The good weather was out in full force for the cross country faithful who witnessed another great Palatine Meet of Champions.The Deer Grove East course yielded the Yorkville girls their first MOC title scoring 82 points. The Dukes of York took the boys crown with 88 points.
It was Yorkville all day at Palatine (Colin Boyle photo)
Yorkville has been revered as the top girls team in all of Illinois regardless of classification. It was just a few days ago that the Lady Foxes were rewarded with their first ever national ranking. They sit at #9 in the Saucony Flo 50 Poll. But rankings mean nothing without the performances to back them up. The Foxes got out well on the strength of junior Alexis Grandys perfect start. She had four other teammates trailing not far behind. The leaders hit the first mile in approximately 5:35 with sophomore Isabelle Sparreo of Stevenson and Lake Zurich senior Caitlin Shepard out front. Yorkville kept the heat on through 2m as did Sparreo who clocked 11:36 with one mile to go. The Foxes put all five scorers in the top 20 to win in a laugher. Lyons Twp. continued its accent back into the limelight placed second with 135 points. Wheaton South, Palatine, and Barrington closed out the top five. Sparreo took home the individual title in 17:06 over junior Brooke Wilson of Prospect who clocked 17:10.
The Dukes of York stop rival Hinsdale Central (Colin Boyle photo)
York won their 12th MOC title- the most in meet history- at the right time with the regular season nearly at its peak and the post season on the horizon. The Dukes used to debut their invitational season here at Palatine but has since moved it back a meet at the Peoria Notre Dame Richard Spring Invitational. However, it looked as though the #5 Dukes were in top form in all phases of the race from beginning to end. Assistant Head Coach Charlie Kern had a smile on his face during the early portion of his team's race. That must have been a forecast to what was to come. York battled new meet comer #4 Hinsdale Central inch for inch and it basically came down to the all important 5th man which the Dukes won. The final verdict was 88-97. The scoring spread was 31 seconds for York and 45 for the Red Devils. Hinsdale Central senior Andrew Irvine was the star last weekend at Richard Spring when he ran a giant personal best 14:57 to cop the second slot. Today he was the 6th man and over 25 seconds back of senior #2 man Chris Brenk.
Jon Davis (Sr., Oakwood) did not provide any drama in the race as he just held serve each checkpoint: 4:49, 9:56 for the first two miles. It was he, Blake Evertsen (Jr., Hinsdale Central) and several others with a little more than a half mile to go. Davis opened up a slight gap on the long homestretch along the road. He held on for the comfy win in 14:41. Evertsen took second in 14:45. A total of eight runners broke 15:00.
CHECK BACK SUNDAY AFTERNOON FOR A FULL MEET RECAP!