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Thornwood in running for East titlesBy Brian FrangellaThere are no more tomorrows for Thornwood’s cross country teams.The Thunderbirds will go after SICA East crowns on Saturday at Veterans Park in South Holland.The Thornwood boys will battle Homewood-Flossmoor and Thornton for the championship.These teams have run against each other several times this year, in the Crete-Monee Pow-Wow and at the Rich Central Invitational, and know what needs to be done to win.The Rich Central invite showedthe equality of the three teams asH-F and Thornwood tied and Thornton only trailed by 20 points.Thornwood has the early edge heading in simply because of its top two runners, Justin Smolin-ski and Victor Johnson. The duo has finished one-two for most of the Thunderbirds meets.“Justin is always thinking about the next race and he has a plan,” Thornwood coach Gary Haupert said. “Victor runs an evenly paced race and moves up in the second and third mile.”The key for the T-birds to be successful is Jeff Love and Anthony Juarez at the three and four spots. If they can stay close to the top tandem, Thornwood will contend.H-F has a veteran crew and sees the strategy of the meet in the same way.“The key is the fifth through 15th place finishers,” coach Gary Haut said. “We’ve been able to put a pack in after Thornwood’s top two.“If the top holds as it has been, our three, four and five runnerswill make the difference. We have to run more as a team.”This places the pressure on Mike Opalinski, Kevin Marcinski and Ryan Poortinga. Chris Hudson and Keith Durkin haveto run their usual races at thetop and Geoff Dauksas has been a welcome addition to the squad in his first year.Thornton has a chance to stir things up in the East with a strong top four runners. Senior Mario Burton leads the Wildcats followed by Olithyin Young, Darwin Byrd and Julian Lagunas.“I see Thornwood and H-F as the teams to beat,” coach Rich Stein said. “We have a far outside shot, but we could end up spoiling it for someone.”It will depend on the number-four and five runners to supply the needed points for the Wildcats to pull off the upset.In the girls race, talented Homewood-Flossmoor leads this conference with a host of seniors. Thornwood will give the Vikings a run for the money however.Rachel Saak continues to roll for H-F with a 14th place in the Rich Central Invitational last Saturday. The team took a fourth place and beat the T-birds.“It was a pretty tight race, but we beat them at the Rich Central Invitational,” coach John Crissey said. “If we can do what we did Saturday, we will do well. We had only 22 seconds between our number one and number five runners.”Thornwood’s top runner Cara Kotynski has beaten Saak this season, but Saak is looking to knock some time off and edge her out. As has been the case all year, as Saak goes, so go the Vikings.“If she runs well, the others usually do too,” Crissey said. “They try to keep up with her. We need everybody healthy.” Kotynski and Michelle Kajdi are the leaders for the T-birds. The duo is expected to keep the pressure on the talented H-F squad.The difference will come in the three, four, five runners for Thornwood. Lori Dicks, Casey Carreon and Devyn Allen will fill the crucial spots.“H-F has history on its side,” T-bird coach Roy White said. “The team knows that H-F is the team to beat. Our number-five will have to step up.”The outlook for Thornwood is a probable second, but it has the potential for a win or the opposite and a third place.Thornton will also give a run, but if the sophomore group stays down to compete as a group instead of on varsity, the two favorites will dual.In the SICA Central, to be hosted by Hillcrest, the boys race appears to be between Oak Forest and TF South.Sophomore Phil Mayer is the top runner and TF South coach Glen Smith cannot say enough about him.“He is our top runner and every race he keeps getting better,” he said. “Phil just beat Oak Forest’s top runner, but they have four guys packed simultaneously. Our four, five and six runners really have to pull together.”The Rebels are expecting a tough battle after meeting the Bengals at the Rich Central invite last Saturday.“They beat us at Rich Central, but we had one of our top four out and another had a bad race,” Smith said.Juniors Nick Turner and Will Benney could be the deciding factor.Kevin Walker leads Oak Forest with Mickey Singh, Mike Opyt and Brian VanKuiken rounding out the pack. This group will make a serious run at the Rebels and the title.TF South will be looking for its-* fifth straight girls title and, barring a disaster, is expected to come away with it.Defending individual champion Katie Bachman and Ellie Dust *, make the Rebels a big favorite.“We are hoping to make it five,”1 coach Rich Dust said. “We do noL have a lot of depth, but if we are healthy, we will give it a good shot.” »Nikki Drobac and Jenny Stickann round out the strong \ top four group. The key is the gap ; between them and the five and six runners, Tameeka Epps and Lindsey Wojack.They have been consistently closing that gap and will need tocontinue that Saturday at Hill- ; crest to get the fifth straight ti- ‘ tie.The Hillcrest girls were in- ! itially a contender for the conference championship in the Central, but unfortunate circumstances have changed that. Tworunners were removed for attendance problems and another quit for personal reasons. This leaves coach Mike Mongan with his number-one runner and his number-four.In the Private School League at Miller Meadows, Illiana Christian’s girls finished 6-1 in dual meets and expects to challenge for the top spot behind de-fending individual champion Lo- * ralee Bykerk. The boys finished 5-2 in dual meet competition.
Newspaper Details
South Holland Star
South Holland, Illinois, US
Thu, Oct 16, 1997
Page 46
Full Page
Clipped by
Lake C.
IN, USA 26 Nov 2020
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