Rolling Meadows' Gastfield passes Collard -- again

For the second time in three weeks, Crystal Lake South senior Marianne Collard finished second to Rolling Meadows senior Christina Gastfield in a major meet.

In a repeat of the Crystal Lake South Invitational Sept. 4, Gastfield and Collard crossed the finish line 1-2 at the Warren Invitational Saturday in Gurnee. Gastfield (17:38.71) is the defending Class 3A state runner-up and won her second invitational of the season.

"At least I finished closer to her," said Collard (17:48.67), who placed 53rd at state last year. "I'm getting closer to her little by little."

The girls race had two separate starts at Warren. The race was moved up due to threatening skies, but halted shortly after the start because of thunder. Officials cleared the course before heavy rains hit and the race was re-started nearly two hours later. Gastfield did not take the lead until passing Collard with nearly one mile left.

"(The delay) was a little frustrating, but I think it worked out," Gastfield said. "I was not supposed to go out hard and I stayed with a group."

Gastfield did not run at Warren last year. She took the race off to rest. Collard won Sept. 11 at the Wauconda Invitational, but fell short of her goal of winning back-to-back invitationals.

In the boys race, Round Lake senior Juan Carrera won at Wauconda and completed consecutive invitational titles with a win at Warren. Carrera (15:15.88) broke away from the lead pack, which included runner-up Andrew Mack (15:21.93) of Fremd and Mundelein's Martin Mena (15:50.56), who finished eighth.

Carrera was motivated by a dual-meet loss against Grant earlier in the week, the first time he lost at home in his career. The loss came two days after his win at Wauconda.

"One of my goals in my senior year was go undefeated," Carrera said. "I didn't like losing. Losing sucks. It got to me mentally."

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