High school cross country: Marian Central's Walsdorf, Crystal Lake South's Gonzalez win regional titles

BELVIDERE – The highly anticipated matchup between Marian Central’s Peter Walsdorf and Crystal Lake Central’s Tommy Landt was put on hold for another week.

A stress reaction and sprain in Landt’s right ankle prevented the Fox Valley Conference champion from competing against Walsdorf, the East Suburban Catholic Conference champ, at the Class 2A Belvidere Cross Country Regional on Saturday.

Walsdorf ran away from the rest of the pack to win in 15:13.73 to remain unbeaten for the season. The race for second was tight between Crystal Lake Central sophomore Karson Hollander (15:44.91), Marengo’s Luke Chaffin (15:45.52) and Woodstock’s Aidan Schleutermann (15:45.56).

“Peter really took off,” Hollander said. “The first stretch he stayed with us and he turned the corner and was just gone. Something in me wanted to go after him, but it was probably better to stick back.”

Walsdorf has not had a real close race this season after finishing 10th in the Class 2A State Meet last year as a junior.

“It would have been fun to race with (Landt),” Walsdorf said. “Hopefully he’ll be there next week (at the Lakes Sectional. I heard about him not running in the line for the bathroom, but I wasn’t sure. He ended up not being there, which kind of stinks.”

Landt injured his right ankle in training last week and it was diagnosed as a stress reaction and sprain. Central still won the regional title with 39 points, while Woodstock, the Kishwaukee River Conference champion, was second with 69. Belvidere North (88), Marengo (120) and Freeport (132).

The top five teams and top five individuals not on those teams advance to the Lakes Sectional. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no state meet this season, so the sectional finishes the high school season.

Regionals and sectionals are being split into flights. At Belvidere, the Nos. 1-4 runners ran in the first flight, with Nos. 5-7 in the second. Sectionals, with more teams, will split into three flights.

Crystal Lake South’s Bella Gonzalez, Abby Machesky and Addie Frisch finished 1-2-3 and the Gators put six runners in the top 12 to win the team title with 21 points. Crystal Lake Central (52) was second and Woodstock (137) was fourth. The team title was the first in South's history.

IMarian’s Caroline Binotti (17th) qualified as an individual in the girls race.

“I went out fast in the first mile really looking for a (personal record) today,” Walsdorf said. “I was hoping someone else would be there to run out at the mile with me. It didn’t end up that way, so I just tried to keep it up and keep that lead going.”

Chaffin, the two-time KRC champion, enjoyed seeing different competition and the group he ran with.

“Me and Peter are close friends and I’ve gotten close to Aidan too,” Chaffin said. “It was a fun race to run with some friends. It made it not as serious. It felt really good.”

Central’s Danny Hamill (fifth), Austin May (sixth), Anthony Camacho (10th) and Reilly Wheeland (16th) rounded out the scoring.

Woodstock had Jack Hansen (11th), Dylan Hanson (12th), Alex Wickersheim (18th) and Logan Hagmann (24th) for its second-place finish.

Marengo’s Zach Secor was seventh behind Chaffin, followed by Aaron Moehrlin (32nd), Patrick Signore (37th) and Tommy Lulinski (41st).

Gonzalez was out on her own in the girls race as well, winning in 18:17.74. Machesky was second in 18:45.84. The Gators’ only loss this season was when they took fourth in the FVC Meet on Oct. 10, with 14 points separating the top four teams.

“We have just run against one or two teams (in most meets), it was nice seeing new people and getting out there and racing,” Gonzalez said. “We’re doing pretty well. We went 1-2-3 and were all right there. That’s good going into the sectional.”

Annie Ferrero led Crystal Lake Central’s girls in fourth place. The Tigers’ Kylie Smith was eighth, followed by Gwenyth Brickey (11th), Hope Ferrero (13th) and Emma Macke (16th).

Woodstock’s Theresa Presisto and Maggie Adams were 14th and 15th. Abygale Smith was 34th, Ireland Dunnett was 36th and Grace Topf was 41st.

Class 2A Belvidere Cross Country Regional

Boys Results

Team scores (top five advance to Lakes Sectional): 1. Crystal Lake Central 39, 2. Woodstock 69, 3. Belvidere North 88, 4. Marengo 120, 5. Freeport 132, 6. Crystal Lake South 136, 7. Boylan 140, 8. Marian Central 197, 9. Belvidere 279, 10. Rochelle 284.

Top 20 individuals: 1. Peter Walsdorf (MC) 15:13.73, 2. Karson Hollander (CLC) 15:44.91, 3. Luke Chaffin (Mgo) 15:45.52, 4. Aidan Schleutermann (Wdk) 15:45.56, 5. Danny Hamill (CLC) 16:19.05, 6. Austin May (CLC) 16:20.46, 7. Zach Secor (Mgo) 16:23.27, 8. Alex Valerio (Boy) 16:28.30, 9. Nick Lenzen (BN) 16;33.62, 10. Anthony Camacho (CLC) 16:37,38, 11. Jack Hansen (Wdk) 16:40.21, 12. Dylan Hanson (Wdk) 16:44.17, 13. Garrett Czajkowski (CLS) 16:46.86, 14. Alex Picchi (CLS) 16:48.82, 15. Caden Lendman (BN) 16:50.28, 16. Reilly Wheeland (CLC) 16:55.84, 17. Aiden Coen (Boy) 16:56.05, 18. Alex Wickersheim (Wdk) 16:56.31, 19. Orlando Hernandez (BN) 16:56.96, 20. Tyler Brooks (Free) 16:57.54.

Girls Results

Team scores (top five advance to Lakes Sectional): 1. Crystal Lake South 21, 2. Crystal Lake Central 52, 3. Boylan 83, 4. Woodstock 137, 5. Belvidere 141, 6. Belvidere North 143, 7. Freeport 207, 8. Rochelle 218, 9. Marengo 238.

Top 20 individuals: 1. Bella Gonzalez (CLS) 18:17.74, 2. Abby Machesky (CLS) 18:45.84, 3. Addie Frisch (CLS) 19:22.39, 4. Annie Ferrero (CLC) 19:31.80, 5. Rachel Hilby (Boy) 19:38.37, 6. Emma Murphy (CLS) 19:42.13, 7. Nina Fiore (Bel) 19:43.98, 8. Kylie Smith (CLC) 19:49.51, 9. Chelsea Greene (CLS) 19:51.90, 10. Gianna Pinta (CLS) 20:01.99, 11. Gwenyth Brickey (CLC) 20:03.43, 12. Bianca Garay (CLS) 20:12.75, 13. Hope Ferrero (CLC) 20:28.74, 14. Theresa Presisto (Wdk) 20:35.13, 15. Maggie Adams (Wdk) 20:39.57, 16. Emma Macke (CLC) 20:40.64, 17. Caroline Binotti (Marian Central) 20:49.16, 18. Giselle Lemke (CLC) 20:49.35, 19. Ella Maier (Boy) 20:55.43, 20. Isabella Anderson (Boy) 20:57.00.