Area Sports Roundup: Sandburg boys finish fourth at Richard Spring Invite

By Jeff Vorva
Staff writer

The Sandburg boys cross country team is unlikely to win back-to-back Class 3A state championships.

But the Eagles are still strong, and it showed that Sept. 17 by finishing fourth in the Richard Spring Invitational at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

Oak Park won the meet with 75 points followed by Hinsdale Central (182), Wheaton Warrenville South (206) and Sandburg (211).

Trent Anderson led the Eagles with an 11^th-place finish in the 474-runner field in 15:50. Grant Giblin placed 15^th with a 15:48.30.

Charlie Duggan led Brother Rice with a 56^th place finish and Luke Barham led Stagg with a 67^th place finish,

Frankie Wagner led Marist with a 130^th-place finish and Oscar Montiel led Shepard with a 200^th-place finish in the 474-runner field,

Connor Burns, a high school phenom from Missouri, won the race in 14:22.20, 20 seconds ahead of Oswego East’s Parker Nold.

In the girls race, Sandburg freshman Lindsey Gerhardstein finished 19^th out of 415 runners with a time of 18:04.20. The Eagles finished 15^th.

Stagg’s Amanda Pocica led her team with an 86^th-place finish, Mother McAuley’s Nora Enright led the Macs with a 134^th-place showing and Reilly Smith led Marist with a 146-place finish.

Soda celebrations

Stagg and St. Laurence both won their divisions in the Bodyarmor Sports Series soccer showcase on Sept. 18y. Both teams participated in a celebration in which players sprayed Coca-Cola all over each other.

Nathan Lara, Diego Lugo and Jonathan Esparza scored goals for St. Laurence in a 3-1 victory over Zion-Benton.

Stagg beat Minooka, 1-0, to win its division.

Volleyball, volleyball, volleyball

Lyons finished second in the 24-team Wheaton Classic volleyball tournament losing a wild 17-25, 26-24, 25-10 battle in the title match against Benet. Marist finished third and Sandburg placed 11^th.

Lyons’ Kamryn Lee-Caracci and Abby Markworth, Marist’s Kamryn Chaney and Sandburg’s Reilly Chausse were named all-tournament.

De La Salle finished third in the 16-team Oak Lawn Classic, beating Providence Catholic for the second time in a week to claim the third-place game, 28-26, 17-25, 15-11. Lincoln-Way Central won the tournament with a three-game victory over Lincoln-Way West

St. Laurence won the Silver Bracket while Oak Lawn took third and Shepard fourth. Evergreen Park claimed the Bronze title and Stagg won the Copper.

De La Salle’s Jennifer Falk, St. Laurence’s CJ Blum and Oak Lawn’s Amina Maali were all-tournament selections.

Detour to Florida

One of the best baseball players in the area last spring, Brother Rice catcher Zion Rose, already committed to Louisville.

But before he heads to Kentucky, he is going to spend some time in Florida.

Rose announced he is transferring to IMG Academy and will play his senior season there.

In a tweet, he thanked Brother Rice for “everything they have done for me since freshman year.”

Rose hit .496 with four homers, 39 RBI, scored 58 runs, stole 31 bases and drew 20 walks. He had a .573 on-base percentage, helping the Crusaders finish third in the state in Class 4A.

Morton College soccer rising

Morton College’s men’s soccer team was 11^th in the nation in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III rankings and on Sept. 13 beat fourth-ranked Prairie State, 4-3 at Carbajal Soccer Field in Cicero.

Krasowski inked

Former Sandburg standout libero Rachel Krasowski, a top defensive player at DePaul, is taking advantage of the NCAA rules allowing athletes to use their names and images in advertising.

The volleyball player is representing the NIL Store, powered by Campus Ink. It bills itself as a custom merchandise platform for students and athletes. It is one of Mark Cuban’s companies.