Sports
York Boys Cross Country Team Secures 10th Consecutive WSC Championship
Girls share the title with Glenbard West.
York Boys Cross Country
York boys cross country team secured a 10th consecutive overall West Suburban Conference Silver Division championship Oct. 15 by winning the Silver Meet at Lyons Township’s south campus in Western Springs.
Junior Scott Milling (14:54.3 for 3.0 miles) finished a strong second to Oak Park-River Forest senior Malachy Schrobilgen (14:37.6), 15.5 seconds ahead of third-place Glenbard West senior Mike Lederhouse (15:09.8).
York junior John Libert (15:20.7), senior Carlos Vega (15:23.1) and junior Chris May (15:23.4), who were seventh through ninth, and junior Evan Fabry (16th, 15:40.2) also earned individual all-conference honors with top-16 finishes. Juniors Mike Kirby (15:44.0) and Alex Mimlitz (15:51.5) were 18th and 22nd.
York entered the race ranked No. 2 in Class 3A by DyeStat Illinois behind Palatine.
York coach Joe Newton thought the Dukes (42 points) could have performed better. They still easily finished ahead of second-place and No. 9-ranked Hinsdale Central (70) to secure an outright title, a 50-50 combination of dual and Silver Meet standings, after going 6-0 in the duals.
It’s the 45th conference title over the 52 seasons since Newton became head coach.
“We won and I’ll take the win, but it was not a very good performance,” Newton said.
The defending Class 3A state champions begin their postseason quest at the Fenwick Regional 11:15 p.m. at Schiller Woods. Under the new state format, the Dukes only need a top-seven finish in the 10-team field to advance as a team to the Niles West Sectional Oct. 29.
York swept overall Silver titles on the other three levels as well Saturday. The sophomores and freshmen won outright titles after going 6-0 in duals, and the junior varsity won Saturday’s race that was the sole determination of that level’s champion.
The JV dominated, scoring just 15 points by putting seven finishers among the top eight.
Senior Billy Clink (15:38.0), coming back from injury, took first place with senior Eric Glaubke (15:46.9), juniors Alex Baughman (16:01.8), Bret O’Brien (16:08.2) and Patrick Crowley (16:10.7) taking fourth through fifth. Juniors Zach Herrera (16:15.4) and Alexei Krumrey (16:16.4) were seventh and eighth, juniors Graham Johnson (16:33.8) and Peter Rantis (16:40.7) were 13th and 15th and junior Michael Shannon (16:42.4) was 17th, 1.3 seconds from 16th.
The sophomores prevailed 43-56 over Hinsdale Central as Kyle Mattes (15:37.8) won by 30.3 seconds. Jake Lichty (8th, 16:33.8), Connor York (9th, 16:35.6), Matthew Stevenson (12th, 16:47.7), Alec Bruns (13th, 16:47.9) and William Schlemmel (15th, 16:49.6) also were all-conference. The Dukes were without injured Nathan Mroz, their usual top runner.
The freshmen won 27-37 over Downers Grove North as Matt Plowman (10:37.6) and Nathan Dale (10:41.2) went 1-2 in the 2.0-mile race. Matthew Hogan (5th, 10:53.7), Samuel Rivera (8th, 10:55.9), Connor Lockie (11th, 10:59.5) also were all-conference and Miles Schacht (11:23.0) was 17th.
York Girls Cross Country
The York girls cross country team came as close as possible to securing a third straight outright overall West Suburban Conference Silver Division championship at Saturday’s Silver Meet at Lyons Township’s south campus.
Instead, the Dukes ended up sharing the title with Glenbard West after the Hilltoppers edged the Dukes for the Silver Meet title on a sixth-runner tiebreaker after both teams scored 51 points.
York junior Emma Fisher dominated the 3.0-mile race in 17:07.0, breaking the course record by four seconds and finishing ahead of the 2010 Silver champion, Hinsdale Central junior Jill Hardies (17:22.9) in just her second race back from shin splints.
York senior Kayla Spencer was an impressive third (17:31.0), and senior Shari Lund (14th, 18:19.6) and sophomore Allison Smith (15th, 18:23.6) also earned individual all-conference honors with a top-16 finish, senior Michelle Frigo was 18th (18:39.3) and freshman Dayle Mueller was 21st (18:49.0). York senior Caroline Hogan (20:22.2), who struggled with breathing issues, was 38th.
“There’s probably nobody more deserving (than Fisher to win),” York coach Annette Schulte said. “She’s one of the most modest, hard-working (runners), honest, pushes herself, independent, a wonderful girl to coach. All of those top-seven girls are right at that caliber.”
Glenbard West’s top-five finishers were 4-6-11-13-17 with senior Maddie Nagle pulling out 11th by 0.2 of a second. The Hilltoppers’ No. 6 finisher, junior Emma Reifel, was 19th (18:42.0).
The overall Silver title is a 50-50 combination of dual and Silver Meet standings. York won the dual portion with a 6-0 record, including a 26-29 victory over Glenbard West Oct. 6 at Proviso West. Still, York entered the race ranked No. 12 in Class 3A by DyeStat Illinois and Glenbard West was No. 6.
York’s three-peat is its longest conference championship streak since six in a row from 1998-2003, the final two shared with Hinsdale Central. This was Glenbard West’s first overall Silver title since 1990.
“When you’re really competitive and I believe all of (our) girls are, just like the girls from Glenbard West are, it’s tough to be co-(champions),” Schulte said.
“They’re celebrating (for winning Saturday), we’re not, so we’re hungry. We’d like to run our best race three weeks from today (at the state meet Nov. 5) and I think this is a great stepping stone.”
York begins its quest to return to the Class 3A state meet as a team at the Fenwick Regional at 10 a.m. Saturday (Oct. 22) at Schiller Woods. Under the new state format, the Dukes only need a top-seven finish in the 10-team field to advance to the Niles West Sectional Oct. 29.
In other Silver Meet action, the sophomores secured an outright overall title, the junior varsity maintained second place overall and the freshmen finished third with only Saturday’s race determining that level’s standings.
The sophomores edged LT 40-42 after also going 6-0 in duals. York’s Kathryn Hagstrom (19:03.5) and Alyssa Adam (19:05.5) finished 1-2, and Hannah Wahlgren (7th, 19:47.2) and Caitlin Blum (10th, 20:13.7) also were all-conference.
The JV (41 points) finished second to LT (25) after only losing to the Lions in duals. York senior Lizzy Field (19:17.3) and junior Katherine Schlemmel (19:19.1) took first and second, senior Kailee Sweeney (9th, 19:52.6) and junior Annalise Andriacchi (12th, 20:02.2) also were all-conference and senior Lauren O’Malley (20:13.6) was 17th, 6.3 seconds from 16th.
The freshmen (58 points) were third, one point behind second-place Downers Grove North. Natalia Cismesia (6th, 13:18.8), Bernadette Belchner (8th, 13:24.4) and Maxine Adams (13th, 13:47.4) earned all-conference honors in the 2.0-mile race.
