DeKalb’s Jacob Barraza races to win in record time, York sweeps team titles at Lake Park Sectional

ROSELLE – Leading the pack, DeKalb’s Jacob Barraza and Wheaton Warrenville South’s Josiah Narayanan ran neck and neck for the first 2½ miles of Saturday’s Class 3A sectional at Lake Park’s East Campus.

Barraza made his move as the two seniors ran through a stand of trees just before the course turned into Krupke Stadium for the last 440 yards. The DeKalb runner emerged from the trees in the lead and maintained his advantage to win the 3-mile race with a personal-record time of 14:35.6.

“Going into the woods I saw that he was backing off a little bit, so I decided that I was going to throw in a move of my own, and it worked out for me,” Barraza said.

“I was hoping to counter his move, but it didn’t work out,” Narayanan said.

York took top team honors. Patrick McGrail was the top runner for the Dukes, finishing 15th.

“The key all year long has been running together. Four guys – Patrick McGrail, Carter Olssen, Zach Saltiel and Emmett Bradford – were together for a majority of the race,” York coach Charlie Kern said.

Batavia took second place. Senior Francesco Benelli led the Bulldogs with a sixth-place finish.

“We had some young guys really step up. Our sophomores are doing a fantastic job,” Batavia coach Bronco Meeks said “Matt Geary, in his second varsity race, stepped up as our fifth man. Eddie and Will Polaski were our second and third runners.”

Paced by Narayanan’s second-place finish, Wheaton Warrenville South came in third.

Lane (fourth), Oak Park River Forest (fifth), Glenbard West (sixth) and Wheaton North (seventh) rounded out the top seven teams that will make the trip next Saturday to Peoria’s Detweiller Park for the state meet.

Barraza, as one of the top 10 individual qualifiers, also will run in the state meet.

The girls’ finish was much less dramatic. York freshman Karlin Janowski led at the 1-mile mark and pulled away from the pack the rest of the way to win the race with a time of 17.02.4.

“I didn’t base my strategy on other runners,” Janowski said. “I ran my own race.”

Batavia sophomore Avery Hacker took second.

“At the start, I wanted to keep in contact with other girls and get a good place in the first mile,” Hacker said. “After that, I wanted to see where I could go in the race.”

Defending Class 3A champion York won.

“Maggie Quinn really stepped up. She had an amazing race,” Dukes coach Lauren Deangelis said. “Also, Scarlett Moriarty, Julie Weseloh and Lila Stanley really pushed up the pack. Looking at our top seven being in front of other people’s five helps with the score.”

Placing three runners in the top 10, Batavia fished second. Junior Madeline Cassidy finished fourth and sophomore teammate Gwendolyn Krodel took seventh.

Paced by senior Nicole Poglitsch’s fifth-place finish, Wheaton Warrenville South took third in team honors.

“Our kids are used to being in big moments like this. We handle pressure well, this is not the biggest meet we run in,” Wheaton Warrenville coach Rob Harvey said.” Plus, we have great senior leadership. Nicole has led us for four years. Also, freshman Addie Lindsay, our second girl today, had a 40 second PR. She really stepped up today.”

In addition to York, Batavia and Wheaton Warrenville South, Huntley (fourth), Wheaton North (fifth), Maine South (sixth) and Glenbard West (seventh) will make the trip to Peoria next Saturday.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241102/boys-cross-country/cross-country-york-sweeps-titles-at-lake-park-sectional/