McIntosh surges again; Knights win at RM

Entering the 2008 girls cross country season, Lake Park's Lindsay Flanagan, St. Charles East Lizzy Hynes, Warren's Heather Olson, and Geneva's Kelly Whitley had a firm grip on the leader board of the state's top runners.

They had better make room for one more.

Sara McIntosh continued her steady climb up the leader board on Saturday by finishing first and leading Palatine to its 17th regional title in the Hoffman Estates Class 3A meet at Busse Woods.

A week after winning the Mid-Suburban League title, the sophomore had no letdown, cruising the 3-mile course in 17:56, 12 seconds in front of Hoffman Estates runner-up Melissa Schmidt (18:08).

"It's weird because I always think of them as being really good," said McIntosh of the state's elite runners. "And I don't think I'm with them."

She may be the only one. Last week McIntosh didn't make her winning move until the second mile, but Saturday she took the first mile out hard and left the competition in her wake on a slick course.

"This week I was supposed to take it out harder than last week," added McIntosh.

Palatine had 5 runners in the top 20 to secure its sixth consecutive regional title with 52 points. Hoffman finished a close second with 56 points with 5 runners in the top 22 and Schaumburg (63) followed with 4 runners in the top 15.

Barrington (87) and Conant (109) secured the final two team spots for next Saturday's Schaumburg sectional.

Fremd's Rachel Palumbo (19:21), Emi Sudo (19:31), and Ryoh Shinohara (20:06) finished 17th, 21st and 29th respectively to qualify individually. Lake Zurich's Amy Polhemus (20:04) and Cassie Houghton (20:07) finished 27th and 30th to qualify.

Courtney Brown (18:20, fifth), Ruth Allen (19:01, 12th), and Becca Sund (19:05, 14th) aided Palatine's title drive.

"We wanted to be aggressive today," said Palatine coach Steve Currins. "We need all five runners to buy into that, it's a team sport."

Schmidt led Hoffman's charge and was aided by Hannah Worman (18:31, seventh) and Gaby Duenas (18:47, ninth). Last year the Hawks didn't qualify for the state meet but this year seem to be right on target.

"We just wanted to work together and get ready for next week," said Schmidt of the goal of advancing to Peoria. "That's our goal this year to get there and do good."

Schaumburg has not qualified for the state meet since 2002, but a young group of talented runners are one step away from a return trip. A trio of sophomores led the way in Colette Falsey (18:13, third), Britten Petrey (18:14, fourth) and Karen Lesiewicz (18:30, sixth).

"We're a young team and we're working together," said Petrey. "We're coming together trying to get to where we want to be in two weeks."

A pair of sisters ignited Barrington as Rebecca (18:36) and Elizabeth (19:02) Tracy finished eighth and 13th. Megan Hodgson (18:51) and Kalli Dalton (18:54) finished 10th and 11th for Conant.

- Michael Eaken

Rolling Meadows regional: Anywhere from first through fifth. After taking seventh at last year's Palatine sectional, Prospect coach Dave Wurster wasn't so concerned about what place his team secured on Saturday. He just wanted the Knights to get another opportunity to return to state.

"We didn't run very well last year at sectionals," Wurster said. "Certainly that's playing on their minds. Hopefully they'll want to get back."

If Saturday morning's performance at the Class 3A Rolling Meadows regional is any indication, the Knights certainly do. Led by junior Annette White's second-place effort of 18:07, Prospect had five runners finish in the top 16 as it scored 44 points to edge out Hersey (47) in the eight-team event.

"I kind of had a plan going in," said White, who won the Rolling Meadows regional last year in 18:05. "I was staying behind and then I decided I was going to go for it. I did what I wanted to do and I pushed as hard as I could."

Prospect sophomore Savannah Snead finished fifth in 18:41 followed down the chute by teammate Kasey Krum (18:45). Freshman Laura Maibeucher (19:18) and junior Emily Salzman (19:19) rounded out the Knights' scoring, finishing 15th and 16th, respectively.

Hersey, which took second at the Meadows regional last season, was led by junior Ashley Martin and sophomore Salena Clohisy. The pair ran side-by-side for the entire 3-mile course.

"We work so well together, that's just what we do," said Martin, who finished third in 18:12.

Clohisy trailed her teammate by four seconds as she crossed in fourth place.

"It's so exciting that we had so many runners in the top 20," she said.

The Huskies had five in the top 20 as senior Megan Gojney finished 9th (18:58), junior Sarah Reynolds took 12th in 19:05 and freshman Nora Gawlik crossed in 19th place (19:24).

Rolling Meadows sophomore Christina Gastfield, who took seventh at last Saturday's MSL meet, led the majority of the race and won in 18:04 to pace the Mustangs (64) to a third-place finish.

"I felt that if I got ahead that it would be easier to stay there than to pick it up," she said. "(White) did a really good job pushing me."

Sophomore Colleen Vrshek took seventh in 18:53, while senior Amanda Whowell (19:11) and sophomore Rebecca Zych (19:22) took 13th and 17th, respectively, for the host Mustangs.

"The kids ran well," said Meadows coach Jim Voyles. "It's going to be tough at sectionals, but we're in the hunt. It's going to hinge on our 2, 3 and 4 runners."

St. Viator finished fourth (101) and was led by sophomore Keegan Griebel (19:00) and freshman Caroline Carley (19:03), who finished 10-11.

Fifth-place Elk Grove scored 124 points to advance to sectionals. The Grens were led by senior Gina Erbacci's eighth-place effort (18:55). Agnes Kukla took 14th (19:15) for Elk Grove, while teammate Michelle Calmeyn crossed in 19:51 for 25th place.

Freshman Danielle DeVito (24th, 19:42) and sophomore Katrina Schwab (32nd, 20:29) both qualified for sectionals for sixth-place Glenbrook South (172).

Maine West finished seventh with 185 points, and had two sectional qualifiers. Senior Elizabeth Meier crossed in 19:25 for 20th place while sophomore Taylor Stephenson took 30th in 20:20.

Wheeling senior Rachel Stinebring took 21st (19:29) and advanced for the eighth-place Wildcats (210).

- Matt Beardmore

Lake Forest regional: Buffalo Grove made quite a statement in securing its first ever-regional title.

The Bison placed five runners in the top nine in running away with the Lake Forest regional title with 20 points.

Freshman Olivia Jones (18:12), sophomore Sarah Peluse (18:32), and senior Erin McGrath (18:32) went 1-2-3 for the Bison with junior Cari Geyer (18:40) taking 5th place. Senior Erin Cleary (19:07) completed the scoring by taking ninth place.

"The girls were excited and enthused going into the meet," said Buffalo Grove first-year coach Sara Cleveland of the Bison charge. "And they followed the game plan and ran as a pack."

BG will be looking to continue that momentum next weekend at the Schaumburg Sectional as the Bison will battle for its first state qualification.

At Oak Park: Jaime Johnson (19:05, second) and Marta Korpacz (19:49, fifth) led Leyden to third place at Schiller Woods and a spot in the Niles West sectional.