Cross country: Carmel freshman Bing runs away from pack at St. Viator
It was a great start to the 2021 cross country season for the Carmel Catholic girls team Saturday morning at the 17th Annual Robert Artman Invitational hosted by St. Viator.
The warm running conditions did not bother Carmel freshman Izzy Bing at all as she ran away from the rest of the field on the 3-mile course to easily take home first place with a winning time of 20:39.2.
The Corsairs held off the host Lions 31-39 to win the team title while Willows Academy of Des Plaines captured third place with 56 points.
St. Viator was led by Livia Salituro in second place while Carmel teammates Sydney Krcmarik, and Norah Belmonte placed third and fourth respectively.
St. Viator's Nadia Diaz placed fifth followed by teammate Madeline Reddin in ninth, and Carmel's Alana Heinrichs in 10th.
"There were a few tiny hills, but overall it was a pretty flat course," said Bing about the course on the grounds at St. Viator High School. "I feel like it was an OK time for me, but I was hoping to run a little faster."
St. Viator showed its depth behind Catherine Glasstetter (11th) and Stella Raftery (12th) while Sophia Scheider led St. Edward's short-handed team in 13th.
"We're coming along, but we've got a lot of work to do," said St. Viator coach Wayne Edelman. "And I'm missing my No. 1 girl (Mary Grace Hegberg) today because she is taking the ACT."
Carmel coach Jim Halford is very optimistic as he looks forward to the rest of the season.
"We're missing our No. 2 girl today, but our first four were freshmen so I feel pretty good about that," said Halford, whose team was competing for the first time this season.
"Expectations were not too high for the first meet, and we did what we expected through four so I thought they looked good."
In the boys' meet, St. Viator senior Mike Schumacher rolled to first place in 15:34.9, but Notre Dame edged the Lions 28-37 for first place. Carmel placed third with 77 points.
St. Viator's Lucas Doland placed fifth while Anthony Carney led Marian Central's short-handed squad in 10th.
"I was really happy to have our own homecoming meet, and my PR was a 15:19 at Lake Park," Schumacher said. "I believe we can get to state, we would have gone to state last year and we carried over a lot of guys from last year."
Marian Central coach Anthony Enright was happy with the early-season performances of his runners at all levels.
"We looked fantastic and this was our first race against conference teams," said Enright. "I thought they really stepped it up, and on varsity Carney had a 10th place medal."
St. Viator's John Hutchison placed 11th followed by Carmel's Jeremy Bobber in 12th, St. Viator's Ryan Li in 14th, and Carmel's Nate Starzec in 15th.