Illinois HS XC Weekend Highlights - September 12, 2022

Grace Schager sets course record, York ahead of Prospect in their first challenge at Lake Park

By Michael Newman [email protected]

We had an idea that Grace Schager of Glenbard North would put in a fast time Saturday at the Harvey Braus Invitational held at Lake Park’s East Campus course. She ran in a triangular meet in the same location, she ran what was termed a workout in training flats. Schafer turned in a 16:35 time.

Schager had spikes on Saturday morning as she towed the line in the Girls Varsity race. She was all alone after the first half of the race. In the triangular race, she passed 2-miles in 11:16 in worse conditions. In this race that started at 9:00 AM, Schager passed that same point in 10:55. She ran the last mile in 5:05 crossing the line on the track in 16:00.2 setting a new course record.

Schager broke the record by five seconds set seven years ago by state champion Judy Pendergast then running at Naperville North. Pendergast ran 16:05.5 on that October afternoon at the DuPage Valley Conference Meet. Three weeks later at Detweiller Park in the IHSA Class 3A State Meet, Judy ran a new Detweiller Park course record of 15:53.8 to earn the 2015 Class 3A State Individual Champion title.

The performance by Schafer even overshadowed the team race that was going on between the top two teams in the state. #1 York and #2 Prospect were meeting for the first time in what will be three straight meets. The defending 3A State Champion Dukes placed 5 runners in the top 15 to win the team title with 38 points. Prospect scored 62 points to finish second placing 5 runners in the top 27.

Bria Bennis led York running 17:12 to finish second. Brooke Berger moved up in the final mile to run 17:21 to finish fourth. Katherine Klimek (10), Michaela Quinn (12), and Lilly Beerhalter (15th) were within 22 seconds of each other. York’s top five split dropped to 54 seconds in this meet.

Hailey Erickson once again led the Knights running 17:17 to finish third overall. Lily Ginsberg ran 17:27 (6th) and Cameron Kalaway ran 17:39 (9th) to finish in the top 10. Ireland Wildhart (24th) and Samantha Patterson (27th) rounded out Prospect’s top five. The top five split on this group was 92 seconds. Veronica Znajda ran 17:40 to win the Girls Junior Varsity race. If Znajda would have run in the varsity race, Prospect would have had four runners in the top 10 and would have scored 47 points getting closer to York.

#6 Downers Grove North finished third (123 points) led by the 13 place finish from freshman Lily Eddington. #16 Huntley finished fourth (140 points) led by Breanna Burak finishing 8th and her sister Brittney finishing 11th. #11 Maine South in their first 3-mile race of the season finished fifth (154 points) paced by Sofia Arcuri running 17:24 to finish fifth.

Huntley sophomore Tommy Nitz pulled away from the field to win the Boys Varsity race with a 15:10 time. Caleb Youngstedt of Wheaton North ran 15:23 to finish second overall. Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South finished third (15:25) followed by Mitch Garcia of St. Charles East (15:30) and Nathan Virginelli of Wheaton-Warrenville South (15:31). The #14 Tigers placed five runners in the top 14 to win the Boys team title with 42 points. #28 Wheaton North (69 points) and Huntley (87 points) finished second and third.

Here are some highlights that took place throughout and outside of the state this past week. You can also read about highlights of the First to the Finish Invitational.

Forest Park XC Festival

This annual race in St. Louis often draws some of the top teams in the southern part of the state. 2A #5 Marion made a state the week before at Granite City. They did so again in this race. The Wildcats finished sixth overall in this 18 team race with 190 points. Bentonville AR won the division title with 50 points followed by Kickapoo MO who scored 83 points.

Dylon Nalley had a convincing win in this race running 15:29 for the win and the fastest time of the day on the course. Tyler Harris of Kickapoo was his closest competition running 16:08 to finish second. O’Fallon finished eighth (221 points) with Dylan Ybarra running 16:19 to finish third overall. Highland scored 442 points to finish 16th in this division.  

Gavin Genisio was the second Illinois runner to win an individual race in this meet. The Benton junior ran 16:12 to claim the individual Gold Division title winning the race by 42 seconds. Benton had top 10 finishes from Gabriel McClain in third and Cole Buchanan in sixth to help them win the team title 107-109 ahead of De Smet Jesuit MO.

Belleville Althoff finished 11th out of 22 teams in the White Division race led by the 25th place finish from Sam Hiller. Eris Nelson led Althoff Catholic in the Girls White Division winning the induvial race with a 20:24 time.

O’Fallon’s Girls team finished eighth in the Green Division race. Freshman Ellie Bush led the Panthers running 20:24 to finish 15th overall. Benton finished 17 in the Gold division race scoring 357 points.

Joliet Central Steelmen Invitational

#20 York started their season on a high note winning all three Boys divisions in this meet. The Dukes placed 5 runners in the top 9 to win the Varsity team title scoring 34 points. Benet Academy (55 points) and Oswego (77 points) finished second and third. Marcellus Mines is 4 for 4 in races this fall. He ran 15:06 on this Channahon Park course to win the individual title by 32 seconds ahead of Brady Nelson of Oswego (15:38) and another 11 seconds ahead of Finn Richards of Benet Academy. York only had a 14 second split separating their top five runners led by Aidan Hill in fourth and followed by Payton Bryk, Daniel O’Shaughnessy, Jack Carroll, and Luke Lestina who finished sixth through ninth.

Lincoln-Way Central edged district rival #30 Lincoln-Way East 54-55 in a close team final. #28 Oswego (67 points) and #20 Neuqua Valley (70 points) finished third and fourth. Neuqua Valley was without their top runner Carissa Hamilton in this race. Audra Soderlind, who finished third last week at Hinsdale, took the lead early on Saturday running 18:06 to win the individual title. Kara Waishwell of Lincoln-Way East ran 18:42 to finish second ahead of Oswego’s Kelly Wong (18:42) and Neuqua Valley’s Gretchen Leland.

Lee Halberg Invitational

Warm weather affected some of the races at this meet held at Lincoln Park in Springfield. 2A #3 Chatham-Glenwood placed 5 runners in the top 20 to win the Girls team title at this meet with 56 points. Freshman Ashlyn Chopra and Rachel Behrens finished five seconds apart finishing third and fourth to lead the Titans. Colleen Zeibert of Rochester pulled away to win the individual title (18:39) ahead of Monticello’s Mabry Bruhn (18:49). 2A #30 Springfield finished second (96 points) behind the seventh-place finish from Madeline Kim. 2A #9 Rochester held out some of their freshman from this race but still finished third (101 points) and one point ahead of Normal Community (102 points).

Normal Community edged 2A #9 Mahomet-Seymour 68-69 for the Boys team title. Mundelein scored 99 points to finish third. Mundelein sophomore Javier Mata ran 16:19 to claim the individual title by 17 seconds ahead of Mahomet-Seymour freshman Augustus Gaudio (16:36).

Wauconda Invitational

Hadley Ferrero made her season debut in this meet a successful one running 18:45 on the 5k course at Matthews Middle School to win the Girls Varsity race. Maggie Jortberg of Glenbrook South ran 19:30 to finish second overall. #10 Crystal Lake Central, behind Ferrero’s win, placed 5 runners in the top 12 to claim the team win with 33 points. Lane Tech (54 points), Glenbrook South (78 points), and Warren Township (117 points) followed. Warren’s Mia Pasha did not run in this race.

Lane Tech ran their JV team in this race with their top runners competing at Lake Park. The Indians scored 51 points to claim the win ahead of 2A #7 Crystal Lake Central (61 points), Glenbrook South (63 points), and Stevenson (76 points). Crystal Lake Central’s Karson Hollander ran 16:16 to claim the Boys individual title. The senior finished 27 seconds ahead of second-place Dylan Zimmerman of Stevenson (16:43).

DePaul College Prep Ram Classic

1A #5 DePaul Prep put in five runners in the top 15 led by a 1-2 finish from Mac Kittrell and Bryan Malkowski to help them win their own Boys Invitational with 36 points. Kittrell ran 15:49 to win the individual by seven seconds ahead of his teammate Malkowski (15:56). Loyola Academy’s Ben Howland ran 15:57 to help his team finish second (47 points) ahead of 1A #16 Northridge Prep (95 points).

#8 Loyola Academy did not run their top runners in their opening race of the season. The Ramblers, led by Ana Kimball’s fifth-place finish, ran a nice 55 second split on their top five runners to win the team title 50-59 ahead of 1A #7 DePaul College Prep. Jones Prep scored 88 points to finish third. Lucia-Ton That of Northside Prep ran 18:15 to win the individual race 28 seconds ahead of Brenda Torres of Wheeling. Hannah Diete ran 19:01 to finish third.

Luther College All-American Meet IA

1A #4 Riverdale made the trip across the Mississippi River to compete in this meet at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Tommy Murray finished sixth overall running 16:45 for 5k to help his team finished fourth in a field of 31 teams. Minneapolis Washburn (56 points), Iowa City (98 points), and Cedar Rapids Prairie (148 points) finished ahead of the Rams who scored 156 points. Riverdale had two other runners in the top 20 led with Peyton Sand (16th) and Landis Musser (18th) finishing within three seconds of each other.

Reavis Invitational

#18 Plainfield North survived the warm conditions of this meet placing 5 runners in the top 23 to win the Girls team title with 52 points. Mother McAuley (79 points) and Hinsdale South (129 points) finished second and third. Homewood-Flossmoor’s Caroline Schoen held on to run 19:14 on this 5k course to claim the win by 17 seconds ahead of Elsie Czarniewski of Plainfield North.

The top five runners in the Boys Varsity race were separated by only 10 seconds. Daniel Kasperan of Marian Catholic ran 16:23 to win the individual race. Luke Barham of Stagg and Charley Duggan of Brother Rice both ran 16:27 to finish second and third. Habtamu Epley of Homewood-Flossmoor ran 16:29 to finish fourth ahead of Luke Atzman of Sandburg (16:33). Stagg scored the team title with 57 points finishing ahead of Sandburg (81 points) and Homewood-Flossmoor (90 points).

Christian Schools Invitational MI

1A #8 Chicago Christian turned another good performance as they traveled to Kalamazoo, MI for this meet. The Knights scored 85 points to finish second overall behind Grand Rapids Christian who scored 36 points for the win. Chicago Christian placed 5 runners in the top 26 led by Anna Enderle who ran 19:37 to finish fourth in this race. Their next four runners finished between 14th and 26th.

Belleville West Invitational

2A #25 Waterloo edged Mascoutah 47-58 for the Boys team title. Only three runners were under 16-minutes on this hot and humid morning. Ethan Hogan of Columbia ran a strong 15:15 to win the individual race by 26 seconds ahead of Noah O’Renic of Belleville and another 11 seconds ahead of Waterloo’s Joe Schwartz. 2A #11 Waterloo put their first four runners across the line before anyone else in the Girls race. They scored 18 points to win the team title ahead of 1A #14 Breese Mater Dei (65 points) and Mascoutah. Waterloo’s Cameron Crump (19:04) won the individual title ahead of teammate Angelynn Kanyuck. Waterloo had a 27 second split on their top four runners.

Gary Coates Invitational

This meet hosted was hosted by Princeton. Eden Mueller of Mercer County destroyed this field running 18:42 to win the Girls Individual title by more than a minute ahead of Olivia Thomsen of Orion (19:56), Sherrard held the upper hand in the team race placing 5 runners in the top 18 to win the team title with 43 points. Mercer County scored 50 points to finish second.

1A #29 Sterling Newman scored 52 points to win the Boys team title ahead of Mercer County (63 points) and Amboy (77 points). The Comets’ team win was helped by a 6-7 finish from Lucas Schaab and Lucas Simpson. The finish was close at the end of the individual race with Amboy’s Kyler McNinch winning by less than one second ahead of Colin Delagrange of Lowpoint-Washburn. McNinch’s winning time was 16:45.75. Lucas Arnold of Mercer County ran 16:52 to finish third.