Plainfield Runners Lift JCA Cross Country

AURORA – With Chloe Korst, Emily Egizio and Maddie Kennedy staying within only three seconds of each other and Luke Warpinski, Anthony Salata and Sam Couch packing within 32 seconds of each other, the success of the Joliet Catholic Academy cross country teams Saturday morning was as easy as 5-6-7.

Korst (29th, 21:01), Egizio (30th, 21:02) and Custer Park’s Kennedy (32nd, 21:04) boosted the Angels to a second-place finish with 69 points in the Class 1A Aurora Christian Regional at Oakhurst Forest Preserve.

Meanwhile, Plainfield’s Warpinski (25th, 17:45), Bolingbrook’s Salata (31st, 18:05) and Bolingbrook’s Couch (34th, 18:17) helped the Hilltoppers to a fourth-place finish at the same regional with 95 points.

Top to bottom, they were right there.

“Chloe, Emily and Maddie all had their best races of the year and they closed the gap as much as possible,” JCA co-coach Mark Clarke said. “When you’re 5-6-7 runners come in within three seconds of each other, that’s incredible and it’s a credit to those girls to be able to do that. It’s what we need.

“The good thing about our boys is the split between the 1-5 runners was really small, only 36 seconds. It was the best race of the season for our boys, without a doubt, and our 5-6-7 runners could make a big difference in the sectionals. But in the regional, both our boys and girls teams had outstanding days.”

Four-time all-conference senior Rachelle Sartori fit that adjective to a T, placing fourth for the Angels with an 18:32 to medal. Channahon’s Moira McSteen took ninth with a 19:16, followed by Shorewood’s Francesca Sikorski (15th, 19:49) and Plainfield’s Stephanie Demos (16th, 19:53) to round out the top 4.

“They did awesome, especially with one of the top runners out,” said JCA co-coach Mindy Izzo, alluding to the upper-quad injury of Custer Park’s Erin Kennedy. “Our 5-6-7 runners in both races did what they needed to do and you can’t ask for more than that. It’s a coach’s dream to have the split be 30 seconds.”

The Hilltoppers’ split was better than a banana with Bolingbrook’s Zach Siegfried (14th, 17:09), Elwood’s Jeremy Adams (17th, 17:17), Dyllan Mattea (20th, 17:29) and Plainfield’s Riley Carlson (24th, 17:44).

“You want to have your first runner and your fifth runner as close as possible,” Izzo said. “I think we do.”

The can-do attitude for JCA comes from the concept of runners like Korst, Egizio and Maddie Kennedy and Warpinski, Salata and Couch contributing. At Saturday’s Lisle Sectional, the top five teams and top seven individuals from non-qualifying teams will advance to the state meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

“One good thing about our 5-6-7 runners on each team is they have interchanged as the season has gone on,” Clarke said. “We count on all three of them, and it’s very important to use because if your seventh-place runner finishes ahead of another team’s fifth-place runner, it can push their score up.”