Cross country: Wheaton North's Daigle highlights pack advancing to sectional
Wheaton North senior Sophie Daigle missed qualifying for her first Class 3A girls cross country state meet at last season's sectional by three places and less than two seconds.
Daigle is strong as ever heading into the Lake Park sectional Nov. 2.
"That was close (in 2018) and I'm doing a lot better timewise, so I think that I have a pretty good chance. I'm excited," Daigle said. "Yeah, (2018) stings a bit, but I'm just trying to move on and think about Lake Park."
On Saturday the sixth-place Daigle was among numerous area sectional qualifiers at the Glenbard West regional Saturday at Camera Park in Glendale Heights.
Defending Class 3A boys champion Wheaton Warrenville South beat York 25-31 for the Tigers' third straight regional crown. WW South senior Billy Hauenstein won his second straight regional title in 14:36.89 for 2.88 miles.
The Glenbard West girls edged WW South 41-43 for that title and senior Katelynne Hart set another course record in her final home race with 15:57.84. Glenbard West's Lindsey Payne held the 16:09.6 record from the 2015 conference meet.
"I felt really strong, really confident, in my performance as well as the team," said Hart, expected to announce her college running decision Wednesday.
"It was great to get to run this course again and it definitely was fun. You have all of the IHSA official fences and signs so it definitely dresses (Camera) up a little bit more. I don't know emotional, but just exciting."
York and Glenbard East also advanced both teams and the fifth-place Willowbrook girls and sixth-place Glenbard North boys advanced. Lake Park and Addison Trail had only individual qualifiers.
Top-five sectional teams advance to state as well as the top seven individual finishers not among those teams.
The Falcons bested the Hilltoppers 96-98 for third Saturday even with usual senior No. 1 runner Josh Gorup resting a minor ankle injury.
"We just challenged the guys to step up as a team. We've kind of been running as individuals," Wheaton North coach Nate Roe said.
The Falcons were paced by junior Will Roth in 12th and John Logan, Ryan Schreiner and Mauricio Xochitecatl 19th through 21st. The Hilltoppers' lead runners were juniors Pierce Cousins, William Hohe and Colin Hess in 14th, 16th and 18th.
"Josh is going to be coming back and I believe we can do it (at sectionals)," Roth said. "We like to work together. It was tough (without Gorup), but we made it through."
The first-place team battle was close to the sixth men. Hauenstein won by 9.12 seconds.
"It means a lot. It helps me with the process, going to state, just kind of getting used to the competition," Hauenstein said. "I really like how our team did. We really made a statement."
WW South seniors David Zeller and Jared Peaslee finished 3-4 for all-regional honors. Ethan Seng, Jacob Kluckhohn and Michael Atkins were sixth, 11th and 13th.
"This showed we can run as a pack. I feel like we're going to make it even tighter in future races," Seng said.
York senior Daniel Klysh's 14:46.02 and junior Colin Hill were an all-regional second and fifth. Brian Pratt, Michael Moriarty, Will Yasdick and Ethan Kern were seventh through 10th.
"The goal today was to beat (WW) South. What we realized is we're in striking distance," Pratt said. "This was kind of a reality check to put everything in perspective."
No. 7 Glenbard West, No. 8 WW South and No. 11 York are the highest-ranked girls teams at Lake Park.
Hart won Saturday by 1:14.82. Sophomores Audrey Allman and Delaney Engel were all-regional third and fourth and sophomore Anna Nickoley 12th.
WW South junior Sam Poglitsch was second in 17:12.66 and senior Kaitlyn Nenninger fifth to earn all-regional. Senior Haley Ansiel was seventh and Becca Hauenstein and Erica Emmerick 13th and 16th.
"I think the team's really realizing what we can do as a pack. Today fixed it up. That really made us a team," Nenninger said.
Nickoley's inspired effort was instrumental for the Hilltoppers. Had the teams tied, the Tigers would have won based on a sixth-runner tiebreaker.
"My big focus was just running for something bigger than myself, for the team," Nickoley said.
Third-place York had Katelyn Winton, Lydia Hickey and Bridget Berger 8-9-10 and Bria Bennis and Kathleen Buhrfiend 14-15.
"We didn't really meet what we wanted to do (place-wise), but it's more about getting experience, staying together as a pack and then moving up," Hickey said.
Top individual qualifiers were Addison Trail junior Viviana Sanfilippo 11th for girls and Lake Park sophomore Nathan Jorgensen 17th for the boys.