St. Charles East's Hynes shines; Hawks advance

Dundee-Crown sophomore Anthony Manfrin placed ninth at Saturday's St. Charles East Class 3A Sectional at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve. The Chargers standout qualified for the State Finals.
SHAUNA BITTLE | Staff Photographer

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ST. CHARLES -- Much was made of the incredible depth of talent at the St. Charles East Class 3A Cross Country Sectional, and the competition did not disappoint, particularly on the girls' side.

The top six girls finishers each broke the LeRoy Oakes course record, which was set at last week's St. Charles North Regional.

The host Saints took second with 107 team points and were once again paced by Lizzy Hynes, who finished third overall in 17:54.60. Geneva won the sectional with 62 points.

The second-place finish was a solid achievement, but the Saints think they are capable of even more going forward to Saturday's State Finals at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

"To be in second with not everybody having the race of their life is a great feeling, because we know we can do that much better," East coach Denise Hefferin said. "I really think we've been somewhat underrated all year, but people are now going to take notice and recognize the girls' work and how tough they are after today, which is exciting for the girls."

The remaining qualifiers for East were Mallory Abel (11th, 18:24.12), Dayna White (26th, 18:47.47), Grace Gordon (30th, 18:57.99) and Holly Robertson (37th, 19:06.97).

Bartlett took third with 132 team points, led by second-place finisher Alyssa Schneider, who finished in 17:41.30.

"I felt good today and the course was a lot better today than last week when it was really muddy," Schneider said. "I knew I wanted to stay up there near the front and I wasn't going to let down and I was able to do that."

This marks the first time in school history that Bartlett has advanced Downstate and third-year coach Beth Emody has seen the program evolve through her tenure.

"We are completely blown away," Emody said. "This started back in June and it's just something that you work at for months and months and months and it's such a relief that we were able to make it through."

Kristen Schneider (8th, 18:11.96), Sam Salinas (14th, 18:28.46), Taylor Crawford (52nd, 19:29.43) and Janessa Baker (56th, 19:34.53) rounded out Barlett's qualifiers.

Dundee-Crown finished ninth in the team standings and failed to advance to Peoria, but did send senior Kelsey Seiler (9th, 18:18.75) to her second consecutive State Finals appearance as an individual.

"I'm very proud of her," D-C coach Tom Smith said. "She ran the best race I've ever seen her run and she had come on so strong as the year has come to a close, It's great to see."

Huntley finished 13th with 324 points, just ahead of 14th-place St. Charles North (384). Streamwood ended with 426 points, good enough for a 16th-place finish.

Area teams did not fare as well on the boys' side, as only St. Charles North was able to crack the top five and advance to the State Finals. The North Stars finished fourth with 140 points. The sectional champion was Naperville North with 43 points.

Max Clink (13th, 15:30.61) led the way for SC North and was followed by teammates Kyle Zankowski (25th, 15:49.18), Steven Miller (27th, 15:52.50), Todd VanKerkhoff (30th, 15:55.55) and Will Novorolsky (45th, 16:09.77).

"This group, going back to the summer, they've had the vision to go Downstate," North coach Steve Imig said. "We're still feeling like the goal hasn't been met. These guys want to have a strong run there and it's been a total team effort."

The Dundee-Crown boys' results were not unlike those of their female counterparts. The Chargers finished ninth with 272 points and sophomore Anthony Manfrin advanced as an individual, finishing ninth overall in 15:25.10. The Chargers failed to advance past the sectional after a strong and surprising run Downstate last season. Despite his noteworthy solo achievement, Manfrin expressed disappointment over the team's performance this year.

"This season we definitely wanted to go in and make a good showing at state," Manfrin said. "But it's kind of disappointing because it's been a rough few weeks that we haven't been living up to our potential."

Other area finishers at the sectional were Bartlett (17th, 457), St. Charles East (18th, 494) and Elgin (19th, 536). The Maroons' Ricardo Mancha, who won a regional title last week, finished 38th in 15:59.95 and did not advance.

Larkin's Francisco Gonzalez (132nd in 17:24.03), Dan Runzel (151st in 18:04.27) and Peter Lennard (157th in 18:31.73) all competed, but did not advance.