• Reprints
•  
•  

Yorkville's Skyler Bollinger, who finished second, works near the mile mark of the Charger Classic Invitational in Oakhurst Forest Preserve. Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media

ARTICLE EXTRAS

View Gallery

 

Updated: September 22, 2012 9:23PM

As a group, cross country runners are a hearty bunch.

But even they were caught a bit by surprise at the blustery conditions Saturday at the Charger Classic at Oakhurst Forest preserve.

“It was cold and the wind was really rough going along the lake,” said Yorkville freshman Skyler Bollinger. “Our first meet it was like 90 (degrees) and today it was 40.”

Still, that didn’t stop many runners from setting personal bests, and Bollinger’s time over the 3-mile course of 17 minutes flat was good enough for second place behind Lin-Marr (Iowa) freshman Stephanie Jenks, who shattered the course record by 25 seconds in winning the race in 16:17.

Junior Kendall Cast of Metea Valley (4th, 17:13), Summer Pierson of Yorkville (5th, 17:19), Claire Logan (8th, 17:42) and Oswego’s Kelsey Hjorth (9th, 17:43) were other local runners to post Top-10 finishes.

Bollinger was one of four Yorkville freshmen to score for the Foxes, who posted 69 points to outdistance Lin-Marr (86 points) and Normal U-High (93). Oswego (234) was seventh, Metea Valley (240) eighth, Oswego East (247) ninth, West Aurora (254) 13th, Aurora Christian (540) 19th, IMSA (570) 20th, East Aurora (583) 21st and Plano (733) 24th.

“It was a little brutal (weather wise) compared to what we have been getting the last couple of weekends, so this is a gut check about what early November could be like,” said Yorkville coach Chris Muth. “We did pretty well, we need to keep them healthy and keep them motivated. Things are falling into place.”

In the boys race, Oswego East junior Charles Thornton pulled away from the field at two miles and won a very competitive race in 14:41. Jake Hoffert of Yorkville was second in 14:45, Oscar Gomez of West Aurora was third in (14:48) while Caleb Beck (5th, 14:55) of Oswego, Kyle Carter (6th, 14:57) of Kaneland and John Graft (8th, 15:00) rounded out the area top 10 in a competitive race that saw the first 10 places separated by just 20 seconds.

“I wasn’t expecting that (Saturday),” said Thornton. “I’d never won a high school race before, so I’m psyched and ready for the rest of the year and ready to go to Peoria and hopefully do well at state.”

Yorkville scored 106 points to finish second to U-High (103 points) in the standings. That came despite losing No. 2 runner Luke Hoffert early in the race as several runners fell as they neared the course’s first turn and Hoffert walked off the course under his own power but was unable to continue.

Oswego (4th, 157 points), West Aurora (5th, 169), Kaneland (6th, 193), Marmion (7th, 226) and Oswego East (8th, 249) were local teams in the top 10. Host Aurora Central Catholic was 13th with 387 points, East Aurora (393) 14th, Metea Valley (410) 16th, Batavia (485) 18th, Aurora Christian (645) 22nd, Plano (682) 25th and IMSA (686) finished 26th.