Cross country sectional roundup: CL South girls place 2nd; Ellery Shutt runner-up for Woodstock boys

MAPLE PARK – It hasn’t even been three months since Caroline Lucas attended freshmen orientation at Crystal Lake South.

Now she’s got plans to be at Peoria’s Detweiller Park on Saturday to run with her teammates in the Class 2A Girls Cross Country State Meet.

Senior Liv Pinta (18:34.36) and Lucas (18:34.88) stayed in stride during Saturday’s Class 2A Kaneland Sectional as the duo finished in 13th and 14th place, respectively, to lead the Gators to second (127 points) and qualify for the state meet. Boylan (93) was crowned sectional champion.

“I had no idea of what to expect,” Lucas said. “It’s just been a really good experience. It’s new. I’m excited.”

It was far from new for Pinta, who ran the Maple Park course two years ago as a sophomore.

“I think we both did well,” Pinta said. “I think that our team is going to come back stronger next week, so we’re excited for next week. We’re glad that we qualified.”

Tori Pinta (19:12.34), Laynie Ripley (19:02.52) and Cecelia Piemontese (19:48.33) all finished sub-20 minutes to send the Gators to Peoria.

Finishing right behind them were their neighbors from Crystal Lake Central, which took third (129).

Hadley Ferrero (18:23.35) led the Tigers, taking ninth. Brynn Matthaei (19:07.15), Skyler Ferrero (19:10.90), Jacqueline Orris (19:17.59) and junior Gwen Kidd (19:23.12) also helped the team earn a state berth.

Burlington Central senior Abigail Burke finished fifth (18:05.14) to qualify. The Rockets just missed qualifying as a team, taking eighth (224).

Prairie Ridge’s Anneke Dam (19:08.80) finished 30th but missed qualifying. Woodstock’s Lily Novelle (19:24.40) was 38th.

Class 3A Lake Park Sectional: At Roselle, Huntley’s Isabella Ciesla (17:45.3) placed 11th to lead the Red Raiders to the state meet. Huntley finished fourth with 156 points. York (58) won the sectional.

Also scoring for Huntley were Haley Rahman (18:24.3), Cori Kilvinger (18:31.7), Mackenzie Billard (18:37) and Morgan Sauber (18:37.3).

Hampshire’s Reese Long (18:08.8) placed 21st and qualified as an individual.

Class 1A Lisle Sectional: At Lisle Community Park, Richmond-Burton’s Alexia Spatz (19:08.5) placed sixth and Johnsburg’s Clara Nicoline (20:35.5) was 20th to advance to the state meet. Westmont’s Kyla Babb (17:37.9) was first overall.

Richmond-Burton’s Emerson Wold (21:26.9) and Savannah Wells (21:27.4) placed 30th and 31st, respectively, but did not advance.

Class 3A Hoffman Estates Sectional: At Hoffman Estates, no local qualifiers advanced to the state meet. Jacobs’ Hudson Szymonik had the top local finish, taking 33rd in 18:26.76.

Boys cross country

Class 2A Kaneland Sectional: At Maple Park, Crystal Lake Central (154) took third and Woodstock (184) was sixth to qualify for state. Kaneland won the sectional with 78 points.

Kaneland senior Evan Nosek (14:52.67) outran Woodstock junior Ellery Shutt (14:56.98) to place first. Jackie Clark (15:18.71) was sixth overall to lead Crystal Lake Central.

Woodstock lost some talented and dedicated runners from the Class of 2024 but didn’t allow such adversity to keep them from returning to state.

“We lost five of our guys from the top seven, so we had to come back with a reloaded team,” Shutt said. “It’s really exciting. We didn’t have any expectations coming into the season.

He looks forward to racing Nosek again.

“I feel good about the race today,” Shutt said. “Obviously him beating me in the last 800 kind of lights a fire under me. I’m happy with how I raced and happy with the moves I made to move away from the rest of the pack. Nosek ran an amazing race to get it done.”

Jason Trojan (16:17.84) and Josh Roth (16:25.57) had personal bests for the Blue Streaks. Elijah Hedges (16:33.90) and Will Kashmier (17:38.03) rounded out Woodstock’s scoring.

“[Trojan] and [Roth] really stepped up to get us to the state meet,” Shutt said. “I’m really excited for them.”

Rounding out the scoring for Crystal Lake Central were Jackson Hopkins (15:42.58), Amana Omale (15:56.10), Reed Mihelich (16:22.39) and Mason Alvarez (16:52.35).

Prairie Ridge’s Thomas Henry (16:04.01) took 33rd but did not qualify.

Class 1A Lisle Sectional: At Lisle Community Park, Johnsburg freshman Grady Smith finished runner-up, barely missing out on first place. Smith ran a 16:06.6 and was beaten by Montini’s Nolan Ferris, who won the race in 16:06.3.

Richmond-Burton’s Tristen Miller (15th, 17:04.3) and Gavin McInnis (25th, 17:10.9) qualified for state, while Johnsburg’s Michah Klos (17:42.5) took 37th and also advanced.

Marian Central’s Oliver Ebel (18:04.1) was 42nd and just missed qualifying.

Class 3A Lake Park Sectional: At Roselle, Huntley’s Tommy Nitz finished fourth with a time of 14:46.5 to qualify for the state meet. DeKalb’s Jacob Barraza (14:35.6) was first.

Hampshire’s Jack Sheets (15:34.4) placed 33rd but did not advance.

Class 3A Hoffman Estates Sectional: At Hoffman Estates, Cary-Grove’s Jameson Tenopir (14:41.86) placed fourth, and Jacobs’ Max Sudrzynski (14:51.04) was seventh as both Fox Valley Conference runners qualified for the state meet.

New Trier’s Ben Crane won in 14:14.01.

• Northwest Herald sports editor Alex Kantecki contributed to this report.