Cross country: Glenbard West, St. Charles East take top honors at Lake Park

While the school name of the first place finisher in Saturday's Lake Park Harvey Braus Invitational girls varsity race was familiar to high school cross country fans, the runner's name was not.

Glenbard West freshman Katelynne Hart took top honors with a time of 16:49.8. Better known teammate Lindsey Payne came in second, completing the three-mile course at Lake Park's east campus in 16:51.7. Payne finished second in last year's IHSA Class 3A state meet.

Hart and Payne's one-two finished coupled with four additional runners in the top 15 earned the Hilltoppers first place in the team competition with 37 points. Glenbard West's seventh and final runner came in 27th place in the 22-team race.

"I wasn't surprised. Both (Hart and Payne) work so hard and they're both extremely talented," said Glenbard West coach Paul Hass. "But having a freshman to do that is obviously pretty incredible.

"Having six in the top 15 against a very talented field, I can't be more pleased with how they ran." Hass said. "But it is the second invite of the season and there's a lot more work to do to get better and build our depth."

At the race's first mile, Hart and Payne trailed St. Charles North's Audrey Ernst, Schaumburg's Madison Marasco and Prospect's Brook Wilson.

The Glenbard West pair passed Marasco and Wilson by the 2-mile mark and overtook Ernst in the last mile.

"We were just pacing ourselves and then competing at the end," Hart said. "The hills were tough but it was nice at the end, the backstretch was all flat."

Ernst finished third with a time of 17:01.1. Wilson came in fourth (17:18.3) and Marasco took fifth.(17:20.6).

"I just trying to going out as hard as I could. During the last mile I definitely slowed it down," Ernst said. "I wasn't able to react when they passed me."

Maine South (104) finished second followed by York (109), St. Charles East (115) and Prospect (138).

The St. Charles East boys team likewise placed a majority of its runners in the top 15 to win the boys varsity team title. Jake Beno led the Saints with a time of 15:26.5, earning the senior fourth place overall and third in team standings. Four other St. Charles East harriers finished in the top 11.

"The winning is great but more important is how we performed as a team," said St. Charles East coach Chris Bosworth. "I was more impressed with how we ran the race. Our split continues to come down and our times are a little bit faster."

Jeremy Adams from Jones College Prep won the race with a time of 14:58.1. Wheeling runner Matt Hoffman took second (15:14.0) and Lake Park's Colin Kirkham finished third (15:22.5). Since Wheeling did not field a complete team, Hoffman's finish did not count toward team standings. Cole Adesso, also from St. Charles East, finished fifth (15:38.1)

The pack of runners did not thin out until the 2-mile mark of the race. At that point, Adams had taken the lead, followed by Hoffman, Beno and Kirkham.

Kirkman passed Beno in the last mile.

"I kept pushing harder and kept on pace," said Kirkham.

Jones College Prep finished second in the 14-team field with 95 points. Lake Park took third (121) followed by Plainfield East (126) and Harlem (140).

"We didn't think we do that well because two of our guys are taking the ACT today," said Lance Murphy, Lake Park's coach. "The kids ran a really good race and a lot of them dropped times from last week, so we're real happy."

At Wauconda: Crystal Lake South's Jack Becker won the individual title in the boys race at the Wauconda Invitational, running a time of 15:29. Cary-Grove was third in the team standings and Geneva fourth.

In the girls race, Geneva won the team title with 36 points. Cary-Grove's Allison Drage finished second individually. Huntley was fifth as a team.

First to the Finish: At Peoria's Detweiller Park, Aurora Central Catholic's Abby Fioresi ran a time of 18:31.5 to finish second in the Class 2A girls race. Burlington Central's Chloe Bilyk was 30th. In the Class 2A boys race, Kaneland's Matthew Richtman was fifth in a time of 15:44.8 and the Knights finished seventh as a team. Burlington Central was ninth, led by Josh Teets in 30th place. Batavia's Marygrace Golden was 24th in the Class 3A girls race and the Bulldogs took eighth place as a team. In the Class 3A boys race, Michael Ronzone (11th) and Charlie Zimmer (29th) led Marmion to a sixth-place finish. Jacobs' Zach Albrecht was 29th.