Cross country: Kowaczek’s win not quite enough to lift Schaumburg over Stevenson
The battle for first place at the 49th annual Wildcat Invitational went down to the wire Saturday morning in Wheeling between Stevenson and Schaumburg.
Schaumburg's Dilana Kowaczek was the individual champion with a winning time of 18:11.9 on the Heritage Park course. But it was the Patriots' team effort that captured the championship over the Saxons by a narrow 45-48 margin.
“The last few races we've been running it's been a lot cooler than this, so I think it was good to test myself in a little more sun today,” said Kowaczek, who won by 16 seconds. “I think things are looking pretty good for us this year and we can do some really great things by the end of the year.”
Benet Academy took third place with 77 points, followed by Hoffman Estates (93 points) in fourth, Waubonsie Valley (128) in fifth and Wheaton North (167) in sixth.
Stevenson's road to the team title was led by the trio of Camila Pak in third, Sienna Romero in fifth and Sloane Wagner in sixth
“I think it was a good race. We did not race last weekend, and they're excited about it right before the conference meet next week,” said Stevenson coach Lindsay DePaul. “Our first three runners were all very close together. It was a very close race today, and the girls are excited about it.”
Senior Ashlyn Willis was Benet Academy's top runner in second place as she edged Schaumburg's Emma Walz in fourth place. The Saxons also got a seventh-place finish from Chloe Pisto.
“They ran really well, and we've been working on a lot of different tactics throughout the season,” said Schaumburg coach Caitlin Roberts. “Our third and fourth runners are really starting to step up, but we had one girl out today due to some ankle issues.”
The Redwings got a 10th-place run from senior Faye Ferrell, while sophomore teammate Sarah Read placed 16th.
“It's the first time this year we've had our top seven together, and one girl is still coming back from injury,” said Benet coach Dan Billish. “We had some good, competitive efforts up front, and Schaumburg and Stevenson are both really good teams, so they helped our girls run a little bit faster.”
Conant teammates Lily Schaefers and Taylor Kinnare placed 8-9, while Waubonsie Valley was led by freshman Estella Phelan in 11th. Conant's Megan Schaefers placed 12th, followed by Stevenson's Ellie Kerksick (13th), Schaumburg's Claire Swiderski (14th), and Wheaton North's Sarah Farrell (15th).
Boys cross country
Waubonsie Valley refused to lose the championship of the 49th annual Wildcat Invitational on Saturday morning at Wheeling's Heritage Park.
The Warriors put together a fantastic team effort to take home first place with 36 points as they held off runner-up Carroll (47 points) from Dayton, Ohio, for the team title.
Hoffman Estates took third place with 116 points, followed closely by Maine West (126 points) in fourth and Rolling Meadows (136 points) in fifth.
“We've been back here for maybe two or three years, and this is a lot of fun with a group that has worked very hard to get into this position,” said Waubonsie Valley coach Kevin Rafferty. “My first guy (Ben Lenciauskas) is a junior doing cross country for the first time, and my second kid (Kavish Shanmugasundaram) is a freshman. Ben is having a nice year and doing a lot of learning.”
Conant junior Johnny Basile posted a winning time of 16:07.9 on the 3-mile course, while Lenciauskas and Shanmugassundaram went 3-4 under some fairly warm running conditions in the upper 60s.
“My game plan was to really just have fun because I have been overthinking a lot of my races,” said Basile, who is hoping to qualify for the Nov. 7 state meet. “I have to make sure that every single thing on my mind is going to state in cross country.”
Wheeling did not run its varsity team because it had already competed in a meet at Loyola on Friday night. But the Wildcats did get a stellar sixth-place run from freshman Alex Martin.
Waubonsie Valley's Mika Lam placed seventh followed by Maine West's Toby Jurgielwicz in eighth. Waubonsie Valley also got a ninth-place run from Achyuth Randeep while Hoffman Estates' Trajan Mohammed rounded out the top 10 runners.
“I think it was a wonderful performance by this team and we're starting to peak at the end of the season,” said Hoffman Estates coach Rich Flach. “Trajan Mohammed has been our No. 1 runner all season, and our freshman Jameson MacNider was our No. 2 runner today.”
Waubonsie Valley's trio of Evann O'Neill, Will Stevenson and Jasdeep Grover took places 13-15 to help seal the team crown.
Maine West junior Will Mortensen took 16th place, while junior Jakob Samuels paced Rolling Meadows in 18th place. Waubonsie Valley's Ryan Heap added a 19th for the Warriors' deep lineup.
“I was so proud of our athletes, and we had a number of PRs at both the frosh/soph and varsity levels,” said Maine West coach Nate Hassman. “(Jurgielwicz and Mortensen) had an excellent off-season. It's great to see it paying dividends here, and they're both juniors so the sky's the limit.”