Midlothian IL-
The Sandburg Regional was better than most expected it to be. It was filled with exciting action on both the boys and girls side with some surprises along the way. The conditions were not the best with heavy wind and temperatures in the 40s.
The girl's race kicked off the day at Midlothian Meadows with Juliana Stogsdill of Plainfield North taking the race with a commanding lead. "Pickle" as her teammates call her, came through the first mile in 5:58 with the chase pack about 18 seconds behind her.
Stogsdill continued to open up her lead on the pack while slowing down the pace a bit in the backwoods as she came through 2 miles at an 12:27. She now had about 25 seconds on second and third place runners, Brielle Morris of Orland Park (Sandburg) and Cassidy Martin of Plainfield South. It seemed as if Stogsdill found a second gear after crossing the second mile and finished with a 6:09 last mile to take home the first regional title of her high school career. Morris (2nd, 19:05), Martin (3rd, 19:11), Sarah Conley of Plainfield North (4th, 19:22), and Emily Bedford of Plainfield North (5th, 19:23) rounded out the all-regional individuals here.
Plainfield North looked great here after some not so great performances at their past few meets. The Tigers placed 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 12th, 15th, and 18th to win their first regional title in the program's history.
The boy's race was for sure the best race here by far. It saw a great team battle between Plainfield South and Orland Park (Sandburg) and a great individual battle between Christian Knowlton of Plainfield South and Tyler Cushing of Bolingbrook. From the gun, Knowlton tried taking an early lead, but the pesky Cushing matched Knowlton and showed he was not letting him go. They were accompanied by a surprising individual through the first 800 meters as Ismail Tineh of Orland Park (Sandburg) was trying to hang on to them but realized he would ruin his race if he continued the way he was running.
The duo of Knowlton and Cushing came through the first mile at around a 4:56. Knowlton seemed cool and collected at this pace while Cushing looked as if the pace was already too much for him. Regardless of how Cushing looked, he stuck with Knowlton through the second mile as they came through at a 10:15 with about a 20-second gap on third place runner Timmy Wade of Plainfield South. Knowlton didn't decided to make his move until about 800 meters left in the race as he threw down the hammer, running a 15:10 and a 4:55 last mile. He put 10 seconds on Cushing as he came through in second place at a 15:20. Wade (3rd, 15:43), Emmanuel Angomas of Plainfield East (4th, 15:46), and Tineh (5th, 15:53) rounded out the all-regional runners.
The Cougars of Plainfield South came out with a surprising win here as they dominated the race, placing 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 14th, 21st, and 28th to win with a score of 33 points. The Eagles held out some of their top runners here as they rested their top 4 runners: Nico Calderon, Sam Rodriguez, Ben Giblin, and Will Giblin. Regardless of that, the Cougars walked away with their first regional title since 2004 and the first under Head Coach Jason Crowe's tenure.