Maine South’s Emily Leonard leads CSL pack

Updated: October 15, 2011 9:56PM

Already one of the best runners in the Central Suburban League, Emily Leonard further established herself in the conference by capturing the championship Saturday at Glenbrook North. 

The Maine South sophomore made her move in the last mile to beat out New Trier’s trio of Jessica and Courtney Ackerman and Mimi Smith with a time of 17:26.15.

“I expected to be in the top four,” Leonard said. “I know that the New Trier three all are good runners, but I knew I could stay with them.

“But the state race is the only one that truly matters. This race did let me know that I definitely can run with the top girls all the time.”

Jessica Ackerman crossed the line in 17:29.87. She was followed by sister Courtney (17:34.33) and Smith (17:40.45).

New Trier won both team titles. The girls finished with five in the top eight to total 24 points, while Maine South came in second with 57 points. The Trevian boys ended up with 60 points to edge out Maine South (66) and Niles North (69).

New Trier’s Leland Later cruised to the championship in 14:55.05 to clip Niles North’s Aron Sebhat by nearly 43 seconds. The senior then hopped on an airplane for a college visit to Cal-Berkeley.

“This conference is very tough right now,” New Trier coach Dave Wisner said. “It’s a much deeper conference than even last year.”

Most of the CSL teams will see each other again next weekend at the Loyola Regional.

“This was a great preview for the regional,” Niles North coach Dan Horyn said. “I definitely feel like we learned something these teams, and they learned something about us.”

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