Lemont, Lockport advance to sectionals

For your Saturday morning entertainment, how about a nice traipse through the mud?

The runners at the Class 3A Bolingbrook High School boys and girls regional cross country meets, held Oct. 24 at DuPage River Park in Naperville, enjoyed the experience, especially those who advanced to Oct. 31's sectional at Dellwood Park.

"I almost wiped out at the end, but I like running in the mud," said Lockport sophomore Megan O'Brien, who won the three-mile girls race in 18 minutes, 16 seconds, leading the Porters to the team title.

Not only did the Porters win the girls race, but the boys finished second to Neuqua Valley, the No. 2-ranked team in the state.

On the girls side, Lockport won with 22 points. Neuqua was second with 46 and Oswego East third with 79. Plainfield North and Plainfield Central grabbed the other team qualifying spots with 107 and 129, respectively.

For the boys, Neuqua won with 22 points to Lockport's 59. O'Brien's winning time may not have been anything special, but she relished the victory.

"I had not won a race in quite a while," she said. "It was nice to win for mental reasons, really a boost to my confidence."

"It's unfortunate that because of the conditions, all the girls are not able to see where they are time-wise," Lockport coach Evon Schlotter said. "I told them before the race to stay on their feet, that's the main thing.

"Our goal was to close the gaps in our pack and move the pack up a bit, and we did that."

In addition to O'Brien, Lockport placed sophomore Stephanie Sanders third, freshman Courtney Correa fourth, senior Stephanie Houts sixth and sophomore Samantha Stanley eighth.

The top local finisher in the boys race was Plainfield South senior Jake Ferris, who finished in 15:42.80, just behind the 15:29.51 of Neuqua's Aaron Beattie.

Lockport's second-place finish was fueled by the fourth place of David Inczauskis and a pack mentality. David Sajdak was eighth, Joe Oldendorf 11th, Thomas Razo 13th and Scott Hickstein 23rd.

"I told the guys to get out and run and not get hurt," Lockport coach Tom Razo said. "The times go out the window today. It was about place."

The girls race at the Lockport Sectional starts at 10:45 a.m. followed by the boys event at 11:45 a.m.

Both teams qualified for Oct. 24's Class 2A Chicago Jones Sectional at Niles West High School after second-place finishes at the Riverside-Brookfield Regional.

For the boys, Matt Lemming finished second and Tom Hoster was third. Also competing were Lee Koepke, Scott Franklin, Aaron Oldanie, Pat Hopkins and Scott Matulik.

Meagan Johnson was top finisher for the girls in fifth place. She was followed by teammates Anna Wood, Mary McKevitt, Katelyn Bittke, Mariah Balinski, Brittany Klosak and Katie Kester.

The girls race is at 12:30 p.m. followed by the boys at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 24.

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