It all adds up in Warren’s favor
The final results could not have been much closer for the host Blue Devils Saturday morning at the 19-team Warren Invitational.
But when the final results were tabulated, it was in fact the Blue Devils who would hoist the championship trophy as Warren nipped Glenbrook South 59-61 for the title.
Led by sophomore Dustin Macuiba’s third-place finish on the 2.98-mile O’Plaine campus course, the Blue Devils’ top trio was outstanding with senior Marcus Shamberg in sixth and senior Adam Shurson in ninth to help give Warren the team crown for the second straight year.
Juniors Jakob Martinez (19th), and Will Kellerhals (25th) helped push the Blue Devils’ scoring over the top in their battle to the wire with Glenbrook South.
“We just wanted to run well and whether we placed first or second we ran well,” said Warren coach Bill Dawson. “We’ve had a different No. 1 runner every meet so it was nice to see Dustin come through today. It would be nice if by regionals that everybody runs a good race at the same time, so we have room for improvement.”
Glenbrook’s South’s Dave O’Gara ran away from the rest of the field to win the race in 15:01 followed by Zion-Benton’s Andrew Ntim (15:26) in second, and Macuiba (15:28) in third.
“I was really happy with it (third), and it started off at a really nice pace,” said Macuiba, who set a p.r. by 20 to 30 seconds as did pretty much everyone on the squad. “Our team is looking really good and hopefully we can go to state.”
Zion-Benton placed third with 121 points followed closely by Crystal Lake South (127 points) in fourth, and Fenton (143 points) in fifth. Rolling Meadows also had a good showing with a sixth-place score of 201 points.
The Gators put together a great team effort behind the top-four pack of senior Dave Lenzini in 10th, freshman Jon Prus in 24th, sophomore Doug Cain in 26th, and sophomore Tommy Melone in 28th.
“We’re really young, and our 2-3-4 are fresh-soph kids,” said Crystal Lake South coach Rich Eschman. “So that is just a really good threesome, they’ve been pushing each other the whole year, and they were separated by only 10 seconds.”
Rolling Meadows’ solid effort was led by the dynamic duo of senior Aaron Sanchez in fifth and junior Tim Howley in 11th. Junior teammate Colin Piscitello was the Mustangs’ third runner in 40th place.
“They (Sanchez and Howley) have had some ups and downs with injuries and it’s good to see their hard work pay off,” said Rolling Meadows coach Frank Schweda. “They’ve been trying to gear up for some of the bigger meets and it’s good to see something positive today.”
Eighth-place Cary-Grove did not have its full varsity lineup intact due to ACT testing, but the Trojans did get an outstanding seventh-place finish from junior John Cody.
“He (Cody) looked really good and he had a great race today,” said Cary-Grove coach Layne Holter. “He went out and established himself early and he closed hard by passing a lot of people in the last half mile.”
Grayslake Central got a great eighth-place run from junior Max Brunk, who has really emerged as a key leader for the Rams since a much smaller role last fall.
“He (Brunk) was our top fresh-soph guy last year and he had a breakout track season last spring,” said Grayslake Central coach Jimmy Centella. “Using that momentum, he put in a really good summer of training and that is showing this season so far.”
Other top finishers from the area Saturday were Wheeling’s Edwin Hernandez (13th), Fenton’s Rodrigo Estrada (14th), Wheeling’s Cole Dammeier (20th), Fenton’s Christian Silva (27th), Antioch’s Dan Ressler (29th), and Grayslake Central’s Kevin Orozco (30th).
Fenton’s Jose Vasquez-Perez added a 31st-place finish while Mundelein was led by junior Mickey Cardenas in 33rd. Antioch’s Zach Besson placed 37th to edge Fenton’s Axel Nava (38th), and Mundelein’s Liam Mellon (39th).
“Liam Mellon did a good job of moving up and he started off a little slow,” said first-year Mundelein coach Kurt Rutz, whose team had some runners competing at the fresh-soph level. “Mickey (Cardenas) is better than he showed, and I’m still waiting for him to bust one.”