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Boys cross country: Antioch's Smith, Rolling Meadows champs at Warren

With the temperature at 78 degrees at race time, boys cross country runners knew they were going to be in for a challenge Saturday morning in the Blue Devil Invitational at Warren.

In spite of those hot running conditions, Rolling Meadows and Antioch junior Charlie Smith triumphed on the 3-mile O'Plaine Road campus course.

The Mustangs ran to the championship of the 20-team meet by a 69-92 final score over runner-up Glenbrook South, while Cary-Grove (105 points) took home third place.

The host Blue Devils had a fifth-place showing with 135 points, followed by Wheeling (214) in seventh, Fremd (220) in eighth and Antioch (236) in 10th.

Smith finished in 15:26.9 to hold off Rolling Meadows senior Eddie Lennon (15:28.1). After placing 10th in the state as a sophomore, Smith has lofty goals looking ahead to the end of the season.

"My coach (Chris Bailey) said to just stay with the lead pack, and I just went for it in the end," said Smith, who led for the better part of the 3-mile race. "We would like to qualify for state as a team this year, and individually I would like to win it, so this is good preparation for the big meets in the end."

Rolling Meadows sophomore Stephen Barretto had a fourth-place finish, while teammates C.J. Miller (15th) and Jacob Johnson Wright (19th) were also keys to the Mustangs' machine.

"The Antioch guy (Smith) had a little better position in the end, but Eddie (Lennon) has had really good finishes in the last three races we have run," Rolling Meadows coach Frank Schweda said. "The whole group's training has been really solid, and our No. 3 guy did not run on varsity today."

Cary-Grove's duo of Max Caesar and Derek Warren were sixth and eighth, respectively.

"They're going to be a strong 1-2 punch for us, and they've worked hard to put in the time, so it is good to see them working together," Cary-Grove coach Layne Holter said. "We're quite happy. We came in here feeling good, and our guys continue to improve and progress week by week."

Warren was led by Bryan Holland's seventh-place finish. Jackson Gross led Wheeling in 11th place.

"(Gross) did an awesome job of moving up through the race and getting a 20-second PR," Wheeling coach Tom Polak said. "We weren't at 100 percent. Our No. 1 kid (Tyler Polak) did not run today, and we ran kids down that would normally run varsity."

Mundelein individual entry Albert Olorvida placed 12th in the meet, while Fremd was led by Kaede Kokubu in 16th place. Griffin Pasha added an 18th-place run for Warren. Mundelein's varsity team ran in an elite meet in California on Saturday.

"We have a young group of guys who are coming along nicely," Fremd coach Darius Sanchez said. "We've improved the last three meets, and we had a great performance by Kaede Kokubu today in 16th place."

Antioch's squad is running with heavy hearts, as the Sequoits lost assistant coach John LaPointe to a heart attack during a practice on Aug. 21. LaPointe was only 51 years old.

"We had a tragedy that devastated the kids, but they're pulling each other through it," Bailey said. "The team has struggled, but I'm really impressed and proud of how they're pulling through this and how they're responding."

In the girls race, Fremd ran to the title of the 18-team meet by a 92-107 margin over runner-up Evanston.

Round Lake junior Fatima Giron shined with a winning time of 17:42 to beat her closest competitor by 33.8 seconds.

Crystal Lake South (119 points) placed third behind Mackenzie Aldridge in third and Olivia Beckwith in fifth. Cary-Grove (174) placed fifth, followed by Mundelein (203) in sixth and Warren (210) in seventh.

The Trojans were led by Morgan Dieschbourg in eighth, while Fremd was led by Julia LaDuke in 10th and Rebecca Markham in 11th.

Taylor Latza led the host Blue Devils in 12th, followed by Fremd's Julia Finegan in 13th, Cary-Grove's Allison Drage in 14th and Warren's Ashley Kachurik in 15th.

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