Girls cross country: Three teams taste MSL West success
Palatine, Fremd, and Schaumburg all got a piece of the pie on Thursday.
After five weeks of Mid-Suburban League dual meets, the three girls cross country teams ended up deadlock for the MSL West division title.
Fremd entered the Conant triangular on Thursday with a chance to secure its first outright division title since 1981.
But Palatine spoiled those plans by securing a 24-41 dual meet victory over Fremd at Busse Woods.
Schaumburg then took care of its part of the deal by securing a 26-29 victory over host Barrington along with a 21-34 victory over Hoffman Estates at Beese Park.
It is the first three-way tie in MSL history, and only the second split title. The first one occurred in 1998, when Fremd and Palatine tied for the West title.
All three teams finished with 4-1 records in the MSL West.
"If we weren't going to win the title outright, then we didn't want anybody else to win it outright," said Palatine coach Joe Parks, whose Pirates suffered their only dual meet defeat to Schaumburg last Thursday. "We had a lot of incentive to run hard and I thought the kids showed up."
Palatine added a 20-43 victory over host Conant, with Fremd also defeating the Cougars 20-43.
Senior Danya Lloyd powered the Palatine pack by finishing second in 18:25 at the Conant triangular. She was supported by big efforts from senior Anna Buckstaff (18:59), senior Izzeh Stankiewicz (19:03), sophomore Kate Lechowicz (19:05) and sophomore Liz Lechowicz (19:07) who went 4-through-7 in nailing down the Pirates' share of the title.
"We're really excited," said Lloyd. "We ran with the mentality that we wanted to show everybody what we had."
Fremd top runner Linda Varela (14th place) was recovering from an early week fever, but junior Nupur Pokharkar (18:55) stepped up to pace the Vikings' effort with a third-place finish.
"We put a bunch of good runs together this season," said Fremd coach Joe Marcin, "but Palatine was just a bit better today."
"We're kind of upset with the loss,"added Pokharkar, "but it still kind of win for us today since we tied for division title."
Fremd dealt Schaumburg its only dual meet loss this season, but the Saxons responded by going 3-0 in their last three dual meets.
Junior Madison Marasco (17:44) led the Saxons with a second-place finish Thursday. Next for Schaumburg were juniors Rachel Vaccaro (19:23) and Lauren Kubinski (19:25), who secured third and fourth place.
"It's awesome," said Schaumburg coach Kristin Zillmer. "Great job Palatine - that changed it for us. The team chemistry has really improved and the girls are running for each other."
Conant senior Sydney Davis (18:15) won the individual title at Conant triangular hitting a personal record on her final appearance at her home course.
"I felt really good," said Davis run. "It was my last meet on the home course and I wanted to do the best I could."