Pat Juras leads Lake Zurich boys to title

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Updated: October 15, 2011 8:49PM

Pat Juras didn’t run away and hide during the opening mile. But once the Lake Zurich star picked up the pace, no one could stay with him.

Juras collected a North Suburban Conference title on Saturday in Zion. He completed the 3-mile course in 15:09 to finish eight seconds ahead of Libertyville’s Nicholas Korhumel.

“I held back during the first mile,” Juras said. “I took a significant lead after the second mile.”

As expected, the Bears also dominated the team race. The champs finished with 33 points behind the work of Jon Smith (fourth, 15:33), Alex Milner (seventh, 15:40), Jon Ramirez (10th, 15:47) and David Smith (11th, 15:52).

Libertyville took second as a team with 83 points. Warren, which received a third-place finish from Martin Martinez (15:56), took third with 109 points.

In the girls race, Libertyville freshman Kristi Del Prato reached the finish line in 17:59 to beat Lakes’ Kathryn Dean by nine seconds.

“I was very nervous,” Del Prato said. “I kept telling myself I had to pick it up and go hard so I could take first place.”

Lake Zurich won the team title with 40 points. The champs were led by Meghan Gelinas (fourth, 18:20), Katie Fabbrini (fifth, 18:29), Cassie Houghton (seventh, 18:40), Elizabeth Berton (eighth, 18:43) and Angela Uhfeil (16th, 19:00).