Cross-country Sectional Results
It was widely known that the champion of the Fenwick Girls Cross-country Regional at Schiller Woods on Saturday would likely be a sophomore. The question was would it be OPRF’s Katherine Rack or Fenwick’s Margaret Connolly.
The answer came 17 minutes and 52 seconds after the race began with Rack crossing the finish line of the 3-mile course. Connolly followed with an impressive second place time of 18:36. Fenwick’s Raquel Falk also finished in the top five with a time of 19:28.
Rack led the Huskies to the regional title as the team garnered a score of 48. Fenwick finished second with a 52, while Northside Prep rounded out third with an 87.
Evangeline Zachos and Pauline Lazzeretti finished in the top 10 for OPRF. Zachos, also a sophomore, took sixth with a time of 19:22, and Lazzeretti seventh in 19:39, which turned out to be the clincher for the Huskies.
“The girls new exactly what the challenge was, and they really wanted it,” said OPRF head coach Sarah McCabe. “Our theme of the day was ‘race with heart’ and they did just that. This was a big confidence builder, especially now that we are headed into a tough sectional.”
Other notable finishes for the Huskies included Natalie Stone (20:36, 16th place), Daiga Eizis (20:44, 18th place), Mia Salamone (20.52, 21st place) and freshman Kate Ritter (20:57, 23rd place).
For Fenwick, Anne Marie McLean raced to an 11th place finish in 20:16, while Kathleen Roche (20:20, 14th place), Erin Wilson (20:48, 20th place), Alyssa Mannion (21:03, 24th place), and Gabby Cozzi (21:07, 26th place) all finished strong for the Friars.
Both teams move on to the Niles West Sectional on Saturday in Skokie. Mother McAuley looks to be the favorite to take the sectional title, with Stagg, Sandburg and Loyola vying for runner-up. OPRF and Fenwick will likely battle it out for the fifth-place spot.
“Fenwick will be very hungry to give us quite a run at sectionals, and that’s understandable,” said McCabe.
Dolis moves on
Trinity’s Liz Dolis advanced on to the Niles West Sectional by finishing 27th at the Fenwick Regional on Saturday. The senior finished the 3-mile course in 21:10.
As a team, the Blazers finished seventh with a score of 196.
OPRF boys advance
Patrick Geoghegan led the OPRF boys cross-country team to a second-place finish at the Fenwick Regional on Saturday. Geoghegan, who had not run competitively until mid-season due to a leg injury, outran Mather’s Ivan Coronel by three seconds to post a first-place time of 15:40 on the 3-mile course.
Mark Keating finished fourth for the Huskies, timing out at 16:04. With the help of Ryan Granholm (16:19, 11th place), Colin McCarey (16:34, 16th), Eunhawn Yoo (16:40, 21st place), Alex Brown (16:42, 23rd place), and Kevin Binns (17:16, 38th place), the Huskies managed a score of 53.
Laser, Miller finish in top 5
The Fenwick boys cross-country team posted four runners in the top 10 at its own regional.
Tom Laser led the Friars to the regional title by finishing third overall in 16 minutes flat. Matt Miller finished fifth in 16:05 for the Friars.
Martin Grady and Patrick McGillen finished sixth and seventh respectively. Grady timed out in 16:07 and McGillen 16:09.
Fenwick also received good runs from Jack Boyle (16:30 15th place), Ryan Shannon (16:57, 29th place) and Brian Barron (17:10, 34th place).
The boys teams also advance to the Niles West Sectional on Saturday.
