previous
Troy Invite Overall Champs!
September 17, 2016
We have gone to the Troy Invite every year since the cross country team was founded at the middle school in 2008. We didn't earn our first individual medals at the Troy Invite until 2011, which was also the first year we earned a Troy trophy when the eighth grade girls finished in third place. 2012 was the first year we came away with a team championship at Troy when that year's eighth grade girls won the race led by current high school seniors Alexis Grandys and Maddie Dearborn. 2013 was the first year a boys team won a race at Troy when the seventh grade boys took home the title. In 2014 the eighth grade girls became the first group to repeat as team champions at Troy led by All-State athletes Olivia Borowiak, Emily Eberhart, and Colleen O'Connor. Last year both of our seventh grade teams earned team championships and they were hoping to repeat this year.
7th Grade Girls
The seventh grade girls were in one of the most competitive races of the day. Herget, Yorkville, Rotolo, and Minooka were all under 160 team points, which would have been good enough for second place in any other race. Ultimately, the team’s depth and pack running earned them a second place finish with 89 points, while Herget’s heavy hitters at the top delivered a victory for the team from Aurora with 67 points.
Sydney Peterson led the team by sheer force of will with a 13:24 finish in tenth place. Brooke O’Carroll (19th place) and Ava Glenn (20th place) worked together to both finish in 13:40. Anna Hunter wasn’t far behind them in 13:42, and was the last seventh grade girl to earn a top 25 medal. Nuria Pugh was the team’s final scorer with a 27th place finish in 13:49. Shannon Burke (29th, 13:51) and Maggie Hunter (82nd, 14:48) rounded out the top seven for the girls.
7th Grade Boys
The seventh grade boys took home the Troy Invite team championship with a 156 to 187 win over Bolingbrook Jane Addams. Jaydon Harvey led the way in 11th place with a time of 12:24 and was the only medal winner for the boys. A great pack ensured the victory for the Foxes as Josiah Gulbro (29th, 12:43), Jack Stillmunkes (31st, 12:45), and Jonathan Aguado (32nd, 12:46) finished within seconds of each other. Jonathan was the only runner on the entire team to set a new personal record during the two-mile race on a wet, slow course. Nick Sinopoli was the team’s fifth runner and finished in 55th place with a time of 13:14. Justin Jakstys (61st, 13:19) and Nathan Summers (72nd, 13:32) were the essential sixth and seventh runners for the team.
8th Grade Girls
Before last season Yorkville has never had an individual champion at Troy, but Helena Kleronomos changed that with her 13:07 victory last year. She also became the first back-to-back individual champion with her 12:23 victory this year over Rotolo’s Jenna Schifferer. Helena ran a smart first half of the race, sticking around the front pack without going out too fast. During the second half Helena worked her way up the pack and eventually passed Rotolo’s runner for the victory.
On the strength of Helena’s run, and the work of the runners behind her, the girls secured back-to-back team championships at Troy with a 78-113 victory over Old St. Mary’s. After Helena came in the dynamic duo of Sara Klemm (8th) and Hailey Simmons (9th) finished in 12:54 and 12:58, respectively. Nikki Vergara just missed a medal by finishing in 26th place in 13:20. Jinnaea Richardson had a great race to finish the scoring for the girls in 43rd with a time of 13:45. Ana Penland (58th, 13:59) and Natalee Penland (95th, 14:40) closed out the top seven for the girls.
8th Grade Boys
The eighth grade boys used unbelievable depth to collect the first back-to-back Troy team championships for a boys team in Yorkville’s history. They did it with the most dominant performance of the day, a score of 98 points that easily eclipsed second place Manhattan's 173 points.
Ivan Westcott led the team with a second place finish for the second year in a row. This year Ivan ran 11:27 compared to last year’s 12:04. Cade Grimaldi (10th, 11:40) and Austin Popplewell (22nd, 11:56) joined Ivan on the medal stand. Matthew Angerame (34th, 12:17) and Jack Brucher (35th, 12:18) turned in great performances to finish the scoring for the boys. Colin Kachlic (47th, 12:32) and Tyler Deutsch (57th, 12:40) weren’t far behind.
Overall Meet Champs!
Without sixth graders we have always thought it was impossible to win the overall Troy Invite trophy, but on the strength of winning four team trophies for the first time YMS also came away with the overall trophy for the first time. Everyone should be proud of their performances from today, and it’s a great sign as we get closer to the post-season.
Be the first to add a comment to this note.
