Boys cross country: Glenbrook South peaking at the right time
Glenbrook South's boys cross country team is getting the push it needed just at the right time.
The Titans, who will compete in the Central Suburban South meet Saturday at Duke Childs Park in Winnetka and the Hoffman Estates regional the following Saturday, will have momentum heading into those meets as the truncated season winds down.
Glenbrook South won the Wheeling Wildcat Invitational last Saturday at Heritage Park. The Titans scored 38 points to easily outdistance the six-team field. Conant was second with 77 points, Maine West was third with 78 points and Palatine was fourth with 83 points.
"The performance at Wheeling was important to us to reinforce that the hard work we have been doing is paying off," Glenbrook South coach Kurt Hasenstein said. "We ran a good race but feel our best races are still ahead of us.
Glenbrook South had Brian Hiltebrand (16:08) and Mrugesh Thakor (16:12) finish second and third respectively in the meet. The Titans also got strong performances from Cody Slutzkey (17:02), who finished eighth, and Matt Finkel (17:10) who crossed the line in 10th place. Preston Davidson, Michael Westfall and Michael Jerva also ran well for Glenbrook South.
"I felt our team adapted to the new rules and restrictions very well," Hasenstein said. "The seniors in the program set the tone early on that even though some rules have changed we still had the same expectations for the season as far as hard work, commitment and the inclusive culture that has made us successful in the past."
Maine West's Jesus Vallejo won the race in a time of 16:04.2. His teammate Adam Gorcyca was sixth in 16:44.2.
Conant was led by Jason Thomas, who was fifth in 16:41.1. Nick Frank and Andy Davidson also ran well for the Cougars.
Mukal Verma (17:09), who was ninth, and Michael Woodward, who finished 11th, led Palatine. Wheeling's top finisher was Bryan Martinez, who was seventh in 17:02.3.
Dovalovsky holds off Wilson:
In a battle of two of the top runners in the state, Neuqua Valley's Nicolas Dovalovsky held off St. Charles East's Micah Wilson by just over two seconds last Friday at the Naperville Twilight.
Dovalovsky ran his best meet of the season to finish in 14:44.1. Wilson was second in 14:46.4 while Wheaton North's Ryan Schreiner was third with 15:06.1.
St. Charles East won the 13-team invite with 60 points, while Neuqua was second with 73 points and Wheaton North and Naperville North tied for third with 118 points each.
St. Charles East was able to post the win thanks to fourth and fifth place finishes respectively by Luke Schildmeyer (15:07.5) and Zack Loomis (15:08.1).
Naperville Central's Brandon Kamp (15:09.2) and Arthur Graham (15:10.9), Batavia's Ryan Mansour (15:18.3), DeKalb's Riley Newport (15:32.4) and Wheaton Warrenville South's Michael Atkins (15:32.9) rounded out the top 10.
Gilboy leads Lake Zurich:
Jack Gilboy's first place finish powered Lake Zurich to victory last week in the 11-team Lakes Sunset Series held at Eagle Acres. Gilboy has yet to be beaten in a meet this season.
Gilboy ran a 14:55.3 to finish just over 11 seconds faster than Warren's Luke Wiley, who was second with a 15:06.7. Gilboy's teammate, Jacob Myers was third with a 15:11.8.
The duo of Gilboy and Myers helped give the Bears the team title with 21 points. Warren was second with 21 points while Grayslake Central was fifth, Vernon Hills sixth and Grant seventh.
"The meet at Lakes was the first actual 'race' we had run this season," Lake Zurich coach JB Hanson said. "All our other meets have been dual meets. The season has been going well. We are undefeated as a team and (Gilboy) is undefeated as an individual."
The Bears also got solid performances from Danny Burns and Dylan Myers, who both won their individual flights.
Warren also got a nice performance from Griffin Pasha, who was fifth in the top flight of runners with a time of 15:34.4.
Grayslake Central was led by freshman Trey Sato (15:59.4) and Bryan Vale (16:22.5). Alex Utsis paced Vernon Hills while Colton Romig led Grant.
Conference meets this weekend:
The Fox Valley had its conference meet last Saturday. The remainder of the area teams will be off and running this weekend.
On Friday, the DuKane meet will be contested at Waubonsie Valley. They will also continue into Saturday.
On Saturday, there will be many other conferences joining them.
The Catholic League will be running at Loyola while the Mid-Suburban League will be at Hoffman Estates. Also running will be the Interstate 8 at Kaneland, Northern Lake County at Lakes, West Suburban Silver in Glendale Heights, West Suburban Gold in Hillside, Northeastern Athletic in Elgin, North Suburban in Gurnee, the Central Suburban North at Deerfield and the CSL South meet in Winnetka.