Stevenson keeps its cool, wins county meet
The heat and humidity was on as 14 boys cross country teams took to the 3.1-mile Lakewood Forest Preserve course Wednesday afternoon for the Lake County Invitational.
And when all was said and done, Stevenson was the last team standing as the Patriots edged Grayslake Central 44-48 for the championship under the brutal running conditions with a heat index in the mid-90s.
Higland Park managed to outdistance Mundelein 104-115 for third place while Barrington was a close fifth with 119 points. Libertyville wound up placing seventh with 208 points while Lakes (247 points) and Grayslake North (278) rounded out the top 10 teams.
Besides the race for the team title, the battle for the individual championship went down to the wire with Grayslake Central junior Jack Aho (15:16.5) holding off Stevenson senior Jared Borowsky by four seconds for first place.
Mundelein senior Uly Hagedorn (16:02) looked very strong in fifth place while junior Paul Udoni (16:06) was Stevenson's second runner in sixth place.
"Jared (Borowsky) had a good race and our two through seven runners had only about 30 seconds separating them," said Stevenson coach Scott Sommers, whose team had six runners in the top 26. "This meet is a confidence-booster to say we are ready to step up to the plate, and at the end of the day this is a stepping-stone to much better things."
Junior Matt Aho made his first appearance on the cross country scene a very good one with a seventh-place finish for Grayslake Central as he had played soccer for the Rams the previous two falls.
Senior John Girmscheid added a 10th-place finish for Grayslake Central, followed closely by sophomore teammate Eli Minsky in 11th.
"With about 800 meters to go I started to pull away (from Borowsky), and I just kind of turned on the last gear to finish it," said Jack Aho, who placed 11th in Class 2A as a sophomore. "We just need to keep up the smart, consistent training, and the key is getting our fifth runner closer to our 2-3-4 pack."
Ranked second in the state in Class 2A heading into the season, the Rams and coach Jimmy Centella are very optimistic about the 2015 campaign which they hope will end in a top-three trophy downstate on Nov. 7. Senior Danny Vincent did not compete for Grayslake Central on Wednesday.
"We ran great, it was our first meet of the year so it was good to shake the rust off and get out and compete," said Centella, who is in his seventh season. "Jack (Aho) beat some good guys today, and this year has been a big jump for him because he has the mindset of a champion."
Sophomore Brett Lucas looked strong for the Patriots in ninth place while junior teammate Caleb Oh placed 12th. Caleb in the younger brother of Sam Oh, who placed sixth in the state in Class 3A for Stevenson last year before moving on to Harvard.
Barrington got a 13th place finish from sophomore Nick Laning while Stevenson senior Adam Butler placed 15th. Grayslake North's squad was led by junior Liam O'Connell in 16th place.
Mundelein freshman Michael Pardun a good first outing with a 17th-place run while Libertyville's pack was led by sophomore Alex Tam in 18th place. Grayslake Central senior Jack Battaglia was the Rams' No. 5 runner in 19th place.
Mundelein was without the services of key junior Ben Krauss, who would have given a big boost to the front of the Mustangs' pack.
"He (Krauss) is as good as Uly (Hagedorn) so that hurts, but three of our top six or seven guys today were freshmen so I was happy with that," said Mundelein coach Kurt Rutz. "Uly ran nearly 1000 miles this summer, and he is in the best shape of his life so I couldn't ask for more from him."
Barrington senior Scott Williams wound up in 21st place while Mundelein freshman Robert St. Clair placed 23rd. Stevenson sophomore Nikita Smyrnov edged Barrington senior Ryan Ziolkowski for 26th place.