Jenna Lutzow of Belvidere North cruises in 2A race
2A-
[Girls]
The late minute absence of top ranked Yorkville gave an opportunity for several other teams to go for the Gold trophy. #2 Lemont, #3 Dunlap, #4 Belvidere North, and a few others appeared more than ready.
Vernon Hills took the first strike at winning on the strength of Vivian Overbeck's second place finish and Lauren Katz's strong race. The pair finished 2nd and 4th respectively but the back of the Cougar's scoring pack was not enough to hold off a strong Dunlap crew. Frannie Verville led the way for the Eagles in 10th place. Two of her teammates finished in the top 25 which gave an element of more than a one girl team. The scoring split followed with a solid 1:18 connection that got the job done 163-167 over Vernon Hills. Lemont did not have the day they wanted to in finishing 5th behind Rochester and Washington scoring a hefty 266 points.
Individually, the speedy Jenna Lutzow (Belvidere North) used a powerful last mile to pull away from Overbeck to win in a personal record 17:11. Overbeck ran extremely also clocking her best ever time in 17:18. A total of six girls broke 18:00 on the lightening fast Detweiller race surface including Kortney Schardt (Lakes) who finished fourth behind Delaney Appino (Rockford Boylan) running 17:29.
Jack Aho of Grayslake Central rules the 2A Boys race
[Boys]
The Rams of Grayslake Central was not previewed for the FTTF title bout. Last year they competed in the Wauconda Invitational. The state's 2nd ranked team traveled a long way from northwest Illinois to face some great competition. They made it look easy scoring 79 points. Jack Aho was a big reason why in taking individual honors in a huge personal best 14:35. Aho used splits of 4:55 and 9:50 in cruising past Shane Williamson (Vernon Hills). But he was all about the team and his team backed him up with all scorers in the top 40.
#3 Yorkville got third ahead of Belvidere North 143-203.