Highland Park junior Charlotte Nawor saw two New Trier runners ahead of her in the final 300 meters on the Maine East High School track at the Central Suburban League Cross Country Championships on Oct. 18 and was determined to pass them. She did, to finish fourth.
Her time on the muddy 3-mile course was 18:13.74.
“I was just putting everything into catching them,” she said. “And I’m glad I was able to do it.”
It was a highlight for Highland Park on a day when the New Trier girls continued to dominate the conference, winning easily with 27 points. Glenbrook South finished second with 91 points, followed by Maine South with 104.
Nawor’s sprint put Highland Park next with 107 points, tied with Evanston Township High School. But the tiebreaker went down to the faster sixth runner, and Evanston was able to take fourth over Highland Park.
“I thought we had a good meet,” Highland Park coach Andy Butler said. “I think we want to keep improving and do even better at regionals and sectionals.”
New Trier senior Mimi Smith, the defending state champion, pulled away from the field early and ran most of the race alone, finishing in 17:30. Niles West senior Christine Mujica finished second in 18:08, followed by Evanston sophomore Emma Dzwierzynski in 18:12.
Also scoring for Highland Park were junior Marni Pine in 14th (19:00), junior Celia Margolin in 17th (19:16), freshman Kaitlyn Twadell in 32nd (20:08) and sophomore Amanda Hsu in 40 (20:18).
Deerfield High School finished seventh overall in the 11-team field with 169 points. The Warriors were led by Abbey Osborn, who finished 10th overall in 18:34. She was followed by freshman Kelley Osborn in 34th (20:10), junior Jordyn Jensen in 37th (20:17), junior Erin Phillips in 39th (20:18) and junior Claudia Giacone in 49th (21:05).
Unlike the girls, the boys varsity race was close most of the way, with a large pack running together through two miles of the race. Still, the result was the same — New Trier senior Josh Rosencranz was able to pull away to take the overall victory in 15:17, leading his school to the team title as well with 36 points.
Niles North senior Dhruvil Patel made a race of it, hanging close with Rosencranz the entire way, but he wasn’t able to close the gap. He finished second in 15:22, followed by Maine South senior Henry Mierzwa in third in 15:25.
In the team competition, Maine South finished second with 69 points and Niles North was third with 86. Highland Park senior Ben Casey ran with the lead pack for much of the race, but wasn’t able to stay on pace for the final mile. He finished eighth overall in 15:35 to lead the Giants, who finished in fifth place overall with 130 points.
Like the girls team, the boys initial score resulted in a tie, this time with rival Deerfield. But Highland Park’s sixth runner was faster this time, giving them top honors. Joining Casey in scoring for Highland Park were junior Brett Davidson in 12th (15:50), senior Eddie Herz in 32nd (16:33), freshman Fritz Laurie in 36th (16:35) and senior Andrew Huddleston in 42nd (16:51). Sophomore Jonathan Rosenfeld won the tiebreaker with his 49th place finish (16:59).
Deerfield was led by senior Charles Nash in 19th place (16:05), followed by senior Ben Chambers in 21st (16:08), senior Alex Wolfe in 25th (16:13), senior Billy Anderson in 26th (16:19) and sophomore Michael Hincker in 39th (16:39).
Next up for Deerfield will be the IHSA 2A regional championships on Saturday at home, with the girls competing at 2 p.m. and the boys following at 3 p.m. Highland Park will be competing in the 3A regional championships at Adler Park in Libertyville, with the girls running at 2 p.m., followed by the boys at 2:30 p.m.
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