Boys cross country: Doetsch leads Jacobs to undefeated start
Andrew Doetsch and the Jacobs boys cross country team are on a wild ride.
Jacobs, which was fifth in the Fox Valley Conference last season, is 4-0 so far this year. The Golden Eagles have won a pair of triangular meets to open the season as they ready themselves for showdown next week with McHenry.
"Both meets have been tough, and we really pulled one out against Crystal Lake Central," said Jacobs coach Kevin Christian, whose team beat CLC by 5 points. "Every meet we've had a couple guys struggle, but when we've got depth with our pack, we've been fine so far."
After beating both Crystal Lake Central and Dundee-Crown, the Eagles flew past Prairie Ridge and Cary-Grove last Thursday winning the triangular with 24 points to Prairie Ridge's 47 and Cary-Grove's 54. It was the Eagles' first meet on their campus course in Algonquin.
"Early on in the summer, we had some younger runners decide that they wanted to be part of the varsity pack and did everything with them," Christian said. "And the older kids have pushed them and the team."
Doetsch has led the way for the surprising Eagles. In their two meets, Doetsch, who is a junior, has placed second in both. He is off to a great start after missing nearly all of last season with a stress fracture in his right leg.
"I was very disappointed when I got hurt," Doetsch said. "I started training hard last summer to catch up with everybody else."
Doetsch has more than caught up.
He ran a 17:14 in his first meet and then improved to 16:26 to finish just behind Cary-Grove's Ian Barnes' 16:19.9.
"It was hard running in meets," Doetsch said. It did not feel anything like running in practice, but I am getting used to it."
Connor Maloney, Mitchell Ruffin, Aidan DeMuth, Kyle Horn, Sam Rainer, Adam Lakeman and Alec Melendez have given the Eagles some depth as they chase a conference title.
"We are undefeated in conference," Doetsch said. "And we are looking good. People didn't see us coming this year."
Speedy race in Wheaton:
It was more like a sprint at the Grace Church of DuPage course in Wheaton last Saturday.
Geneva's Ben Calusinski held off St. Charles North's Noah Eng to win the Wheaton Warrenville South quad. Calusinski ran the course in 15:06.10 to finish just three seconds ahead of Eng, who crossed the line in 15:09.10.
Wheaton Warrenville South won the event thanks to a solid group run by its top five finishers. Michael Atkins (15:28.60), Alexander Gazarek (15:42.90), Carson Rewski (15:43.40), Michael Macabobby (15:54.00), and Matthew Dale (16:03.80), along with Nathan Virginelli, finished 5-10 respectively for the Tigers. It enabled Wheaton Warrenville South to win the quad with a score of 35 points.
Wheaton North was second with 48 points and was led by Ryan Schreiner (15:28.00), who was third, and Will Roth (15:28.30), who was fourth for the Falcons.
MSL conference begins:
The Mid-Suburban League opened up its conference schedule last week with crossover dual meets.
Barrington, Buffalo Grove, Fremd, Hersey, and Prospect all ran to victory. Hoffman Estates also won in the Hawks' first race on their new home course.
Buffalo Grove ran five underclassmen in its win over Conant. Mario Torres, who is a sophomore, ran a swift 4:47 opening mile and led the way, finishing in 16:05. Albert Szewczyk, Jack Bank, Spencer Sadler and Tyler Lieu were top finishers for the Bison.
Barrington and Hersey each captured the top 5 places in their respective races.
Tommy Benedetto (17:10) was the top finisher for Barrington. Max Lewis, who is a freshman, was just a second behind him with Zack Daniel, Grant Ackard and Joey Furlong rounding out the Bronco finishers.
Luis Vasquez (16:51.5) led the way for Hersey with Sean Safford, Connor Oiler, Quinn Born and Luke Lincott filling out the top 5 for the Huskies, who had the top 9 finishers in their win over Schaumburg.
St. Francis wins invite:
St. Francis scored 44 points to hold off both Benet, which scored 45 points, and host Harvest Christian (50) points last Saturday.
Luke Orwig (16:47) finished fourth to lead St. Francis. Sam King, Christopher Spahn, Daniel O'Connell and Andrew Hernandez were top finishers for the Spartans.
Benet, which was ninth last year in Class 2A, was led by Niklas Anderson, who finished third with a 16:39. Sean Donnelly, Jack Robinson, Emmett Tully and Dominic Ullmer also placed for the Redwings.
Harvest Christian, which was second in Class 1A last year, picked up the top two spots. Matt Olech finished first in 16:21 while Hayden Colclasure was second in 16:25. Carson Welsh, Alex Powell and Cannon Lambert also ran well for the Lions.
Aurora Central Catholic's Rohn Ritchie was fifth in 16:48.