Sandburg freshman Lindsey Gerhardstein, shown receiving encouragement during the SWSC Conference meet earlier in the month, won a regional title on Saturday. Photo by Jeff Vorva
Area Sports Roundup: Sandburg cross country runners bring home two titles
By Jeff Vorva
Staff Writer
Sandburg doubled its pleasure in cross country regionals.
Both the boys and girls came up with regional titles at Midlothian Meadows in Midlothian on Oct. 22.
The Eagles girls won their first regional title since 2015, according to the IHSA, with 23 points. Runner-up Mother McAuley finished with 54 points.
Freshman Lindsey Gerhardstein continued to impress for the Eagles, as she scorched the course with a time of 17:47.79 seconds, well ahead of Stagg junior Amanda Pocica’s runner-up time of 18:25.23.
The Eagles boys, the defending Class 3A state champs, dominated again and won its regional by scoring 26 points, 28 points ahead of runner-up Bolingbrook.
Senior Trent Anderson edged out junior teammate Grant Giblin 14:56.13-14:56.82 for the individual title.
In Class 2A, Marist’s girls claimed first in the Marist Regional at Midlothian Meadows with 45 points, well ahead of Bremen’s runner-up 86 points. Senior Reilly Smith led the RedHawks with a third-place finish of 20:17.92.
Youthful Brother Rice narrowly beat out Richards in the boys race 49-53. Richards senior Owen Forberg dominated the individual field with a 15:47.89 while Brother Rice junior Charley Duggan was second with a 16:24.06 and Crusader sophomore Gavin O’Connor was third with a 16:25.60. Freshman Andrew Straley claimed ninth.
Nazareth took first in the Hinsdale Regional with 37 points, 13 better than runner-up Trinity at Katherine Legge Park in Hinsdale. Senior Colette Kinsella handily won the sectional title with an 18:30.64 while Gianna Gelb of Riverside-Brookfield was second with a 19:40.49.
The Riverside-Brookfield boys, one of the top 2A teams in the state during the regular season, won with 23 points – 29 ahead of Fenwick. R-B junior Cooper Marrs won with a 15:19.05 and junior teammate Jack O’Brien finished second with a 16:11.11.
In Class 1A, Chicago Christian’s girls won the Bishop McNamara regional at Kankakee Community College with 41 points, 20 better than second-place Herscher. Senior Anna Enderle won the sectional crown with a 19:21.
Sectional action takes place Saturday.
Boys soccer
Richards made history winning the first boys soccer regional in school history as the Bulldogs posted a 1-0 victory over Bremen Friday at the Richards Class 2A Regional.
Mount Carmel beat Goode STEM Academy 4-0 in the Mount Carmel Regional final.
Solorio Academy eared a regional title at home with a 5-1 victory over Noble/Mansueto.
St. Laurence, which is has a trifecta by hosting the regional, sectional and supersectional, beat De La Salle, 3-0, to take the regional crown.
In Class 3A, eighth-seeded Shepard came up with a huge shocker with a 5-1 victory over top-seeded Sandburg at the Homewood-Flossmoor Regional. All of the scoring coming in the second half.
Stagg beat seventh Oak Lawn, 4-0, to claim the title at its own regional.
Morton beat Downers Grove North, 3-0 in the Morton Regional.
Lyons beat Argo, 2-1, to win the Argo Regional.
In Class 1A, Chicago Christian’s run ended in the finals of the Mateno Sectional with a 3-0 loss to Chicago Acero/Soto, three days after beating Herscher, 2-1, in the semifinals.
Local News
Chicago Christian’s Grace Mullin caps successful spring by committing to Air Force
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Grace Mullin has proven talents on the ground. In the future, the Chicago Christian graduate may show more talents in the air. After an incredible spring and track season, Mullin — who graduated May 23 — capped things off by committing to the Air Force Academy. This came less…
Boys Tennis State Finals | Lyons’ Jack McLane and Mason Mazzone take 2nd
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Two doubles teams from Lyons made deep runs at the IHSA Class 2A boys tennis state finals, with one of them bringing home some hardware. The boys state tennis finals were held at various sites in the north and northwest suburbs May 23-25. The Lions’ Jack McLane and Mason…
Postseason Roundup | Area teams still alive in playoffs
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Several area baseball, softball, boys volleyball and girls soccer teams were still alive in the postseason heading into this week. Among those was two-time defending Class 3A champion Nazareth, which is competing in Class 4A this season. The Roadrunners, Brother Rice and Mount Carmel won regional titles. So did…
Boys State Track Finals | St. Laurence’s Harley Rizzs wins 100m title, helps Vikings to 400m relay gold
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent St. Laurence junior Harley Rizzs was a member of the Vikings football team that earned a 2023 Class 4A state runner-up trophy the day after Thanksgiving. He bettered that two days before Memorial Day when he became the first St. Laurence track athlete to win an individual state championship.…
‘Curtis got it done’
Spread the love. Pete’s Fresh Market opens at 87/Kedzie . By Tim Hadac A grand opening that wasn’t supposed to happen…happened in Ashburn this month. For 18th Ward Ald. Derrick G. Curtis, architect of the development, it was a time of joy and nervous energy. “I didn’t get any sleep last night,” he told several…
A strange, blustery day in Springfield
Spread the love. By Rich Miller . I’m not sure I’ve seen a stranger roll call than last week’s House vote on Senate Bill 2978. The data privacy bill is an initiative of Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, and he was on the House floor during the debate. The far-right ginned up social media…
Investigate Ozinga in sex-text scandal
Spread the love. By Ray Hanania . Vicious text messages and robocalls were flying targeting state Sen. Michael Hastings (D-19th) in the year leading up to Hastings re-election bid on Nov. 8, 2022. . The messages were sexually explicit and sought to disparage Hastings, who was also in a contentious divorce with his wife. He…
Learning history is fun, honest
Spread the love Seventh and eighth graders from Our Lady of the Snows School clamor to rub the nose of a bust of President Abraham Lincoln during a field trip to Springfield earlier this month. Rubbing the nose of the famous bust of Honest Abe–a part of the tomb of the nation’s 16th President–is said…
Fight to save ShotSpotter is still alive
Spread the love. By Tim Hadac Editor Clear-Ridge Reporter & NewsHound (708)-496-0265 . As you have read several times in the Clear-Ridge Reporter & NewsHound, the people of Clearing and Garfield Ridge are clear in their support of keeping ShotSpotter technology deployed in Chicago, to help police fight crime. So I won’t go over old…
Neighbors
Just weeks before Republican National Convention, Illinois GOP chair announces resignation
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Halfway through the 2024 election cycle and just a few weeks away from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy on Wednesday announced his resignation as head of the state Republican Party. Tracy, who’d held the job since February 2021, explained his resignation in…
As Illinois session ends, lawmakers’ attempt to reinstate wetland protections fails
by JENNIFER BAMBERG Investigate Midwest jennifer.bamberg@investigatemidwest.org In 2006, 19-year-old Jessica Whinston inherited 20 acres of land that her grandparents once farmed in Quincy, Illinois. The land had sat dormant since the 1980s and was overgrown, but Whinston and her husband Bradley worked to turn it into a productive farm. The couple were eventually able to…
Elections board dismisses illegal campaign coordination complaint, declines to clarify law
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – State elections officials on Tuesday indicated they were unlikely to step in to clarify what constitutes illegal campaign coordination after voting to dismiss a complaint alleging such coordination in the 2022 campaign for governor. At their monthly meeting in Chicago, Illinois State Board of Elections members…
Illinois’ ban on ‘bump stocks’ remains in place despite U.S. Supreme Court decision
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – An Illinois law banning the sale and use of “bump stocks” and other devices that increase the firing power of semiautomatic weapons remains in place, at least for now, despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday striking down a federal ban on such items. “Illinois law…
Lawmakers pass on oversight vote for Pritzker’s prison closure, rebuild plan
By HANNAH MEISEL & DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – For the last two decades, each time a governor has moved to close a large state-run facility like a prison or mental health center, a legislative oversight panel has voted on the plan. That changed on Friday – at least for now –…
‘We don’t really know what we’re voting on,’ top Dem says of Pritzker’s prison plan
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com LINCOLN – On the eve of a scheduled vote to advise Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration on plans to close and rebuild a pair of dilapidated state prisons, hundreds filed into a junior high school gymnasium Thursday evening clad in matching green T-shirts. Printed on the shirts was a…
Illinois child tax credit: who gets it, how much is it?
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com In the final hours of their spring legislative session, Illinois lawmakers approved a tax credit of up to about $300 for families with young children. The credit is available to Illinoisans with children under age 12 who qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. Although…
Members of House speaker’s staff sue over ongoing unionization conflict
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Members of a would-be union representing staffers in House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office filed suit against their boss on Friday, asking a Cook County judge to force recognition of the union. The Illinois Legislative Staff Association, which formed in the fall of 2022, claims Welch’s…
Elections board urged to dismiss complaint that Bailey illegally coordinated in 2022 campaign
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com A hearing officer is recommending the Illinois State Board of Elections dismiss a complaint that alleged conservative radio host and political operative Dan Proft illegally coordinated with former Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey during his 2022 campaign for governor. Proft, a one-time gubernatorial candidate himself, is behind an…
Communities, commission push Pritzker admin for more prison plan details
By DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com Jimmy Soto spent more than 42 years wrongfully imprisoned in Illinois Department of Corrections facilities. In 2020, he was moved to the “F-House” at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, a condemned unit, not because he was being punished, but because it was where the facility was housing individuals…