Cary-Grove, D-C punch their tickets to state
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.
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 longtime 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.
Mundelein senior Alex 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.
Huntley senior Todd Farbiak earned the final at-large berth to Peoria with a 16th-place finish.
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.
At Schaumburg: Some of the state's finest boys cross country teams and runners gathered a week early at Busse Woods.
The Class 3A Schaumburg sectional showcased some of the area's best talent.
At the finish line, it was obvious good things were happening for Naperville North (70 points) and York (85), which finished 1-2 in the team race.
York's Tom Achtien (15:03) and Steve Sulkin (15:09) led the way with their 1-2 finish.
After St. Charles North (112), Waubonsie Valley (125) and Wheaton North (128) gobbled up the other qualifying team spots, it became an individual race for cook county and fox valley runners.
Despite losing a little momentum at the end, Jeff Thode of Conant ran a faster than usual pace to qualify for state as an individual with his 13th-place 15:33 run. He was the only Cougar to make it through.
"The first mile I felt fine, I was running as fast as I did at regionals," Thode said. "Then my second mile was a little bit fast because I wanted to go with the York kid. The third mile came and my quads gave out with just about 200 yards left. I was able to hang on to qualify for state.
"Overall, it was a good race. The competition was really nice."
The Cougars (250) finished eighth as a team with Andrew Mueller (16:08) finishing 45th.
Neal Klein of Streamwood had a qualifying run of 15:36.80 to get 14th place.
"It was really different than what I expected," Klein said. "My coach told me t get to the first turn really quick. That changed my race strategy up a little bit and run the first mile a little faster. Overall, I think I did good.
"For the hard competition I'm pretty happy (with the finish). This was the sectional of death I heard. It was a great experience and a good course. I couldn't have asked for anything better."
The first turn proved fateful to the host Saxons, who saw several runners fall early on.
"About four of them got knocked down around that first turn," said Schaumburg coach Jim Macnider. "Including (Nathan) Rutz, who got up and ran outstanding. But that kind of killed us -- it didn't help us when that happened. But that's cross country."
Rutz (15:43) got up and recovered to 18th place to qualify bloodied legs and all.
"I'm doing all right," said Schaumburg's Nathan Rutz. "I went down at the start. It happens.
"It would've been nice if the team had gotten down (to state). I'm just going to have to run my heart out for (my teammates)."
Fellow Saxon Pat Lesiewicz (15:48) also ran strong in 23rd place, but didn't make it through.
"It's unfortunate because it was real spread out. I thought we had a real good shot," Macnider said. "That's the way it goes. This was a real good meet. It wasn't the fastest meet. The course isn't real fast when it's wet like this."
Hoffman Estates (254) finished up its season in 10th led by Ross Goers (15:54) in 26th. Maine West's individual Martin Chavez ran a 16:24.
Elgin's Eric DeNeui ran a 16:49 in his final race of the season.
-- Bill Swick
At Belvidere: Sycamore took top honors at the Class 2A Belvidere sectional with 63 points. Rock Island Alleman's Tim Hird (14:53.) was the top individual. Burlington Central's Ryan Phebus (15:40.3) was the top area finisher at 19th.
At Aurora Christian: No area runners qualified for state at the Class 1A Aurora Christian sectional. Hampshire finished 1th as a team with 324 points. Winnebago scored 63 to win the meet. The Indians' Trenton Tedrick was the individual champion in a time of 15:24.4.