The St. Pat's Invitational name has served as several things over the years. Some choose to call it the "The St. Pat's Icebreaker" or same say it's the season opener. But if you took a poll by the coaches, the outcome probably would be they are just happy to get a race under their belt. But one thing for certain it was anything but cool at Schiller Woods Forest Preserve, located on the western edge of Chicago on the markers Irving Park Road and Cumberland Avenue.
The climes touched every bit of 90 degrees in the Chicagoland area- the third such warm day in a row- and it was evident that running a cross country race was going to be a tough affair for the throng of teenagers. The meet was delayed nearly 35 minutes after a runner broke her femur near the end of the girls freshman-sophomore race.
Chicago Northside Prep senior Danny Rosen motors away to an easy victory (Mark Capapas photo)
The boys race was among the last races of the day and it started like a civil war melee because two other races were finishing up to beat the sundown. Danny Rosen made the most of the delay as he took the lead from the gun and ran away from his peers. He presumably hit the first mile under 5:00 and the second mile just over 10:00. The course was laid out prior to the start of the meet and the exact measurement was somewhere between 2.75-2.80 miles. Regardless of what it was, Rosen looked like he was in mid-season form in winning his second consecutive race, this time in 14:29. The tally over Mather senior Robel Yemane was 16 seconds. Jose Vasquez-Perez (Fenton), Kyle Friedler (Northside Prep), and Auggie Alfaro (Lane Tech) closed the books on the top five finishers.
The team score was very close among the north side of Chicago rivals Lane Tech, Mather, and Northside Prep. After a seasaw affair Lane squeezed out the victory with 62 points. The Rangers took second with 67 to Northside Prep's 82 points.
The Trinity (River Forest) girls traveled just a stone throw distance to win their first St. Pat's Invite. The Blazers put three finishers in the top five and two more within the top 20 to amass 39 points. Northside Prep put all seven of their runners in the top 20 but only could muster 42 points. Lane Tech took third despite holding out their top four runners including defending city champion Maggie Scholle. The Indians showed tremendous depth in scoring 103 points.
Individually, River Forest's Hailey Hanson needed every step in holding off Northside's Violet Sackett 18:34-18:35.