Cross country: Batavia boys claim Stampede title
Running as a pack is a good thing in cross country.
The Batavia boys team employed the technique - all the team's runners try to keep pace with each other - to win the West Aurora Stampede team title Saturday at the Stuart Sports Complex in Aurora.
Led by Shane Knanishu (fifth place, 15:37.8) and Sean Adams (seventh, 15:39.9), the Bulldogs placed four runners in the top 20 with their fifth coming in 22nd place.
Batavia won the race that featured 18 schools from as far away as Ohio, with a score of 69.
"We've really been trying to work as a pack. We told Sean and Shane we wanted them to get up front. We had certain splits that we wanted them to make and they hit them," said Batavia coach Bronco Meeks. "We actually followed the race plan and that led to some low-scoring points as our pack was right behind them and that's what sealed the deal for us."
Paced by Christian Freitag's fourth-place finish (15.33.4), Waubonsie Valley came in second with a score of 85.
"I wanted to roll with the pack. I knew if I got myself up there, there would be a couple of guys from teams I knew that I wanted to beat today," Freitag said. "I was happy with my result. I could've made a better second mile. I was happy with my last mile, that set us up pretty well."
Wheaton North took third place, three points behind Waubonsie. Justin Ostrem, who crossed the finish line in sixth place (15:38.9), was the Falcons' top runner.
Dylan Zangri of Oswego East won the boys contest. His time of 15:06.7 helped his squad take fourth place (100).
Glenwood, from downstate Chatham, came in fifth (152). Second-place finisher Chris Durr (15:26.2) was the top runner from the school.
Girls race: The Neuqua Valley girls team also kept its runners bunched together. Teammates Caitlin Horn (18:23.1), Julia Rushing (18:24.9) and Keara Ginell (18:25.3) crossed the finish line one behind the other to take seventh, eighth and ninth place scoring 52 points and securing the second place trophy for their school.
Four Yorkville runners, all returnees from last year's Class 2A state champion squad, took four of the top five spots to earn the first place honors with a score of 30.
"We're happy with the result. Obviously Yorkville is a great team and we knew that coming in, but there's a lot of other good teams here so we felt like our pack took a big step today," said Neuqua Valley coach Tim McCoskey. "We know that's the key to our success."
Yorkville's Nicole Greyer won the contest with a time of 17:28.6 followed by teammate Alexis Grandys, who crossed the finish line at 18:04.1 Oliva Borowiak finished fourth (18:15.2) and Maddie Dearborn came in fifth (18:17.9).
Between the Yorkville runners was Batavia's Mary Grace Golden who earned third place with a time of 18:12.9. Batavia finished fourth as a team with a score of 128, four points behind third place Downers Grove South. Top runner for the Mustangs was Erin Reidy who finished sixth with a time of 18:21.3.
Golden trailed all four Yorkville runners at the two-mile mark.
"I heard my dad and my coach yell at me to pass them up," Golden said. "I don't know, I just kind of felt a kick. It was a good day."
Oswego East finished fifth with a score of 172.