Mind games unable to rattle Havel

Palatine's Mat Smoody pushed the pace.

Hersey's Kevin Havel pulled ahead.

Smoody followed up with a similar surge.

But Havel had another swift answer.

The jockeying between two senior stars punctuated the race at Saturday's MSL cross country meet at Deer Grove East in Palatine, before Havel -- last year's MSL champ -- separated himself for good and blazed to a first-place 14:10.

Smoody was runner-up in 14:23.

"I tried to mess with his mind," Smoody admitted. "But he's crazy, so good. He reacted well to my moves. Maybe I'll try something different when I see him again (at Saturday's Rolling Meadows Regional)."

The team champion remained the same, though. Coach Chris Quick's Pirates (62 points) won their fifth consecutive league meet after hustling to five all-MSL efforts. Smoody was followed by senior Kevin O'Brien (4th, 14:30), sophomores Chano Bernardo (7th, 14:39) and Alec Bollman (24th, 15:05), and senior Alex Mourousias (25th, 15:06).

O'Brien, Bollman and senior Paul Kwak (29th place, 15:12) turned in personal-best times. The Pirates' other racer Saturday was senior Eddie Lopez (30th, 15:170).

Hersey (84 points) and Schaumburg (98) finished 2-3 in the team standings.

"It's such an honor to win this meet ... something I know I'll never forget," Quick said. "We take such pride in this because the level of competition is so high.

"Mat's strategy today cost him, but I'd rather him try something new like that," he added. "He learned something today. And I thought 'O.B.' ran like a champion today, ran like the senior leader he is."

A SIGN: It didn't take long for Smoody and his teammates to recognize how special this year's team is.

"Our two sophomores are coming along well," Smoody said. "Our practices, early on, you could see we had the chance be one of our school's best cross country teams.

"Practices ... they were so good, so eerie."

STRATEGY: Smoody has learned how to rid Bernardo of his pre-race nerves.

"You tell him to beat a senior on our team," Smoody said. "That pushes him, motivates him. We tell him things like that while we're doing our strides before races."

VIKINGS: Fremd senior Nicholas Hurley earned all-MSL honors with his 18th-place finish (14:58) at Saturday's meet. Fremd was 10th (242 points).

Palatine and Fremd vie for 3A sectional berths at Saturday's Rolling Meadows Regional, beginning at 9:45 a.m. at Salk Park.