Boys cross country: Barrington rolling in MSL West
Barrington's boys cross country team is making quick work of the Mid-Suburban West this fall.
The Broncos shot past Fremd 15-50 on Tuesday moving their overall record to 7-0 while improving to 3-0 in the West. Barrington has two West division races remaining. They meet Conant this Saturday and then Hoffman Estates next week.
Not only is Barrington unbeaten, it is the way the Broncos have won that has been even more impressive. They have virtually pitched shutouts in three of their wins.
They have won two West division races 15-50 and also beat Elk Grove in a MSL crossover meet by the same score. Only Palatine was able to place runners in the top spots to keep Barrington from a clean sweep, as the Broncos won 19-42 a week ago.
"Our program right now is led by what can easily be argued to be the strongest senior class we have ever had in our program's history," Barrington coach Thomas Root said. "The seniors have stuck together through their Barrington running careers from day one of cross country practice their freshman year through every hill and valley that has been thrown their way since then. Consistency is key in our sport and these guys have epitomized that aspect of our sport."
Barrington had the top 14 places against Fremd with eight runners within two seconds of each other. Joey Furlong (15:12.10) led Barrington. He was followed by Jack Fitzpatrick (15:12.36), Jake Ziebarth (15:12.62), Grant Ackard (15:12.87), Blake Garrels (15:13.10), Alfredo Arnieri (15:13.39), Ryan Fryer (15:13.71) and Logan Skidmore (16:13.99).
Barrington will have a showdown with MSL East leader Hersey at the MSL conference meet on Oct. 17 at Hoffman Estates.
"Our ultimate goal is to be at our best for the postseason and our pared-down schedule has been spaced out in a way to allow us to do that," Root said. "So even though we'd love to have been able to run in some bigger meets, we're very happy with how our schedule shaped up within this tough situation."
Hersey on top in MSL East:
Hersey is also off to a great start in the MSL East. The Huskies, who were seventh in the state last year, have come back quite nicely this season.
Led by Luis Vasquez, a state qualifier last year, the Huskies have gone 4-0 in the East after their 20-43 win over Rolling Meadows on Tuesday. Connor Oiler led Hersey with his second-place finish in 16:29.9. He was followed by Sean Safford, Quinn Born, Remy Janusky, Vasquez, Johnny Lifka, Luke Linscott, Michael Renner, Nick Paraskevas and Luke Atmayer.
Rolling Meadows' Stephen Barretto was the top finisher in the meet with a time of 15:46.6.
Regionals and sectionals:
Last Friday, the Illinois High School Association announced regional and sectional assignments for all three classes. There were significant changes to the format compared to last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regionals are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24 and sectionals will be Oct. 31. There will be no state championship meet.
In past years, there were 15 regionals and 5 sectionals in each class. Each regional had 7 to 8 teams.
This year there will 12 regionals and 4 sectionals in each class. Regionals will now host 10 to 12 teams with starting times staggered to accommodate a maximum of 50 runners and ensure social distancing.
"The races will be broken into flights of no more than 50," said Kraig Garber, who is the IHSA administrator in charge of boys cross country. "This will allow for more spacing for the runners on the course and help keep the spectating to a minimum. The advantage of the event being outdoors is that open space allows hosts to better manage social distancing and keep people from crowding in areas."
There are still a number of regional course sites in Classes 2A and 3A that need to be set by the IHSA. There are also two courses for the 3A sectionals that have yet to be named.
Harvest Christian, which was second in the state in Class 1A last year, will host the northern portion of the sectionals in that class. It will also host a regional.
Other area hosts will be Antioch and Kaneland, which will host a regional in Class 2A, while Lakes will host a sectional. Grant, Hoffman Estates and Lake Park will be hosting regionals in 3A. Hoffman will also host a sectional.
"It hasn't been easy, but we are filling these slowly but surely," Garber said. "Some of the sites who have hosted in the past just don't have the capacity to host an event in this format, which is why they had to decline this year. However, I have been pleased to see that other member schools who have not traditionally hosted postseason cross country events in the past have stepped up in some cases to help us out."