Cool weather brings mid-week hot performances before hot weekend meets

Highlights from weekday meets in Illinois

(Photo: Barrington Boys team after dominating the Varsity race Wednesday at the Lake County Invitational – Barrington HS XC Photo Credit)

By Michael Newman

The week before, there were a number of weekday meets that were cancelled due to the hot weather that hit the Midwest.

Weather forecasts are predicting warmer weather this weekend and into next week. There were some meets in the past few days that took advantage of the seasonably cooler weather and put up some great performances. Here are highlights from some of those meets.

Murphysboro Invitational @ Riverside Park (Wednesday) – This was the first of many meets that the top two runners from last year’s State Meet Gavin Genisio of Benton and Isaac Teel of Pinckneyville would race each other. The defending championship had the advantage of the 5k course at Riverside Park.

Genisio opened his season with fast 15:12.6 run to win the race by 27 seconds ahead of Teel who also had a great race with his 15:39.2 time.

1A Top ranked Benton was in control of the front like they will in most every meet this season. The Rangers scored 33 points to win with their top three runners in the first four places and their scorers finishing in the top 17. Genisio was followed by Gabriel McLain and Cole Buchanan who finished third and fourth. Seager Sanchez (13th) and Kaden Blades (17th) rounded out the top five runners for Benton. 1A #7 Pinckneyville finished second (64 points) behind the top 10 finishes from Teel and Landen Boman (5th). Herrin finished third (91 points) led by the eighth-place finish from Waylon Hall.

The Girls race in this meet also had talent with four ranked Class 1A teams competing. 1A #6 Anna-Jonesboro said before the season started that they had some big goals to achieve. Their first step came on Wednesday winning the meet scoring just 37 points placing their top 7 runners in the first 16 places.

Carterville finished second with 81 points followed by 1A #5 Pinckneyville (95 points), 1A #13 Okawville (149 points), and 1A #12 DuQuoin (166 points).

Jadyn Gerardi, in her first high school race, led Anna Jonesboro and the rest of the 118 runner field running 18:51.2 for the win 18 seconds ahead of all-state runner Miah Gilmore of Murphysboro in second (19:09.9). Caroline Tepe of Okawville (19:21.4), Molly Robertson of Carterville  (19:27.1), and Kara Odum of Marion (19:57.8) also finished in the top five.

Anna-Jonesboro did have an impressive pack from their second through seven runners in the first meet of the season. They placed 5 runners in the top 13, their 2-5 runners had a split of just 42 seconds. Aleah Box finished sixth to lead that pack followed by Raegan Jones (9th), Reese Jones (11th), and Liz Hammer (13th). Their top seventh ended with Kinley Leek placing 14th and Maggie Gooden placing 16th.

Lake County Invitational @ Grant HS Bulldog Athletic Complex (Wednesday) - #5 Barrington dominated the Boys race in this meet placing 5 runners in the top 10 to score just 27 points for the easy win with 27 points. Libertyville scored 120 points to finish second ahead of top five teams Stevenson (126 points), Mundelein (142 points), and Grant (163 points). 2A #2 Grayslake Central did not run their full top five as they finished sixth with 170 points. The Rams ran without their normal #2 runner Adam Cordova who raced in the Open race. Cordova finished third overall in that race.

Barrington’s Joe Bregenzer led throughout the Varsity race going after the course record. It was Trey Sato of Grayslake Central using his final kick to pass Bregenzer in the final meters of the race for the win. Sato was timed at 15:01.9 for the win over three seconds ahead of Bregenzer (15:05.3). Charles Blackner of Vernon Hills finish third (15:44.1). Barrington ran a tight pack from their 2-5 runners separated by just 20 seconds. Justin Hurtado led that pack for the Broncos finishing fourth followed by Max Lewis (5th), Mark McGinn (6th), and Manasyu Chaudhari (10th).

Defending 2A Girls State champion Grayslake Central was just as dominant in the Girls Varsity race scoring 37 points for the win. Lake Forest was the closest team to the Rams as they scored 107 points to finish second ahead of Carmel Catholic (141 points), Vernon Hills (152 points), Stevenson (156 points), and 2A #21 Antioch (160 points).

Where as the Boys race came down to a kick, that did not happen for Paige-Elicia Caruth of Lakes Community. The senior was in control throughout running 18:11.2 to win the race by 30 seconds ahead of Bella Domier of Grayslake Central (18:41.7). The next four runners were separated by only four seconds. Lucy Schlachtenhaufen of Lake Forest finished third (18:43.1) followed by Izzy Bing of Carmel Catholic (18:46.9), and Grayslake Central’s Ava Henne (18:47.9) and Sara Armstrong (18:49.4).

Grayslake Central put 5 runners in the top 13 with a 45 second split separating the five runners. Sofia Witt (11th) and Jordan Sutter (13th) were the 4-5 runners for the Rams.

Plainfield City Championships @ Plainfield North (Tuesday) – This meet involving all four Plainfield schools came down to a dual meet in the Boys race and one school dominating the Girls meet.

A 1-2 finish from Camyn Viger and Dylan Maloney helped defending 3A State Champion #14 Plainfield South win the team title 24-34 ahead of #4 Plainfield North. Plainfield Central scored 78 points to finish third. 13 out of the top 15 runners in the race were from North and South. Tyler Schick (9th) and Harlan Matson (15th) were the only runners from Central were in that group. Viger led from the start as he ran 14:36.9 for the win. Maloney stayed close throughout as he ran 14:45.9 to finish second. Quinn Davis of North was within reach as he ran 14:54.5 to place third.

Riley Fink stepped up as South’s third runner as he finished sixth followed by teammates Gavin Borger and Joaquin DeAlba in seventh and eighth. The gap between Maloney and Davis was 54 seconds. The Cougars overall top five split was 68 seconds. Their split from Fink to DeAlba was just five seconds.

Thomas Czerwinski was 17 seconds behind Davis in finishing fourth followed by Owen Stahl in fifth. The three runners were separated by 36 seconds. Gavin Hall (10th) and Aidan Connors (12th) were also in the top five for the Tigers. North’s overall top five split was 65 seconds.

#18 Plainfield North easily won the Girls race scoring 19 points ahead of Plainfield South (58 points) and Plainfield Central (61 points). North dominated putting six runners in the top seven with their #1 runner Elsie Czarniewski not running in this race. It was her freshman sister Marlie Czarniewski that took the win (18:40.7) ahead of Hannah Kilday from Plainfield Central (19:29.3). Emaan Hussain was North’s #2 runner finishing third followed by Tessa Russo, Kaitlyn Ward, Keely Williams, and Nora Rudakas.

New Athens Invitational @ Okaw Valley Park (Monday) – Ethan Hogan opened up his season with an easy win on the Okaw Valley Park 2.95-mile course. The Columbia senior ran 15:19 for the win and ahead of second-place Elijah Gregory of Christ Our Rock Lutheran by 96 seconds. Columbia scored 44 points to win the team title ahead of Christ Our Rock Lutheran (52 points. Hogan is scheduled to race Saturday at the Granite City Invitational. 1A #13 Okawville scored 18 points to win the Girls team title led by the individual win from Caroline Tepe. The all-state runner from last  year ran 19:42 to win the individual race ahead of Sarah McKowen of Christ Our Rock Lutheran (20:52).

Sycamore Invitational @ Kishwaukee College (Tuesday) – Sundara Weber of Sandwich started off her season with an impressive win in this meet. Weber ran 17:50 for the win and by a 55 second margin. Hudson Szymonik of Hampshire was under 19-minutes running 18:45 to finish second. Cecilia Hilby of Aurora Central Catholic (19:11), Korima Gonzalez of DeKalb (19:12), and Ella Perrone of Hampshire (19:40) were all in the top five runners. The top five finish from Szymonik and Perrone helped Hampshire win the team title 36-58 ahead of 2A #12 Dixon with 2A #26 Kaneland finishing third (111 points).

A good individual Boys race in this meet led by a number of all-state athletes were in the spotlight in this meet. Dale Johnson of Sterling pulled away to run 15:17 to win the individual race by 12 seconds ahead of Patrick Hilby of Aurora Central Catholic (15:29). Evan Nosek of Kaneland finished three seconds behind Hilby in third followed by Jaden Frederick of Glenbard South (15:48) and Ben Bohr of Aurora Central Catholic (15:55). 2A #7 Glenbard South started their season on a strong note putting 4 runners in the top 13 to win the team title with 61 points. 1A #14 Aurora Central Catholic surprised some with two runners in the top five and scoring 106 points to finish second. 2A #5 Kaneland scored 116 points to finish third.

Metamora Early (Red) Bird @ Black Partridge Park (Tuesday) – Four of the five Boys teams in this meet were Class 1A ranked schools. 1A #11 Peoria Notre Dame scored 45 points for the team win ahead of 1A #3 Eureka (53 points), 1A #4 Elmwood (64 points), and 1A #6 El Paso-Gridley (86 points). Metamora scored 95 points to finish fifth.

Andrew Elward of Notre Dame ran 15:46.2 to claim the win 30 seconds ahead of Isaiah Hill of Elmwood (16:16.8) who finished second. Dean Witzig of EPG finished third (16:21.2) ahead of Brady Monk of Eureka (16:30.3), and Dax Duffy of Notre Dame (16:38).

Meika Bender of Eureka ran 18:56 to win the Girls race by 47 seconds ahead of Audrey Heil of Metamora. Addie Symonds of Elmwood finished third (19:58) ahead of Claire Albertson of Eureka (20:08) and Meghan Zopel of Notre Dame (20:15). 1A #4 Eureka placed 5 runners in the top 12 to win the team race with 37 points. 1A #2 Notre Dame scored 57 points to finish second ahead of Metamora (79 points), 1A #21 Elmwood (85 points), and 1A #3 El Paso-Gridley (97 points).