High school cross country: PR’s Rachel Soukup, Huntley’s Tommy Nitz take FVC titles

CRYSTAL LAKE – Prairie Ridge’s Rachel Soukup and Huntley’s Tommy Nitz were headed toward this moment for a good part of the season.

Both runners added to their impressive season résumés on Saturday by winning individual titles at the Fox Valley Conference Cross Country Meet at Veteran Acres Park.

Soukup made a move in the middle of the girls race and beat Crystal Lake Central’s defending champion Hadley Ferrero. Soukup finished in 18:21.33, Ferrero ran 18:35.51. Huntley’s Breanna Burak was third and McHenry’s trio of Danielle Jensen, Alyssa Moore and Lynda Rotundo finished 4-6.

Nitz took a lead in the last 600 meters to beat Crystal Lake Central’s Karson Hollander. Nitz ran in 16:36.07, Hollander had a 16:42.10. Jacobs’ Andrew Beyer was fourth, McHenry’s Doug Martin was fifth and Jacobs’ Alec Melendez and Aidan DeMuth were sixth and seventh.

Jacobs won the boys team title for the first time in school history, although because of a scoring malfunction, final team scores were not available by Saturday evening. However, videos were reviewed and coaches met to confirm the results. The Golden Eagles had won an FVC Valley Division championship before, but never the outright FVC Meet title.

Huntley won the girls team title with in a narrow victory over Crystal Lake South.

Soukup missed last year’s FVC Meet while resting with hip soreness. It paid off when she took seventh in the Class 2A State Meet.

“It’s promising for the rest of the season,” Soukup said. “It’s one race, but it gives me confidence. I’m excited and really ready to race. It’s very different from last season when I missed conference and regional. I’m ready to race all the races.”

Soukup gained a gap on Ferrero in the second mile and maintained that lead the rest of the way.

“I was a little disappointed because I was so tired at the end and did not feel like I was running my best race,” Ferrero said. “She started pulling away and I got really tired and lost my momentum.”

Nitz, Hollander and Gelon, as expected, joined each other in front of the boys race for the first 2 1/2 miles. Nitz made his move after John Hill, the last steep inclined on the course with about one-half mile remaining.

“My plan was soon as I got to the top of that hill was take it, don’t look back and just finish it,” said Nitz, a sophomore. “I’ve battled Karson and Will all year. They’re great runners. They work hard and deserve it too.

“[Being FVC champion], oh, my God, it’s insane. Words can’t explain it right now. This is a huge boost of confidence for me. I’m going to go out and try to win the next races, try to win regionals and sectionals. That’s my goal.”

Hollander could only admire Nitz’s effort.

“We had a good group with me, Tommy and Will pushing each other,” Hollander said. “Tommy made a move and I stayed with him for a while, then he pulled away. Props to him. Tommy was holding on and knew when to make his move. Probably like last 600. That last 400 he just went. It’s definitely something to work on. He just stayed strong.”

Huntley girls won the FVC Meet in 2019, so Burak and her twin Brittney, and Molly Allen, won as freshmen and now have won again. All three were All-FVC runners (top 21) all four seasons.

“We had talked about coming in to today that we really wanted to take that first step into the postseason and it starts with the conference meet and running the best we could here,” Raiders coach Matt Kaplan said. “Unfortunately we didn’t have Ava Allison, who’s been one of our top seven and is out sick, the girls had to rise up and they got it done. That’s all that matters and we’ll move on.”

Jacobs coach Kevin Christian was thrilled that the Golden Eagles won after falling three points short against Hampshire last season. Christian thought the Eagles’ fourth runner, Matt Andreano, might have made the difference as he passed a Huntley runner and two Prairie Ridge runners near the finish line.

“Winning the entire invite [at Jacobs] for the conference has never been done,” Christian said. “It’s a group that deserves it too. Hard-working fun kids.

“When you get four in the top 12, you’re looking good. A deserving group, a bunch of goofballs, but a deserving group. They’re focused.”

Beyer, who was fourth, was Jacobs’ sixth- or seventh-best returning runner and wanted to be near the top of its group this season.

“We didn’t believe him at the time,” Christian said. “He comes out and does that. He goes from running the fresh-soph race last year to getting fourth in the varsity race.”