Libertyville, Warren's Olson run to NSC titles
The Libertyville girls cross country team returned to the top of the North Suburban Conference standings in style Saturday morning at Lakewood Forest Preserve.
The Wildcats had not captured the NSC championship since 2000, but they rolled to the conference title with 56 points as all seven of their runners earned all-conference (top 30) honors in the 3.1-mile race.
The battle for second place went down to the wire with Lake Forest edging Warren 94-96, despite another outstanding performance by Warren junior Heather Olson.
Olson pulled away from Vernon Hills' Danielle Dickman in the final mile to win the race by 14 seconds. Olson posted a winning time of 18:37 under cool running conditions.
Lake Zurich was a solid fourth-place finisher with 118 points while Mundelein (169 points) outdistanced Stevenson (172), Vernon Hills (190), and Antioch (199) for fifth place in the 13-team meet.
"I tried to make a move after two miles and play it like I did at the Wauconda Invite," said Olson, who placed 17th in the state last year. "It was a really cool day so I wasn't focusing on my time but I wanted to use the right strategy and focus on the team."
Libertyville's rise to the crown was led by Hannah Reilly in fifth, Erin Jaffke in eighth, Anne Strychalski in 10th, and Alyssa Corrigan in 14th.
Megan Janezic (19th), Katherine Filippo (20th) and Sarah Farish (24th) made all-conference for the Wildcats, as well.
"I was very pleased, said Libertyville coach Harry Carlson, whose team is at the Lake Zurich regional next weekend. "They ran according to plan, they stuck together, and they were ready to race. They are focused on the future and we'll take one race at a time now."
Besides Olson, Warren had three other all-conference runners -- Sarabeth Jones (13th), Gabby Nystrom (21st) and Annie Brandes (29th).
"They ran exactly how we talked about -- not going out too fast -- and they all kept moving up at each check point," said Warren coach Cheryl Anderson. "Four of them are all-conference so that is pretty good and we have high expectations at regionals next week."
Lake Zurich also had four all-conference runners -- Audrey Smith (16th), Fanny Weiss (17th), Megan Beigl (23rd), and Erika Powers (26th).
"This is the best I've seen them race all season and they were pretty focused today," said Lake Zurich coach Ian Silverman. "We've got regionals next weekend and we'll take it one race at a time and see how long we can hang in."
Stevenson was led by Kim Tarnoff in sixth place while teammate Paige Ekenberg (25th) was also an all-conference runner.
"Our No. 1 runner (Tarnoff) had one of her best races of the year and the other girls in our top five complemented her," said Stevenson coach Don Proft. "That was probably Tarnoff's best time on the Lakewood course."
Antioch's Erin Poss (18:57) held off Lakes' Rachel Dean by one second for third place while Alexis Capps led Grant in seventh place.
Kendra Kennedy added an 11th-place finish for Grant. Claire Heitman led Mundelein in 22nd place. Mundelein's
East Suburban Catholic: Carmel took third, led by third-place finisher Hilary Halford. Alexis Mientus (20th), Caitlin Duffy (25th), Ally Sturm (27th) and Kristen Gattuso (29th) also ran well for Carmel.