This weekend, the Titans ran a rainy first home meet against the Maine South Hawks. Maine South is a consistently strong team, finishing 6th in the 2019 3A Cross Country State Finals. The Titans went into the meet knowing that it would be a fight to the finish.
Due to a slight misunderstanding, Maine South did not enter any runners into the JV1 race. To keep the race competitive, the JV1 runners split up into teams of five and competed amongst themselves. Carter Adams (SR) ran an excellent race, breaking away from Sully Richards (SO) to win it in 18:24 to Sully’s 18:36. Luke Gregory (SR) finished 3rd at 19:01. Ethan Hernandez (JR) and James Hiltebrand (SO) rounded out the Top 5. Overall, the JV1 runners ran a strong race without any competition.
At 5:45, the gun for the Varsity race went off. Through the first mile, Glenbrook South had a seven-man pack all at 5:22. Maine South’s returning senior Matt Coyle led the field in a blistering 15:24. Behind him, Brian Hiltebrand (JR) battled it out with Maine South senior Matthew Cull. In the last 400 meters, Brian surged ahead of him, finishing 2nd in a time of 15:47. Mrugesh Thakor (SR) finished in 5th with a time of 16:12. In 8th, 9th, and 10th, Michael Jerva (JR), Cody Slutzky (SR), and Jayson Stamm(JR) finished in a tight pack going 17:01, 17:02, and 17:02 respectively. Preston Davidson (SR, 17:13) and Matthew Finkel (SR, 17:20), made up the rest of the Varsity Top 7 in 11th and 12th place. Though Maine South won with a score of 21-34, this race was a great display of the Titans’ strong pack running.
On Saturday morning, the Freshman team got to experience some real cross country weather. Despite the pouring rain, it was a great morning for some racing. The Freshmen ran fantastically, finishing 1-2-4-5-6 in the 2 mile. Andy Ordway led the charge with a time of 11:56. Geoffrey Maddalozzo came in shortly behind him in a time of 12:03. In 4th, Matt Barney came through the line at 12:23. Jack Qualkenbush (12:36) and Jefferson Wei (12:48) finished off the Top 5, making up the rest of the scoring points. The Freshmen beat Maine South 18-46.
JV2 ran the last race of the meet against Maine South’s strong JV2 team. Maine South swept the field with a perfect score of 15 to the Titans’ 47. Will Patton (JR) was the first GBS runner through the line at 20:17. Jack Cleary (JR) followed behind him in 20:29. Gio Canalia (SO), Sanjeev Gorla (SO), and Jack Olson (SO) finished up the Top 5 in times of 21:01, 21:16, and 21:17 respectively.
Overall, this meet was a strong showing for the Titans. This coming Tuesday (9/15) and Wednesday (9/16), they’ll race against the New Trier Trevians at home. We’ll see you then!
