Cross country: PR’s Rachel Soukup, CL South girls earn wins at Class 2A Kaneland Sectional

MAPLE PARK – Prairie Ridge senior Rachel Soukup looked strong and almost fresh as she crossed the finish line 33 seconds ahead of everyone else at the Class 2A Kaneland Cross Country Sectional on Saturday morning.

Soukup continued on her season-long tear with her first sectional title.

“I was just trying to stay strong throughout the whole thing,” said Soukup, who led the Wolves to fourth place and a team berth at next Saturday’s state meet. “Go out strong and keep it. Back by the track each time I passed that spot I tried to put in more of a kick.

“I think I could have gone faster in the last mile. It’s going to fuel me for next week.”

It was a banner day for Fox Valley Conference runners at that meet as Crystal Lake South’s girls won their third consecutive sectional championship, edging Crystal Lake Central by the sixth-place runner tiebreaker after the two tied with 93 points. Prairie Ridge (123) and Cary-Grove (128) finished fourth and fifth to also qualify.

The top seven teams, along with the top 10 runners not on those teams, advance to the state meet at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.

South finished second in the Class 2A girls team standings at state last season. Central and Prairie Ridge also finished in the top 10 a year ago.

Prairie Ridge’s boys took third at 139, with Crystal Lake Central (170) and Woodstock (173) taking fifth and sixth. Central and Woodstock are making repeat trips to state.

Soukup ran in 17:11.57, with Central’s Hadley Ferrero (17:44.91) in second, Nazareth’s Colette Kinsella (17:50.62) in third and South’s Bella Gonzalez (18:12.48) in fourth.

“It’s exciting, and a little nerve-racking,” South coach Ken Greenfield said. “The four district schools are so tough. Our pack running was key. Everybody front to back fought for it.

“I wouldn’t say everybody had their best races across the board, but they really competed hard. Anna (McDermott) didn’t have her best race, but she was good enough to get that sixth-runner tiebreaker. I was really pleased with her effort.”

Abby Machesky was 19th for the Gators, Olivia Pinta was 22nd, Gianna Pinta was 23rd and Victoria Pinta was 29th. McDermott was 39th, while Central’s sixth runner was 71st.

“We’ve been training pretty hard and working because we want to have a shot at getting top in state again,” Gonzalez said. “We put a lot of trust in each other. Before every race we have a team huddle, today we were talking about doing it for each other.”

Ferrero took second, but walked gingerly around after the race with a sore left calf muscle. She felt the injury before the race, but still ran well.

“During the race, I couldn’t feel it, but after the race it came back,” Ferrero said. “It hurt really bad. I definitely could have pushed myself faster. I just wasn’t in the right mindset (because of the injury).”

C-G was led by Ada Saletnik and Jocelyn Onstot in sixth and seventh place. Central’s Brynn Matthei was 14th and Annie Ferrero was 17th, and Prairie Ridge’s Brenna Benjamin was 11th and Olivia McPherson was 13th.

Burlington Central’s Abby Burke took 20th and grabbed one of the individual-qualifying spots.

Prairie Ridge’s Will Gelon took fourth, Crystal Lake Central’s Karson Hollander was fifth, Burlington Central’s Ryan Kries was sixth, Woodstock’s Ishan Patel was 10th and C-G’s Jameson Tenopir was 11th in the boys race.

“Will had his best race of the season,” Wolves coach Judd Shutt said. “He’s been waiting to finish a race really strong in the last 800. He was looking for that final kick that makes a guy smile. He came through with that one today.”

Gelon edged out Hollander just before the finish line, beating him by less than 1 second.

“Maybe a mile or three-quarters in, I started to fall off the pack,” Gelon said. “I told myself to stay with them and kick that last mile really hard. I had a thought going through my mind, ‘The person who says you can or you can’t are both right.’ I told myself I could to his, keep pushing and I got fourth. I’m very happy.”

Crystal Lake Central’s regular No. 5 runner Brady Sterzik missed the regional and is still working his way back from a sickness, but the Tigers were able to make it through.

“It was huge. We put ourselves in a position and did our jobs,” Hollander said. “Elliot White has been around sixth or seventh and he stepped up, that was huge for us. Our fifth is going to be better next week. Today was fun. This is the hardest sectional in the state, by far. We were excited.”

Woodstock’s Patel, along with his twin Aryan, led the Blue Streaks back to state.

“We ran a really good race today,” Ishan Patel said. “We had six of our guys under 17:00, me and my brother under 16. We worked well through the course.

“Overall I did pretty well. The first 2 1/2 miles I ran strong, I had a little setback over the last 800 meters. I’ve made a lot of improvement over the season and I’m proud of my race and want to see what I can do at state.”

Tenopir, a freshman, has constantly improved throughout the season and took the third individual qualifying spot.

“I’m pretty excited about that,” Tenopir said. “The first mile was pretty fast. But I think I held the pace pretty well. I thought about I needed to make it to state, stay with this pack right here. I beat quite a few guys who had better times than me going into this.”