Boys cross country: Young runners faring well for Waubonsie Valley
The youth movement at Waubonsie Valley is paying huge dividends.
The Warriors' boys cross country team had four juniors as their top runners to help lead them past Naperville Central and Metea Valley in a DuPage Valley triangular meet held in Aurora last Friday.
Waubonsie captured second through sixth place to win the meet with 20 points. Angel Solis (16:00.30), who is a junior, led the way for the Warriors. He was followed by fellow juniors Ethan Marshall (16:00.90), Aidan Oster (16:01.60), Andres Perez (16:02.20) and senior Zach Benziger (16:04.20). Jacob Tucker, who is also a junior, was the Warriors' sixth runner and finished eighth at the meet.
"My junior group has been really good," Waubonsie Valley coach Kevin Rafferty said. "They each got a taste of varsity last year and ran extremely well as a frosh-soph group last year. It's a really motivated group that did a great job training on their own and then in small groups throughout the course of the spring and summer. This season isn't ideal compared to what we would usually be doing but these kids have made the most of their opportunities."
Naperville Central scored 45 points and was led by Brandon Kemp, who finished first in 15:54.30. Arthur Graham and Owen Foster were also top 10 finishers.
Metea Valley was led by freshman Mamadu Diallo, who was ninth.
In another DuPage Conference triangular also held last Friday, host Neuqua Valley ran away from the field. The Wildcats had 12 of the top 15 finishers to win the meet with 24 points. DeKalb was second with 54 and Naperville North scored 58 points.
Brian Jett was second in the meet. His time of 15:36.30 led Neuqua. He was followed by Nick Rohlwing (15:42.45) and Daniel Guttierrez (15:53.56). Leif Anderson, Charlie Rook, Nicolas Castrillon and Zach Close all finished in the top 10.
Naperville North was led by sophomore Colin Corcoran, who was fifth in 15:54.21. Luke Zhang and Peter Harrison also were top finishers for the Huskies.
Glenbard West, DGN post wins:
The West Suburban Silver is close to wrapping up its regular season schedule with Glenbard West and Downers Grove North both posting wins last Thursday
Glenbard West held off Oak Park 26-30 in a 2.88-mile race held at Camera Park in Glendale Heights.
In the final lap, Ben McGrath and Jack Hatlestad were able to push their way into the final two positions to help secure the win for Glenbard West.
"It was a close race," Glenbard West coach Kyle Nugent said "We won by four points because our fourth and fifth guy moved up in the last lap. We also had a great race from second runner Michael Miller."
Miller, who is a junior, ran the course in 15:29 to finish third in the meet. Teammate Pierce Cousins, was the top runner for the Hilltoppers, finishing second in 15:15.
Tyler Yeager placed sixth for Glenbard West, which also got strong performances from Zach Hoffman and Colin Hess.
Downers Grove North rolled past Proviso West 15-50. Downers Grove North was led by freshman Caden Weber (16:53.7) as the Trojans captured the top seven spots. Noah Lamantia, Connor Wood, Asa Gaspar, Max Polaski, Jason Flynn and Quinn Kelley topped the field for the Downers Grove.
Maine South's Coyle shines:
Matt Coyle ran a 15:14.97 last Friday at the Loyola Academy Invitational in Glenview. Coyle finished second, just edged New Trier's Nick Falk at the wire.
The race featured some very quick times with 21 runners breaking 16 minutes.
Maine South finished fifth and the Hawks got a strong finish from Eamon Brady who was 14th in 15:49. 29.
Hersey finished third in the 7-team invite, finishing behind New Trier, which won the event and Sandburg, which was second. Hersey was led by Sean Safford (15:28.8), who was fourth and Quinn Born (5th in 15:29.31), and Connor Oiler (20th in 15:58.61).
Palatine was led by sophomore Jack Casaccio (16:01.50) and Brandon Waller (16:02.15).
Conference meets begin:
The Fox Valley will be the first area conference to conduct its conference meet. The meet is scheduled to run at Plato Park and us co-hosted by Jacobs and Burlington Central.