St. Charles North claims 5th straight Elgin Classic
Five was the magic number for the St. Charles North girls cross country team Tuesday at the Elgin City Classic.
The North Stars had won the previous 4 editions, and 5 in a row just has a nice ring to it.
Sophomore Audrey Ernst delivered No. 5 to her coach, Shari Hayes, by easily winning the girls varsity 3-mile race with a time of 18:00.1, well ahead of junior teammate Madison Kaufmann, the runner-up in 19:25.9. They paced North to the team title with 35 points; St. Charles East and Elgin tied for second with 91.
"I told the girls, 'See this trophy I brought with me today? I want to bring it back home with me,'" said a beaming Hayes, whose team put 5 runners in the top 15 in the meet at Elgin's Lord's Park. "My kids did well."
Ernst, as well known as a triathlete as she is a runner, had a big lead by the mile mark and never looked back.
"I've just been really working on trying to get out fast, keep the speed up, and I'm really going to try to work on this season running fast through the finish," said Ernst, who recently won the women's division of the Chicago Triathlon.
Elgin was led by freshman Kasey Moreno, who had a memorable debut race by covering the course in 20:19.3.
"She's amazing at keeping the same pace you tell her; she just knows it internally," said Moreno's coach, Allison Crane, who also saw junior Naveli Cisneros take ninth with a time of 20:59.0, tying Bartlett junior Coral McFarland.
The Hawks took fourth as a team with 113 points, just ahead of East Aurora, in fifth with 121. The Tomcats placed three runners in the top 10.
Sophomore Hannah Willging paced St. Charles East by finishing 13th with a time of 21:12.4. Junior Megan Kremer led St. Edward with an 11th-place finish in 21:04.0.
The boys race saw Streamwood's Alan Douglas duel East Aurora's Jose Alvarado, Ricardo Del Toro and David Galvan for virtually the entire 3 miles before Alvarado ultimately prevailed in 16:24.8. Douglas was second in 16:28.8, but that didn't bother the senior.
"I was going more for top 5 today, and I started feeling good on like the last 1,000 meters and I started feeling this rush. I was like, 'I feel like I can get some of these guys.' I started feeling kind of weak and I was fighting through that barrier. I made it up to second place, but couldn't quite push it to first. It was a great race."
Despite Douglas' effort, it was East Aurora's day, as the Tomcats placed 5 runners in the top 11, to win the boys team title with 29 points, well ahead of runner-up St. Charles North with 77. Del Toro, a junior, was third in 16:36.5, and Galvan was fifth in 16:36.9, edged for fourth by Bartlett's Justin Isla.
"They ran really well," said Tomcats coach Shane Gillespie. "This is our first meet this season. We've got some guys that are new to the varsity level, so it was a great team effort to get out there and get a feel for running again and now we can build from there." St. Charles North was led by senior Jose Rangel, who covered the course in 16:55.8, good for seventh, while senior teammate Michael Boone was 10th in 17:06.9.
Isla led Bartlett to a tie for fourth place with Dundee-Crown, both teams with 59 points. His fourth-place finish and personal-record time of 16:36.9 was all the more impressive considering the sultry weather and his asthma.
"There were times when I felt like I was going to fall over and pass out, but I just kept going with it, going for the person in front of me," Isla said.
Elgin was led by senior Brandon Copeland, who finished sixth in 16:51.4.