Illinois High School XC opens season with short distance appetizers

By Michael Newman

Even though the first week of the season started a little later than normal, the late August heat that Illinois experiences did not avoid schools and runners as they had to deal with curve balls of temperatures that reached into the mid-90’s in most parts of the state.

Wednesday temperatures dipped to conditions where it was safe enough for the runners to step to the starting line. Thursday was warm but safe enough to race. You never know what kind of conditions you will face when you get closer to the state meet. The shorter distances for some of these meets made it bearable to run the past few days.

Here are some of the highlights from meets over the past two days.

Elmwood Park Trial on the Trail – Both levels of this 2-Mile races had interesting outcomes. Four all-state runners led the way in the Girls Varsity race. Josslyn Wade of Fenton ran 11:56 to win by five seconds ahead of Ellie Anderson of Latin School. Molly McGreal of Trinity ran 12:17 to finish third. Graziella Narcisi of IC Catholic Prep (13:00) finished fourth. Freshman Francesca Mora of Latin School had a faster time than her teammate Anderson in the Frosh/Soph race. Mora ran 11:50 to claim the win.

Latin School placed three runners in the top four to have control in the Boys Varsity race. Ben Gibson, who missed most of last fall due to an injury, started his senior season on a high note running 10:06.5 to win by six seconds ahead of teammate Daniel Goodman (10:12.7) That was not the fastest Boys time of the meet. Micah Weiss of Latin School won a close race against all-state runner Thomas Jochum of Glenbard South. Both runners ran under 10-minutes in the Frosh/Soph race. Weiss, a freshman, ran 9:54.7 for the win with Jochum close running 9:56.3.

Hinsdale Central Girls Triangular @ Katherine Legge Memorial – Short course race at KLM. Distance is shortened to 1.9 miles due to construction in the southeast corner of the park. The shorter distance did not seem to bother Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South. Poglitsch, who finished seventh in last fall’s 3A State meet and is the third returning runner from that race, had a strong opening race to start her season. Poglitsch ran 11:22 to win the race by 36 seconds ahead of Lily Hodneland of Hinsdale Central. Her teammate Ella Satre ran 12:00 to finish third with McKenzie Armstrong of Wheaton-Warrenville South finishing in 12:03. #18 Wheaton-Warrenville South edged #16 Hinsdale Central 33-35 while Downers Grove South scored 74 points.

Taft Early Eagle Invitational – The eye opener in the Girls 2-Mile race was the re-emergence of Lulu Ton-That. The Northside senior missed most of last track season due to injury after finishing sixth in the 2A State race. Ton-That made a statement on Thursday running 12:25.3 for the win ahead of Elise Conwell of Taft by 58 seconds (12:25.3). Connor Harmon of Oak Park-River Forest ran 10:57 to win the Boys race by nine seconds ahead of Langston Ellis of Whitney Young (11:06).

Oswego East Co-Ed Opener - #3 Naperville North Girls team started this season successfully on this warm late summer afternoon on Oswego East’s home course. Delilah Helenhouse of Benet Academy continued the momentum she had last May during track. Helenhouse ran 18:30 to win the race by 57 seconds. Naperville North’s pack of Emma Berres (19:27), Rianna Tandon (19:37), Kathryn Rohr, and Chloe Piot (both 19:56) followed separated by 29 seconds on their first four runners. Sennah Rashidian was the team’s fifth runner placing eighth (20:40). Naperville North scored 22 points to win ahead of 2A #9 Benet Academy (58 points) and #16 Oswego East (64 points).

#26 Naperville North scored 25 to win the Boys team title placing all five runners in the top 10. Eddie Bozett of Oswego East ran 16:36 to win the 3-mile race by 17 seconds ahead of Ubaldo Rodriguez of Plainfield Central (16:53).

Glenbard West Girls Triangular @ Camera Park – A warm Wednesday afternoon did not slow down the three 3A teams taking place in this meet. It was a high school newcomer that stole the show on this 2.88-mile course. Freshman Karlin Janowski of York ran away from the rest of the field winning in a 17:31.6 time. Teammate Sofia Stoddard ran 17:59 to finish second. Emily Offutt of Wheaton North ran 18:14 to finish third. #3 York placed in their top seven in the first 12 places to win with 25 points. #8 Wheaton North put their five scorers in the top 15 to score 44 points to place second. #23 Glenbard West scored 61 points to finish third.

Deerfield Opener @ Deerfield Campus Course – not much to say in this triangular meet with the host school, Zion-Benton, and Grayslake North in the Boys race. It was all Deerfield in the 3-mile race as the Warriors took home the first nine places for an easy win. The Warriors put nine runners across the line before the other two teams could. Jaimie Chandler ran 15:38 to claim the win with two teammates Nick Dowell (15:54) and Andrew Calderon (15:57) both ran under 16-minute. The Warriors had a 49 second split on their top five runners in their opening meet of the season. #7 Hersey in the Girls race put in four runners and five in the first six to claim the win with just 16 points. Deerfield scored 67 points to finish second. The heat of the afternoon kept the Huskies close together with Madeline Bialko of Hersey claiming the win running 18:40. Margaret Grabske (18:49), Alexa Izenstark (18:53), and Sofia Donner (18:55) were next for Hersey. Lauran Hamilton of Zion-Benton interrupted the sweep as she finished ahead of Hersey’s Elizabeth Waltz.

Morris Early Bird Invitational – There was no question who would win this race as soon as the gun went off. Sundara Weber of Sandwich ran away from the Girls field early on her way to running 17:31 for the win in her opening race of the regular season. Weber won by 94 seconds with Klarke Goranson of Manteno running 19:05 in her first high school race. Cecilia Hilby ran 19:43 to finish third. 2A #21 Morris packed it up led by the sixth-place finish Makensi Martin. Morris placed 5 runners in the top 21 to win, scoring 55 points. Sandwich scored 81 points to finish second ahead of 1A #29 Seneca (96 points) and 1A #10 Chicago Christian (111 points).

It was more like a dual meet in the Boys Meet with 2A #12 Morris and 1A #7 Aurora Central Catholic. Morris placed 4 runners in the top 9, 5 runners in the top 27 to win the meet scoring 40 points. Aurora Central Catholic had 3 runners in the top 6, 5 runners in the top 22 to score 55 points to finish second. Cuyler Swanson of Morris commanded this race running 15:36 to win by 32 seconds ahead of his brother Everett (16:08). Ben Bohr (16:24) and Jack Swiatek (16:34) of Aurora Central Catholic finished third and fourth.