Cross Country: Marist’s O’Loughlin, Brother Rice’s Caddigan win titles

Updated: September 10, 2011 11:52PM

Marist cross country runner Maggie O’Loughlin said opposing teams weren’t too worried about taking on the RedHawks last season.

This year, she and her teammates are out to make sure everyone knows about them.

O’Loughlin on Saturday won the girls race at the Reavis Invitational, leading Marist to a runner-up finish in Burbank.

“Last year, no one knew who we were,” O’Loughlin said. “We went out (this year) and won the Lyons Invite (on Sept. 3) and everyone was like ‘Who’s Marist?’ We’re really good this year.”

Brother Rice’s Dan Caddigan ran away with the boys race, while Lyons took the team titles in both races.

O’Loughlin trailed Lyons’ Lisa Gordon going into the final loop but caught her in the stretch, finishing in 18 minutes, 30 seconds to win by seven seconds.

“I had it through my head that I couldn’t catch her,” O’Loughlin said. “But I heard my coach (Patrick Quinn) yelling at me. He knew how bad I wanted this. I gave it everything I’ve got.”

Lyons finished with 33 points to hold off Marist (40). Mother McAuley (85) took third.

Moira McDermott (18:49) finished third and Anne Marie Leonard (19:17) was 10th for Marist.

McAuley was led by Margaret Hurley (5th, 18:56) and Bridget McQuinn (7th, 19:13.4).

Shepard’s Lauren Loomis (19:13.9) took eighth.

On the boys side, Caddigan turned in his second dominant effort in as many meets, posting a time of 15:38 to top Libertyville’s Nicholas Korhumel by 12 seconds.

“In the second mile, I pulled away a little,” Caddigan said. “It was a pretty easy and relaxed race. I got outkicked at the end in this race last year, so I had redemption on my mind a bit.”

Lyons (73 points) topped the Crusaders (82) for the team title. Marist (92) was third, Libertyville (111) fourth and Sandburg (194) fifth.

Individually, Reavis’ Mike Amashta (16:03) was fourth. Marist’s Cody Haberkorn (16:05) and Kyle Hauser (16:12) finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Brother Rice’s Pat Maguire (16:15) took seventh and Bloom’s Jacob Hernandez (16:34) was ninth.

Aaron Larson (16:47) was 12th for Brother Rice.

“One through three, we were very good,” Brother Rice coach Tom Wazio said. “Four to five, we’ve still got work to do. Dan continued where he left off last week and might have been a bit better even, and I thought Aaron Larson had the best race of his life.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.