Sports
Hilltoppers Capture First Girls Cross Country Silver Title Since 1990
Glenbard West earned a share of the overall West Suburban Conference Silver Division girls title by beating York on a sixth-runner tiebreaker at Saturday's Silver Meet while Madeline Perez, Mike Lederhouse and Brandon Bonifer were top-five finishers.
The Glenbard West girls cross country team’s 21-year wait for a West Suburban Conference Silver Division overall championship came to an end Saturday, but not without some final, anxious minutes.
The state-ranked Hilltoppers earned a share of their first title since 1990 by winning the Silver Meet at Lyons Township’s south campus in Western Springs by pulling out a sixth-place tiebreaker with state-ranked York after both teams scored 51 points. Four Hilltoppers also earned individual all-conference honors by finishing among the top 16.
Sophomore Madeline Perez was fourth (17:34.0 for 3.0 miles), followed by freshman Lisa Luczak (6th, 18:00.0), senior Maddie Nagle (11th, 18:13.9) and Katie Born (13th, 18:15.3) and junior Cynthia Mote (17th, 18:34.3), who was 6.2 seconds shy of 16th place.
Junior Emma Reifel proved to be the tiebreaker, placing 19th (18:42.0) while York’s No. 6 finisher was 21st in 18:49.0. Glenbard West junior Kate Majewski was 26th (19:02.4).
The Hilltoppers are No. 6 in the latest DyeStat Illinois Class 3A state rankings with York No. 12. No. 16 LT (68 points) was third Saturday and third overall.
The overall title is a 50-50 combination of regular-season dual and Silver Meet standings. York won the dual standings with a 6-0 record, including a 26-29 victory over second-place Glenbard West.
On Saturday, Luczak probably had her strongest race of the season, and Nagle pulled out 11th by 0.2 of a second in the middle of a mad scramble among three runners at the finish chute. Born finished one place before two York runners, and Mote was one place before York’s No. 5 finisher.
Nagle was all-conference on the varsity level for the third straight year and Born the second year in a row.
This past May, several of the same girls contributed the Glenbard West girls track team capturing its first Silver Meet title in that sport since 1984.
This is York’s third consecutive overall Silver title and second straight shared crown. York junior Emma Fisher won the race in a course-record 17:07.0 while the Dukes’ other top-five finishers were third, 14th, 15th and 18th.
Glenbard West begins its quest to return to the 3A state meet as a team at the Fenwick Sectional at 10:30 a.m. Saturday (Oct. 22) at Schiller Woods. The Hilltoppers need just a top-seven finish in the top-nine field to advance to the Niles West Sectional Oct. 29, where they need a top-five finish to qualify for state. The Hilltoppers’ sectional team competition should include No. 1 New Trier, No. 3 Lake Park and York.
The Hilltoppers finished ninth at state last year (250 points) with Perez (29th), Nagle (45th), Born (89th), Reifel (123rd) and Majewski (132nd) part of the the lineup. In 2009, Nagle was an individual state qualifier and finished 72nd.
Glenbard West boys
Senior Mike Lederhouse and junior Brandon Bonifer placed among the top five as the Glenbard West boys cross country team finished fifth (100 points) at Saturday’s West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet at Lyons Township’s south campus in Western Springs and fourth in the final overall standings.
In a race with several of the state’s top individuals, Lederhouse (15:09.8) finished third behind only Oak Park-River Forest senior Malachy Schrobilgen (14:37.6) and York junior Scott Milling (14:54.3). Bonifer (15:18.2) was fifth, just behind Hinsdale Central senior Jack Feldman (15:13.3) and 0.3 of a second in front of LT junior Michael Matusiak.
Glenbard West juniors Will Lindstrom (22nd, 15:53.0) and Alec Larsen (30th, 16:11.6) finished among the top 30, and seniors Nick Posegay (16:41.8) and Ken Leaf (16:59.9) and junior Jack Prescott (17:08.3) in 40th, 41st and 42nd.
Lederhouse and Bonifer earned individual all-conference honors with top-16 finishes. Lederhouse also was all-conference last season by taking 14th.
The Hilltoppers, who entered the week ranked No. 24 in Class 3A by DyeStat Illinois, were just seven points from third place and one point ahead of sixth-place Downers Grove North. No. 2 York (42 points) easily prevailed with No. 9 Hinsdale Central (70), No. 20 OPRF (93) and co-No. 25 LT (95) second through fourth.
In the overall standings, a 50-50 combination of dual and Silver Meet standings, the Hilltoppers ended up fourth after tying for fourth in duals with LT and Downers North with 2-4 records.
Glenbard West competes at the Fenwick Sectional at 11:15 a.m. Saturday (Oct. 22) at Schiller Woods. The Hilltoppers need just a top-seven finish in the top-nine field to advance to the Niles West Sectional Oct. 29, where they need a top-five finish to qualify for state as a team.
DyeStat Illinois has the Hilltoppers as the eighth-highest ranked team in their sectional. If they don’t reach state as a team, the top seven sectional finishers not part of the advancing teams also qualify for state as individuals. Lederhouse qualified for state individually in 2010 and finished 86th.
