Flannagan places second

Lake Park had a pair of impressive seconds at Saturday's Upstate Eight Conference girls cross country race in Roselle.

Lancers junior Lindsay Flannagan ran a fast 17:22 race on the 3-mile course, but took second to St. Charles East standout Lizzy Hynes, who flew to first place in 17:05.

The Lancers team, meanwhile, placed three runners in the top 12 and five in the top 21, yet had to settle for second place as Neuqua Valley claimed top honors with a wining score of 52 that edged Lake Park's 64. St. Charles East was third at 86, followed by St. Charles North in fourth (98), Bartlett in fifth (138) and Waubonsie Valley was sixth at 149.

"It was a great race," Lake Park coach Harvey Braus said in speaking of both the individual and team competitions. "Lizzy and Lindsay both ran great and 17:05 is a course record. The weather was great, and so was the competition."

Hynes, who claimed her third straight conference crown, was not planning to go out quite so fast early in the race, but Flannagan set a fast pace.

"It was a very fast course, and (Flannagan) was really pushing it," said Hynes, who took sixth in the state last fall. "I finally decided to go for it around the 2-mile mark. I felt real good and I was surprised by my time."

A lot of good times were turned in, including a 17:43 by St. Charles North's Stephanie Strasser, who was third overall, a 17:45 by Neuqua Valley's Megan Taylor, and a 17:46 by Bartlett's Sam Salinas.

Taylor was joined in the top 10 by fellow Wildcats Sara Hartley and Casey Thomson. Neuqua Valley's Meagan Hynes and Allie Aitken also came up big as the Wildcats took the UEC title away from Lake Park.

"I'm so proud of everyone," Taylor said. "We all focused on closing our gap. We wanted it to be less than 48 seconds between our 1-5, and we did that."

With Martha Silva 18th in 18:31, Neuqua Valley actually had six runners in the top 18 and all within 46 seconds of one another.

"We knew coming in it would be a dogfight," Neuqua Valley coach Tim McCoskey said. "But we've got a good front line. Taylor's been running strong and you look at who finished ahead of her today and you see three of the top runners in the state."

Waubonsie Valley was led by Toni Ogundare's sixth-place time of 17:52, while fellow Warriors Shakeia Pinnick, Heather Kearley and Marisa Nowicki also turned in solid times.