by a second.
Bahrani (15:01) was fourth.