Girls cross country: Poglitsch, WW South champs at Wauconda
The Wauconda invitational featured tough competition Saturday morning as one of the top girls cross country teams in the state ran on the 3.1-mile course in Island Lake.
No. 3-ranked Wheaton Warrenville South rolled to the championship of the powerful meet on the newly configured Matthews Middle School course, as sophomore Samantha Poglitsch led the Tigers' charge with a winning time of 18:10.6.
Wheaton Warrenville South held off Warren by a comfortable 24-78 margin, while Glenbrook South outdistanced Mundelein 92-117 for third place.
Besides Poglitsch, the Tigers got a runner-up finish from freshman Laurel Moneysmith, sixth from junior Haley Ansiel, seventh from junior Kaitlyn Nenninger and an 11th from junior Maria Rucoba.
Poglitsch was 11th in the Class 3A state meet as a freshman last year.
"She had a great track season and a great summer," said Wheaton Warrenville South coach Rob Harvey, whose team placed fourth in Class 3A last year.
Moneysmith was a state qualifier last spring in the 3,200 meters.
"After a stress fracture two years ago, she is getting back into the lead group for us," Harvey said.
After becoming the first Round Lake girl in school history to qualify for the state meet last year, junior Fatima Giron led the Panthers with a third-place finish.
"I gave myself a time range of 18:55 to 19:20, and I didn't expect to be with that top pack so overall I did better than I thought I would," said Giron, who has missed a lot of training due to injury. "I know it's going to be much tougher (to make state again) because I had a really bad case of tendinitis in June and July. I was in a boot, and getting back into it has been really hard."
Warren's surge was led by the pack of senior Ashley Kachurik (10th), freshman Raina Rice (12th), freshman Athena McGinn (13th) and sophomore Taylor Latza (15th).
"I thought we ran well," Warren coach Brett Heimstead said. "Ashley is a senior and she really wants to leave nothing on the course at the end of the year. It's really been fun to work with (Rice), and it's going to be fun to watch her grow."
Senior Andrea Cordova led Mundelein in 17th place, followed by junior teammate Claire Schoenfield in 19th place. Freshman standout Jordan Miller (fourth in Lake County meet) did not compete for the Mustangs due to shin splints.
"Our 1-5 split was really good, but that is without our top runner and without all of our girls feeling good today," Mundelein coach Carsyn Rodriguez said. "Andrea has been putting in a lot of miles over the summer, and she's probably in the best fitness she's been in her whole cross country career."
Grayslake North did not field a full team, but junior Kelli Tosic placed fifth for the Knights. Tosic placed 35th in the state in Class 2A last year, while senior teammate Caroline Riss was 56th in the state.
Wheaton Warrenville South's Sara Michalowski placed 14th. Mundelein's Leslye Rodriguez placed 27th as the Mustangs' No. 3 runner.
In the boys meet, top-ranked Wheaton Warrenville South rolled to the crown of the 13-team meet by a 26-67 margin over runner-up Wheaton North.
Warren had a third-place finish with 76 points, while Libertyville (216 points) placed eighth without its top lineup intact. Grayslake North (247) placed ninth.
Wheaton-Warrenville South's duo of Billy Hauenstein (15:41) and Jacob Kluckhohn took home the top two places in the 3.1-mile race, while Wheaton North's Connor Zydek placed third.
The Tigers also got a fifth from David Zeller and sixth from Jared Peaslee, while the Falcons got a ninth from William Roth.
Warren was led by sophomore Griffin Pasha in 11th, followed by WW South's Joey Franke in 12th, Warren's Bryan Holland in 13th, Libertyville's Max Sauers in 14th, Wheaton North's Joe Parker in 15th and Warren's Hunter Subry in 16th.