South, North Pass Early-Season Cross Country Test

The Joliet Central Cross Country Invite Saturday at Channahon Park signaled the first big, local meet for two Plainfield teams.

The meet provided a chance for both to see how they stack up against each other and a host of talented programs from around the area in an early-season test.

Plainfield South and Plainfield North passed with fying colors, taking second and third in the boys race. But, earning the highest grade of all was Minooka , which won both the boys and girls varsity races.

"They are real focused and confident right now," Minooka coach Kevin Gummerson said. "Each week they are getting better and better and we are focused on improving our performance each week."

The Indians scored 38 points by placing six runners in the top 15. The top three teams and top 20 individuals in each race earned awards.

Minooka also featured the individual champion as Joe McAsey won the 3-mile race in 15:12. Plainfield North's Andrew Sandoval was second in 15:22.

"I wanted to make a surge with Sandoval," McAsey said. "In the woods, I caught him and I was able to get around him. (Sandoval) was holding me off the whole time. He's a great competitor."

"He's an amazing runner," Sandoval said of McAsey. "We both have different styles of racing. I went out quick and kept one pace. He sat on me, I guess. Back in the forest, we were battling back and forth. He just out-kicked me at the end."

Minooka's Joe Santillo placed fifth in 15:41, while Dan Popek was the seventh runner in the chute in 15:44.

"We wanted to work as a team for the first 1½ to 2 miles," McAsey said. "We started to break apart a little bit. But they all came through great today. Most guys ran 16 (minutes) or better. We want to get all 5 guys under 16 minutes."

Plainfield South scored 89 points and was powered by top-six finishers Alex Deeter (fourth place in 15:39) and Tyler Ryan (sixth in 15:42).

"Of our top seven varsity, six of them reached their goals," Plainfield South coach Jason Crowe said. "We had two guys, Alex and Tyler, under 16 minutes, which is just awesome. Alex has really come a long way and Tyler was right behind him. Those are lifetime PR's for those guys. I couldn't be happier with the times we're running. We just have to make sure we have another good week and keep it going."

Plainfield North scored 137 points.

"Today, we were focused on starting to learn how to run as a pack," North caoch Scott Thoms said. "We have the talent, we're just too spread out right now. Compared to last week, we improved on what we wanted to work on. I was happy with today."

Minooka's girls scored 44 points to win the meet for the first time. Lisa Simon led the Indians, taking second place in 18:51. Kiley Saunders was the next Indian to finish, taking eighth in 19:12.

"Our first goal was definitely to win this meet because we have never won it before," Saunders said. "We took second last year.  With this group of girls, we knew we were capable."

"We are working well as a team and we have seven girls who have never run this fast before," Gummerson said. "We could have a different No. 1 runner every meet. That kind of dynamic can do nothing but help them."

"We're really happy with what we are doing so far," Simon said. "We are real confident going into the rest of the season because of our times."

Plainfield Central took seventh in the girls race with 206 points, while Plainfield South placed 10th with 230 points.

Central's Emily Vihnanek (21^st place in 19:58) and South's Kayla Rice (24^th in 19:58) were medal winners.