Updated: September 1, 2013 2:51AM

Patrick Wolak never deviated from his game plan.

The Waubonsie Valley sophomore stayed with front-runners and fellow underclassmen Connor McCoy and Tanner Chada for as long as possible Saturday morning at the Aurora Boys Cross Country City Meet.

“I was pleased that I held on (for third place),” Wolak said after leading the host Warriors to the championship.

“The two guys in front of me raced very well. It was a very good race.”

Erik Onsager and John Vollrath finished back-to-back for Waubonsie Valley on the three-mile layout conducted on the Warriors’ campus.

With 34 points — Jeff Colvin and Zach Howerton complemented the three top-eight performances of their teammates to conclude the Warriors’ team total — Waubonsie Valley was 16 points lower than runner-up Marmion.

East Aurora edged archrival West Aurora by five points for third place. Aurora Central Catholic was fifth, followed by IMSA.

Aurora Christian, which did not field a full team, had the individual runner-up in freshman Chada. Metea Valley was not in attendance due to a scheduling conflict.

“It was a pretty good day for us,” Onsager said of the Warriors’ collective effort. “Our strategy was to keep our Nos. 1 and 2 together and then the 3, 4 and 5 in the same pack. I was pleased with how we ran as a team.”

McCue, the sophomore standout for West Aurora, turned back Chada by more than six seconds to win the individual championship in 16 minutes and 18 seconds.

Brady Bobbit was the low man for Marmion. The Batavia resident nosed out East Aurora junior Felipe Nino for fourth place.

“(Saturday) I just wanted to focus on packing it up,” Bobbit said. “It was too much of a gap (to catch any of the top three).”

Marmion also received top-10 efforts from Timmy Riordan and Stephen Scott.

Returning Class 2A state participant Javier Montelongo was the top runner for Aurora Central Catholic.

“It was a very balanced meet,” ACC coach Troy Kerber said.

Senior Sagar Punhani had the distinction of being the fastest runner for IMSA.

The threatening weather that dogged the opening night of the football season made a return visit as the boys race was in its final stages.

After more than an hour of waiting out persistent lightning, the girls coaches voted to cancel the remainder of the meet.

“I was worried about the heat all week,” said Waubonsie Valley boys coach Kevin Rafferty, who moved the starting times up an hour. “Then we get thunder and lightning. Mother Nature always has something for you.”