By Jeff DeGraw
For the Bugle
The weather cooperated and the streaks continued on Saturday at the Southwest Prairie cross country championships held at Channahon Community Park.
Joliet Central’s athletic director, Steve Locke, along with the conference made the proper decision to move the meet to an early starting time to try and beat the rain and they did. All the races were successfully completed under very good conditions.
On the boys side, Plainfield South won it’s third consecutive SPC title with 45 points. Oswego was runner-up (87), with Oswego East in third (92). Minooka finished fourth, followed by Plainfield North, Joliet Central, Plainfield East, Plainfield Central, Romeoville and Joliet West.
“It an honor and a privilege to be champions in this conference,” South coach Jason Crowe said. “To win the third in a row is great, but we now need to build off of this performance moving forward to the regionals and sectionals.”
The Cougars Christian Knowlton, a junior, won the individual title in 15:15 over the three mile course. He beat Matt Blanco from Oswego East by five seconds.
“I’m tired”, Knowlton said immediately after the race. “This has been a goal to win both individually and as a team. We had an excellent work out on Wednesday and I knew I was ready. As soon as I made a move I knew I had it, I felt good.”
The top 18 finishers receive all-conference accolades.
South placed three runners in the top six and had five all-conference performers. Stephen Merriweather was third (15:26), Timmy Wade placed sixth (15:38) along with Jake Willison in 17th and James Sottosanto in 18th.
North got an all-conference performance from senior Omar Paramo in fifth place (15:32). He was followed by Ethan Prior (22nd), Spencer Brandt (27th), Jack Anderson (33rd) and Nick Lowe (42nd).
East, in finishing seventh, had two all-conference selections, with Zahid Salodawaia finishing ninth (15:42) and Emmanuel Angomas in 14th. They were followed by Nick Pederson (29th), Jonathan Gancarczyk (43rd) and Gavin Withaeger (44th).
Central’s Jonathan Goetsch placed 15th with an all-conference award. He was followed by Riley McIntyre (24th), Javy Garcia (34th), Ryan Kudura (63rd) and Jake Brockhaus (67th).
For the girls, Minooka won their sixth consecutive title with 37 points. North finished fourth (71 points), with South fifth, Central eighth and East was ninth.
Junior Juliana Stogsdill lead North with a runner-up finish (18:01) to champion Emily Shelton of Minooka, who won the race in 17:33.
“My plan was to go with [Emily] Shelton from the start and to stay with her as long as I could,” Stogsdill said. “You have to be able to run up front with anyone and this gives me confidence for regionals and sectionals that I can run up in front and be in the mix.”
In addition to Stogsdill, the Tigers had two other all-conference performers with Megan Patton finishing ninth (18:44) and Emily Bedford in 13th. Riley Frankel placed 22nd and Mariam Hussain was 25th to round out the Tigers top five.
“Juliana [Stogsdill] ran the plan, Megan was again all-conference and Emily Bedford had a great race,” Tiger coach Tammy Gummerson said. “Emily really ran a great second half of the race. I’m so happy for her and it shows what hard work and confidence can do for you.”
South was led by the all-conference performance of Alyssa Grigg, as she placed eighth in 18:42. She was followed by Megan Worm (23rd), Kelsey Rice (35th), Cassidy Martin (39th) and Sara Dyer (55th).
The Wildcats got a 34th place finish from senior Ana Pineda, with Julia Egly (40th), Jess Homan (43rd), Jacky Mathews (44th) and Grace Grimaldi (47th) rounding out the top five.
“We are miles ahead of where we were last year,” Central coach John Prieby said. “Usually we are last or next to last in this conference. But the work ethic of this team has been terrific. The commitment has been there and it’s great to see the movement forward for our program.”
Angelina Laseman finished 49th to lead the Bengals. She was followed by Angela Mrksic (52nd), Cambrie Gallichio (56th), Jamie McCarthy (58th) and Samantha Guin (59th).