Lane Tech Girls, Payton Boys Win CPL Titles

Lane Tech and Payton enjoyed busy deals on the girls and boys side (Jorge Espinosa photo)

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RESULTS I VIDEOS I PHOTOS

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Chicago IL-

The Chicago Public League Championship, the biggest conference meet in the state, was held at Washington Park on the University of Chicago campus. It could have been a nicer day to run cross country for two or three miles. Mother Nature laced everyone with sunny skies and a silky warm 70 degrees. 

It was time to get busy.

After Chicago Lane boys and girls swept their way through the undercard races, it was time for the main event, the varsity races.

The girls went first. The individual race favorite was clear-cut: senior LuLu Ton-That of Northside Prep. She is the defending champion and has a killer mentality when on her game. 3A #19 Lane Tech is the defending champion and ready to show they are ready for the post-season.

As expected, Ton-That took the pace out to her liking, pulling Lane's Ainsley Carter (So.) and Lucy McNally (Sr.) with her. 

The first mile was around 5:53, and Carter and McNally were two seconds in back.

The team picture was beginning to take shape. Lane had numbers to support their front runners; Sydney Van Aken (Jr), Greta Trinter (Fr), and Amy Herzog (Fr) stayed in the area code for quite a while.

Ton-That began to pull away at the halfway point, and by the second mile, she had a 30-second lead in 12:02.

Entering the final mile, the Champions of Lane appeared to have the team race sewed up. The same could be said the same for Ton-That. 

Ton-That came home in victory formation for the second year in a row; this time, it was in 18:27. Carter and McNally hit the tape in 18:58 and 18:59, respectively. The scoring split was 28 seconds and could bode well for the sectional round in two weekends.

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The boys race featured two-time defending champion 3A #19 Lane Tech and 2A top-ranked Payton. The Grizzlies have never won a city varsity team title.

To no one's surprise, Payton's entire top seven was upfront and pushing the pace with Jiberil Lesman (Sr., Lake View) in the midst. 

Lane Tech's pack was there as well.

The first mile was a few ticks under 5:00 with Lesman, Tra'Monti Williams (Jr.), Steven Jiang (So.), Vaughn Collier (Sr), Declan Slavin (Jr), Gabe Cooper (Sr), and Preston Ellis (Sr) for Payton. Lane had Samuel Assefa (So), Tristan Wong (Jr), and Quinn Anderson (So).

The second mile showed its face card. 

Lesman was the first to reach the checkpoint in 10:07. Williams and Jiang were two seconds back.

Lane did not have the same numbers but had Wong, Anderson, and Assefa around 10:15. 

In cross country, numbers matter, and Payton had them enter the final stretch. 

Williams became the first Grizzlies boy to win a title; he strode past Lesman by a second in 15:19. Jiang took third in 15:24. Assefa and Wong were fourth and fifth in 15:36 and 15:40. Anderson rounded out the top ten with a seventh-place finish in 15:44.

Payton was just too deep for Lane. The Grizzlies' 36-second scoring split proved pivotal as well, as the Grizzlies scored 29 points to Lane's 45.