New Trier's Ben Crane negotiates himself to a win on the reconstructed KLM course (Laura Duffy photo)
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VIDEOS I PHOTOS
Hinsdale, IL-
In recent years, the historic Katherine Legge Memorial Park has seen change and development that directly affected cross-country races. Among the new-look items was the redistributed flow of the creek, which no longer impedes the running portion of the course. Secondly, park officials have approved the construction of additional tennis courts, which has caused meet officials to temporarily alter the varsity race distance from 3.0 to 2.9 miles.
Girls-
Two-time defending champion 3A #3 Prospect bid for a third one was put on a kibosh by Mid-Suburban League (MSL) rival #5 Hersey. The once-thought underdogs were led by Madeline Bialko (Sr), who placed fourth overall in 17:04. Alexa Izenstark (So) followed with a strong finish in eighth place with a time of 17:29. Three other teammates were inside the top 25 to complete the scoring. The Huskies beat Prospect 63-83. #12 Batavia finished third ahead of #9 Minooka, scoring 103 and 131 points respectively. #14 Wheaton-Warrenville South took the fifth spot, tallying 176 points.
Individually, Veronica Znajda (Sr., Prospect) took charge of the race and roared away for the win in 16:38.
Boys-
Ben Crane (Sr., New Trier) indicated that this invite is one of his favorites, and it rates up there with competing at historic Detweiller Park. He did not take competition lightly, hitting the first two-mile splits in 4:44 and 4:58 (9:42 at 2 miles). On his heels for most of the race was Josiah Narayanan (Sr., Wheaton South). Crane eventually separated from him and won in 13:58.
#16 3A Palatine scored a huge win over six ranked teams, notably #5 New Trier, #13 Prospect, and #9 Wheaton-Warrenville South. The Pirates put three runners in the top 10, enabling them to score 102 points, 20 more better than New Trier.