Boys' Cross Country Strides to Conference Crown

The Oak Lawn Community High School boys cross country team has made great strides since the summer, and it paid off with a South Suburban Conference Red championship last weekend.

After inheriting a solid group of runners from Coach Chris Repa, first-year head coach Susan Szala kept things moving in the right direction with a few new ideas. It all started back in June with voluntary workouts. And as time progressed, the boys sat down and established the goal of winning the conference meet.

Earlier in the year, Luis Garcia ran his fastest time to that point at Peoria with a time of 15:47. However, he said, “I hate all this change, especially with the dynamic stretches, but I have to admit it is working.”

And in the end, it worked to help the team accomplish its goal of a conference crown. It is the first conference title for the boys since 2011 when all of these seniors were freshmen.

“Winning conference was big for the whole team, but it was especially sweet for our seniors,” Szala said. “The last time the Oak Lawn boys cross country team won conference was in 2011. They knew what victory was, and to be able to start their high school careers out with a victory and end with a victory was really special. The runners have dedicated a lot of time and effort to improving. It takes more than an individual performance; it requires a strong team effort from everyone for us to be successful.”

Overall, the team earned two second-place plaques, a third-place plaque and the coveted conference championship trophy. The runners include Garcia, Nick Minnella, Diego Arana, Steve Raybould, Romello Williams, Omar Abdelrahman, and Eric Sciaky. Garcia placed second, Arana took third and Minnella placed fourth. Raybould and Williams finished fourth and fifth, respectively to get the narrow victory.

This weekend the Spartans will run in the Illinois High School Association Regional Meet.