Negovetich, Stromsland under 18 minutes in Girls Race; Rosa kick wins Boys Race; Vernon Hills Girls, Barrington Boys dominant with team titles

By Michael Newman

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Waukegan, Ill – Perfect conditions at Waukegan Sports Park along with great competition in the two Varsity races Wednesday evening gave the fans at the Lake County some fast times.

The meet was highlighted by individual wins from Grant Community’s Aly Negovetich in the Girls race and Ben Rosa of Lake Forest in the Boys race. Temperatures in the mid-60’s and a fast course made the meet even more exciting.

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The Girls Varsity race was an eye popper even in the eyes of Negovetich who won this race a year ago. Her tie in the 2018 race was 18:06. When she crossed the line, the clock read 17:24 on the five kilometer course.

“I ran 18:06 last year and I just wanted to be anywhere under that,” Negovetich said. “I just wanted to set an example for my team. This is what can we do together.”

The main competition in this race for Negovetich was defending Class 2A champion Brooke Stromsland of Lakes Community. The two runners were side-by-side as they passed through the first mile in 5:30 entering into the hilly part of the course. Negovetich made her move just before the two-mile mark. There was nothing that Stromsland could do on this day.

“I just could not keep up (with Negovetich) today,” Stromsland said. “I was disappointed that I did not win but I ran faster than last year. That was exciting for me.”

“I just made my move after the mile and a half. There was a hill at that point. I just made up my mind that I was going,” added Negovetich. “I had a confidence boost at that point. I just want to run a PR (at state) and have fun with my team.”

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Vernon Hills who lost five runners to graduation from last year’s second place team. The Cougars rebuilt fast especially from looking at their performance from this meet. Vernon Hills repeated as county champions with 50 points. Lake Community (93 points), Libertyville (97 points), Grant (110 points), and Warren Township (137 points) rounded out the top five.

Vernon Hills is young with six of their top seven runners in this race either freshmen or sophomores. In this race, the Cougars placed four runners in the top ten. Rose Sheridan, in her first high school race, ran a great opener running 17:52 to finish third overall to lead the team. Another freshman, Reina Hill, followed in sixth. Emma Wakefield (7th) and Carly Sear (10th) followed. Anna Todd came in finishing 21st as the team’s fifth runner. The top five split was 120 seconds for Vernon Hills. Their split on their top four runners was 78 seconds.

The Boys race was just as fast as the Girls race. The race strategy was the exact opposite. A pack of five runners including Rosa and his teammate Nathan Schmitt, Mundelein’s Dillon Blake and Carter Schorr, and Stevenson’s Anthony Rodriguez went through the first mile in a comfortable 4:56.

The action started at that hill (like in the Girls race) just before two miles when Blake took the lead. The pack hung with him. The pace had slowed to 10:10 at two-miles but consider that the middle portion of the race was uphill. The final mile would be down hill and fast. That is when the action began.

Just before entering the final 300-meters of the race and coming into view of the finish line spectators, Rosa took off leaving the pack behind. Teammates Blake and Schoor fooled but Rosa had opened up a five meter gap entering the final 200-meters. The two Mundelein runners closed the gap but could not take the lead. Rosa smiled 20-meters from the finish knowing that he had the race won.

“I just wanted to stick with whoever was in the lead. I didn’t want to overthink my strategy,” Rosa said. “I was going to wait and see what happened and be confident with my finishing speed at the end.”

Rosa finished ninth in this race a year ago. He crossed the line in 15:25.7 for the win. He had run 16:19 in the 2018 race. Weather conditions being 20 seconds cooler and no humidity helped. His confidence has grown having finished third in the Class 3A State Meet in the 1600 Meter Run. That showed in the smile in his face when he finished.

Blake (15:26.3) and Schoor (15:26.5) were close behind in second and third. Rodriguez made a pass to move ahead to finish fourth (15:33.6) just ahead of Schmitt (15:34.1).

Barrington entered the meet as the top ranked team (Class 3A #10) in the field. Their talent showed in this race as the Broncos won the county title with 75 points. Warren Township had a great opener in finishing second (91 points) ahead of a good Deerfield team (93 points). #13 Mundelein (102 points) and Stevenson (128 points) finished fourth and fifth.

Barrington charged to the front of the pack at the beginning of the race and solidified the race position the rest of the way. Patrick Furlong (6th) and his brother Joey (9th) led their team with top ten finishes. Ben DeWeerdt (14th), Trevor Giampa (21th), and Matt Hargrave (25th) followed. Their top five split in this race was 50 seconds.