Ankle sprains slow down Broncos

Seven runners started the race for the Walther Lutheran cross country team, but only five were able to cross the finish line.

A pair of sprained ankles forced both Sandro Mazza and Grant Neubieser to pull out early in the race on Saturday at the Argo Invitational.

Walther coach Luis Samayoa didn't want to risk losing either runner for the more important meets down the road.

Mazza, who had finished first the previous two weeks, injured his ankle at practice two days prior to the event.

Mazza was in fourth place when he dropped out of the race around the mile mark.

"I should not have let him race," Samayoa said. "He looked good stretching out. He had it (ankle) wrapped and was looking good. I didn't want to give him any negative thoughts before the race."

Neubieser was yanked from the course after running just 400 meters.

Samayoa said it's too early to say if Mazza or Sorenson will compete on Saturday at the Whitney Young Invitational in Lincoln Park (Chicago).

Walther's Christian Sorenson was able to run all three miles and finished 14th overall with a season-best time of 16 minutes, 24.5 seconds.

All the runners ahead of Sorenson were from Class 3A or 2A schools. Walther will compete this season in Class 1A.

"That was a nice performance on a pretty challenging course," Samayoa said. "He's gaining more confidence every week."

Lincoln-Way Central freshman Lukas Verzbicas won the race with a course-record time of 14:39.3. The previous record was 15 minutes by Lenny Sitko of Notre Dame.

Verzbicas won the race by 59 seconds.

The Broncos finished 17th out of 27 teams with 451 points.

The top five schools were Fenwick (27), Lincoln-Way Central (57), Glenbard East (80), Barrington (161) and Plainfield Central (171).

Chris Koehne was 103rd for Walther in 18:25.9, Chijoke Ezam was 105th in 18:27.5, Brian Jackson was 109th in 18:35.9 and Geovany Ramirez was 128th in 19:11.7 to complete the scoring.

GIRLS

The Walther Lutheran girls cross country team placed 18th on Saturday at the Argo Invitational with 506 points.

Ana Garcia had another solid effort for Walther, completing the three-mile course in 19 minutes, 9.9 seconds.

"She's getting very close to cracking the 19-minute mark," Walther coach Luis Samayoa said.

Monica Hahn of Lincoln-Way Central won the individual title in 18:25.8.

Dee Dee Kruckenburg was 77th overall for Walther in 22:40.8, Sandra Garcia was 136th in 24:48.8, Robin Hillert was 151st in 25:36.3 and Kayleigh Evans was 162nd in 26:13.6 to round out the scoring.