Sandburg earns victory, and with it comes lesson

Sandburg boys coach John O'Malley praised a fellow coach after the Eagles won the recent Peoria Notre Dame Invitational.

"Upon video review, it was decided that we had actually won the meet by one point (104-105 over Palatine)," O'Malley said. "Lyons coach Mike Danner pointed it out to me when the discrepancy came between his No. 1 runner and Palatine's No. 1 runner.

"I really want our guys on the team to take away the lesson from coach Danner's classy move. That lesson is more significant than the victory. He simply did the right thing, even though it didn't help him at all. That was classy."

Sandburg senior Zach Dahleen won the individual title in 14:45, as he pulled away in the final half-mile.

"He is certainly in the hunt for the individual state crown in November," O'Malley said. "It was a great day, but our boys aren't even close to their highest potential yet. It will be exciting to see their hard work pay off late in the season."

Helping the Eagles in Peoria were Elliot Hevel (11th, 15:21), Kyle McNicholas (23rd, 15:36), Kyle Meyer (30th, 15:42) and Mike Tortorelli (43rd, 15:53).

Sandburg was 10th in the frosh-soph standings, as Kevin O'Flaherty (28th, 16:39) and Alex Kordas (42nd, 16:50) led the way.

Tinley girls record bests

Tinley Park girls coach Brian Gibbons was proud of his team's performance at the Titans' meet.

"Every girl that ran had their personal best time of the season," Gibbons said. "Emma Degan, Cynthia Jennison and Jessica Ventrella have been our top varsity runners. Our freshman, Holly Martin, finished in seventh place at the junior varsity level.

"I like the way our kids have improved over the course of the season."

Knights stay on a roll

Lincoln-Way Central boys coach John Taylor didn't have freshman sensation Lukas Verzbicas in the lineup for the Bartlett Invitational.

But the Knights still managed to finish ahead of runner-up West Chicago by 79 points.

Sophomore standout Kyle Counter was third overall, senior captain Ethan Simmons took fourth, Pat Chojnacki fifth and Nate Spreitzer seventh.

"I pushed it throughout the race and caught some guys the last mile," said Spreitzer, who toured the course 1:45 faster than he did in 2007. "The team really packed it up and worked off each other in the race to win. Running with my teammates makes a substantial difference when you're out there in a tough race against some fierce competition."

All seven Knights finished in the top 20 and were awarded individual medals. Turning in additional strong efforts were Tom Willmot (15th), Steve Ahlgrim (17th) and Joe Gasca (18th).

"The split between our first and seventh runners was 37 seconds," Taylor said.

Knights girls earn marks

Lincoln-Way Central girls coach Matt Bowden likes his team's depth at the varsity and frosh-soph levels.

"We showed our depth when we won the Argo Invitational," Bowden said.

Monica Hahn was the individual winner and received plenty of support from Chelsea Tribble (9th), Cara Robinson (14th in her first varsity race), Britney Lohrman (21st), Hannah Schliffka (26th), Autumn Shearer (29th) and Kara Boucher (34th).

More good news arrived when Brittany Melton won the JV race, as Elisa Cherry, Emma Flock, Olivia Zander and Dana Dieska. Freshman Danielle Verbout prevailed at the frosh-soph level.

Alan Macey can be reached at amacey@southtownstar.com or (708) 802-8834.