March 28, 2024
Girls Cross Country

Cross country: Crystal Lake South's Gonzalez takes 8th at ShaZam Championships

Marian Central's Walsdorf finishes 9th in Division II race

Crystal Lake South’s Bella Gonzalez took eighth and Marian Central’s Peter Walsdorf finished ninth in the Division II races Saturday at the ShaZam Championships at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe.

The races were billed as the unofficial state meet since the IHSA canceled its state meet because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gonzalez was third in the girls race at the Class 2A Lakes Sectional, which South won as a team last week. Walsdorf won the boys race to keep his record unblemished. Gonzalez took 10th in the Class 2A State Meet a year ago; Walsdorf finished 11th in that boys race.

The girls and boys Division III races (for Class 3A schools) will run on Sunday.

Prairie Ridge’s girls team finished fifth, led by Rachel Soukup in 10th place. Rylee Lydon was 24th for Prairie Ridge, which ran as PR Running Club, Colette Janik was 37th and Bridget Jewell was 43rd.

Crystal Lake Central’s Annie Ferrero finished 34th.

Crystal Lake Central’s Karson Hollander led his team, running as the Tigers, with a 12th-place finish. Central’s Danny Hamill was 29th.

Central’s top runner, Tommy Landt, did not compete after suffering a stress fracture in his right ankle. Landt developed a stress reaction before last week’s Lakes Sectional race and ran there, but the injury got worse. Central won that team title.

Burlington Central’s Robert Perry, running as Handsome Little Men Racing, took 20th. Yusuf Baig was 26th and Zac Schmidt was 31st.

Hampshire’s Isai Morales took 41st and Damian Weigel was 45th. Prairie Ridge’s Will Gelon was 48th.

Joe Stevenson

Joe Stevenson

I have worked at the Northwest Herald since January of 1989, covering everything from high school to professional sports. I mainly cover high school sports now.